Christmas comes early for ECU interim head coach

Aug. 5—Flashback to last December.

There John Litrenta was, enjoying his holiday break where he grew up in Orland Park, Illinois, near Chicago.

The East Central University defensive coordinator was probably thinking more about ol' Saint Nick than he was about football at the time. But that changed quickly.

Litrenta was notified that current ECU head coach Kris McCullough had bolted to take a job at the University of Texas Permian Basin. In the same breath, Litrenta was elevated to the new interim head coach of the Tiger football team.

"It all happened over Christmas break which was a crazy time. With me not being right here in Ada while it was happening, I felt like I was missing something every day," Litrenta told The Ada News just 24 hours before 138 Tiger players were scheduled to report to campus.

The first thing Litrenta had to do was get his football staff in place. Visions of Sugar Plums were replaced with visions of who might — and eventually would — make up the 2023 East Central Unversity football coaching staff.

He spent a lot of time in December on the phone and in Zoom meetings.

Fellow members of the new ECU coaching group include defensive coordinator Jake Shaw, offensive coordinator Matt Walter, OL coach Rafael Aguilar, WR coach Gregg Hollins, DL coach Michael Ingram, DB coach Aretavious Tabow, LB coach Broderic Odom, TE coach Emilio Davison, RB coach William Christian, SAF coach Kwesi Phillips and student assistant Jack Mitchell.

"Our staff is a lot different than it was last year," Litrenta said. "From that point on, we tried to put ourselves in a position to win that individual day. Everything we did was in the mindset of making us better each day."

One of the things Litrentra — who joined the ECU staff in 2018 — has learned since becoming a head coach for the first time in his career is that there's a lot more to the job than teaching kids Xs and Os.

"You find out sitting in this seat, a lot of things you deal with are not football," he said. "Has it been easy? Heck no. Nothing is. Has it been fun? Absolutely. Every moment that happens is basically a new experience for me. But I'm happy. I'm excited and it's been a blessing."

Litrentra said he's leaned on several current football coaches for advice, including former ECU headman Al Johnson.

"I've been using a lot of people for help — those who have been there and done that. A big one has been Al Johnson. He's been a huge help," he said. "What that man has done for this program and what he's done for me has been huge. You learn what to do and what not to do and what things you want to fix. Every day it's kind of humbling to say this didn't work but have the willingness to listen to others and use it to our advantage."

Litrenta said the Tigers made great strides during spring football workouts.

"I think spring went really well. What we tried to accomplish is on defense continuing the standard that we already had ... with some new faces that came in. Offensively, it was trying to get everybody out of an old system into a little bit of a new system," he explained. "I think we learned what worked and what didn't work on both sides of the ball. I thought we used all 15 of our spring practices to our advantage and we got better. That was the most important thing. We got better in the spring and into the summer."

Litrenta said around eight to 12 players left ECU shortly following McCullough's departure, including four defensive standouts that went to bigger football programs — the likes of Coastal Carolina, Troy University, Central Arkansas and Louisiana-Monroe.

"There were four individuals on the defensive side of the football that went up to play FBS football. When you look at that, we're doing the right thing developing players," he said.

"In this era of NIL, there are things we can't control. It's almost like a farm system," Litrenta continued. "It's been a positive thing in that it's given a lot of opportunities for kids that are on our team to step up because of those departures. That's what I'm proud of."

On the flip side, Litrenta and his staff put together the No. 5 class in D2 Transfer Portal Rankings.

"We put the No. 5 Class in the country together in Division 2 when it comes to the transfer portal. To be Top 5 ... and the impact that class is going to make. I think that's huge," he said. "It's a credit to the work our staff did. Over the last seven months, they didn't come in here and panic at all. When you add that transfer class to what we already have here returning, it gives us a good outlook on what we're going to do."

The first day of fall practices was Friday morning at Norris Field.

"Priority No. 1 for us is how we come out and establish our attitude and effort. Those are two things we talk about making sure you can control every day," Litrenta said.

He also said paying attention to detail will also be of utmost importance.

"The first days are going to be big amounts of fundamental football. So can we start to master and continue to master those fundamentals? That's the goal," he said.

Litrenta and his staff will also be searching for a starting quarterback during preseason drills.

"Quarterback is a very deep and competitive position. At this point, we have a number of guys competing for it. We're going to be in a good spot. I'm confident in all of the guys that are taking snaps for us. That's going to play out over camp," he said.

The Tigers open the season on Aug. 31 at Henderson State University. The first ECU home game is scheduled for Sept. 7 inside Koi Ishto Stadium.