Firing Seth Littrell Adds to Brent Venables' Perfect Storm at Oklahoma

By Rock Westfall

The perfect storm of the Oklahoma Sooners, Head Coach Brent Venables, and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione has intensified after Sunday evening’s firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, who was in his first season in that role.

The Oklahoma offense is hopelessly bad, with national rankings of 128th overall and 107^th for scoring, with 11 turnovers. Furthermore, five-star sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold has seen his career implode, losing the starting job midway through the fourth game of the season. In desperation, Arnold was put back in the lineup during Saturday’s 35-9 home loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, which proved to be the final straw for Littrell.  

Previously, Venables stated that he preferred not to make in-season staff changes. But a 1-3 start in the SEC, coupled with a hopelessly inept, disjointed, and unrhythmic offense, forced him to act.

"Seth is an all-time great Sooner," Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said in a statement. "He has a deep love for this university and football program and has poured his heart and soul into both. Despite that, our performance as an offense this season has not at all lived up to the OU standard and I felt a change was necessary now."

Co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley will take over interim play-calling duties. At the same time, analyst Kevin Johns, the former Duke offensive coordinator, has been promoted to interim quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

When Athletic Director Joe Castiglione extended Venables during the summer, I wrote that it was a shutdown tactic to protect Venables should things get rocky in Oklahoma’s first SEC season. Sadly, for the Sooners, that looks to be exactly the case.

Venables Haunted by Sound of Gabriel’s Horn  

While Oklahoma is imploding, its former quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, is lighting it up for the Oregon Ducks in what could be a national championship season. There is increasing debate as to why Gabriel transferred out of Oklahoma. 

Venables says that immediately after the 2023 regular season, Gabriel told him he was leaving. But the other top theory is that Gabriel was encouraged to leave in order to pave the way for Arnold, who was not likely to stick around for a second year on the bench. Certainly, either way, Venables did not fight hard enough or make an all-out effort to convince Gabriel to stay. That has proven to be a fatal mistake.

Arnold was a highly coveted prospect and his disastrous first season as the OU starter has added to the pressure and perception that Oklahoma is incompetently led offensively. Should Gabriel lead Oregon to the national championship, Venables will never be forgiven in Norman, OK.  Nor should he be.