Featured

Former Marana coach, Mountain View star Andy Litten hired to lead Horizon’s program


Andy Litten, a former Mountain View standout offensive lineman who went on to walk on at Arizona in Dick Tomey’s last season with the Wildcats in 2000, is back to being a head coach after leading the Marana program from 2012 to 2017.

Litten has been hired by Scottsdale Horizon as its new coach after he spent the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator for powerhouse Chandler Hamilton. The Huskies went 3-7 in his first season in 2018 but improved to become an Open Division program the last two years going 9-3 in 2019 and 8-2 this season.

“I’m really excited to become a head coach again,” said Litten, who took over a moribund Marana program and led the Tigers to a 36-28 record in his tenure. “Being at Hamilton the last three years was really helpful for me to develop as a coach and learn the differences here in the Valley.

“I feel like my experience turning Marana around and my experience helping Hamilton recover from a rough period has really prepared me for challenges that I could encounter in the future.”

Andy Litten when he coached at Marana (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

Litten took over a Marana program that won four games in four years and had a 14-game losing streak at the time of his hire. He coached the Tigers to back-to-back 9-3 seasons in 2016 and 2017. A postseason win over Kellis in 2016 was Marana’s first playoff win in 15 years.

While at Marana, he developed the Tigers into one of the top offenses in the state. His development of quarterback Trenton Bourguet enabled Bourguet to become a preferred walk-on at Arizona State. The Sun Devils recently presented Bourguet with a scholarship entering his junior season.

As a junior in 2017 — Litten’s last season with Marana — Bourguet completed 144 passes in 233 attempts (61.8 percent) for 2,984 yards with 38 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.

Litten, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Arizona in 2004, moved to Chandler in 2018 after his wife accepted a nursing position in the Phoenix area.

He is the 46th former Arizona athlete to become a current head coach. He joins former Wildcat softball standout Jackie Coburn at Horizon. She has coached the softball program there since 2013.

“I’m really blessed that Horizon has such a strong culture with great talent and enthusiastic alumni that want to see the program see success at the highest level,” Litten said.

Litten said he is thankful and “lucky” to work with local legendary coaches Wayne Jones, Paul Schmidt and Gary Minor earlier in his career.

He played for Jones at Mountain View and later was a coach on his staff. He also coached for Schmidt at Mountain View. When Litten was the head coach at Marana, he brought in Minor, who built Ironwood Ridge into a power from scratch, as the defensive coordinator.

Minor is now a member of Kent Middleton’s veteran staff at Pusch Ridge.

“(Minor) was very helpful as a mentor for a new young head coach,” Litten said.

FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES WHO ARE HEAD COACHES

List of head coaches of various sports and different levels who competed at Arizona. Compiled by AllSportsTucson.com.
NameUATeam SportStart
Adia Barnes1995-99ArizonaWomen's hoops2016
Heidi Bomberger-Bruschi1993-97Attleboro (MA) Feehan HSVolleyball 2020
Matt Brase2003-05Pallacanestro Varese (Italy)Men's hoops2022
Robert Bonillas1995-98Desert View HSFootball2012
Tod Brown1990-94New MexicoBaseball2022
Casey Candaele1979-82Buffalo (AAA) Blue JaysBaseball2021
Jackie Coburn2002-05Scottsdale Horizon HSSoftball2013
Clark Crist1977-80Pulaski (VA) River TurtlesBaseball2021
Debby Day1989-91Cal-LutheranSoftball2002
Shelley Duncan1999-2001Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) YankeesBaseball2023
Byron Evans 1983-86South Mountain HSFootball2020
Terry Francona1977-80Cleveland IndiansMLB2013
Tanya Farhat-Villarreal1994-97West Bend (WI) Slinger HSSoftball2015
Brenda Frese1989-93MarylandWomen's hoops2002
Kristie Fox2004-07UNLVSoftball2017
Margo Geer2011-14AlabamaSwimming/Diving2020
Chip Hale 1984-87ArizonaBaseball 2022
Jason Hisey1988-91Canyon del Oro HSBaseball2019
Jack Howell1983Tri-City (A) AngelsBaseball2021
Krista Humphreys1993-96Corona (CA) Centennial HSSoftball2015
Mark Keel1979-82Silverdale (WA) Central Kitsap HSFootball2000
Steve Kerr1983-88Golden State WarriorsNBA2014
Andy Litten1999-03Scottsdale Horizon HSFootball2021
Hunter Long2013-15Douglas HSFootball2019
Caitlin Lowe2004-07Arizona Softball2022
Brandon Manumaleuna1997-00Lawndale (CA) Leuzinger HSFootball2020
Jennifer Martinez-Walls2008-09Abraham Baldwin (GA) JCSoftball2017
Craig McMillan1984-88Santa Rosa (CA) JCMen's hoops2000
Richard Mercado2002-04Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei HSBaseball2019
Leighton Milton1992-93Hollywood (CA) HSFootball2020
Edwin Mulitalo1995-98Southern VirginiaFootball2018
Ronnie Palmer2005-08Monterrey Peninsula (CA) JCFootball2020
Jose Portilla1996-97Heritage AcademyFootball2017
Rebekah Quiroz2002Pima CCSoftball2019
Colt Sedbrook2006-08Crown College (MN)Baseball2024
Jason Stewart1997-99Encinitas (CA) San Dieguito HSBoys hoops2014
Damon Stoudamire1992-95Georgia TechMen's hoops2023
Rafael Valenzuela2008-10Bowling Green (A) RaysBaseball2023


FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

print
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Comments
To Top