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’slast 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.”

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 Bourguetenabled 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.

I’m truly blessed and excited to get things started at Horizon High School as the new head football coach. I look forward to meeting with players coaches this week. Go Huskies! pic.twitter.com/xjWZC4s00d

— Andy Litten (@litten_andy) January 31, 2021

He is the 46th former Arizona athlete to become a current head coach. He joins former Wildcat softball standout Jackie Coburnat 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 Schmidtand Gary Minorearlier 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’sveteran 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.

Name	UA	Team	Sport	Start
Adia Barnes	1995-99	Arizona	Women's hoops	2016
Heidi Bomberger-Bruschi	1993-97	Attleboro (MA) Feehan HS	Volleyball	2020
Matt Brase	2003-05	Pallacanestro Varese (Italy)	Men's hoops	2022
Robert Bonillas	1995-98	Desert View HS	Football	2012
Tod Brown	1990-94	New Mexico	Baseball	2022
Casey Candaele	1979-82	Buffalo (AAA) Blue Jays	Baseball	2021
Jackie Coburn	2002-05	Scottsdale Horizon HS	Softball	2013
Clark Crist	1977-80	Pulaski (VA) River Turtles	Baseball	2021
Debby Day	1989-91	Cal-Lutheran	Softball	2002
Shelley Duncan	1999-2001	Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) Yankees	Baseball	2023
Byron Evans	1983-86	South Mountain HS	Football	2020
Terry Francona	1977-80	Cleveland Indians	MLB	2013
Tanya Farhat-Villarreal	1994-97	West Bend (WI) Slinger HS	Softball	2015
Brenda Frese	1989-93	Maryland	Women's hoops	2002
Kristie Fox	2004-07	UNLV	Softball	2017
Margo Geer	2011-14	Alabama	Swimming/Diving	2020
Chip Hale	1984-87	Arizona	Baseball	2022
Jason Hisey	1988-91	Canyon del Oro HS	Baseball	2019
Jack Howell	1983	Tri-City (A) Angels	Baseball	2021
Krista Humphreys	1993-96	Corona (CA) Centennial HS	Softball	2015
Mark Keel	1979-82	Silverdale (WA) Central Kitsap HS	Football	2000
Steve Kerr	1983-88	Golden State Warriors	NBA	2014
Andy Litten	1999-03	Scottsdale Horizon HS	Football	2021
Hunter Long	2013-15	Douglas HS	Football	2019
Caitlin Lowe	2004-07	Arizona	Softball	2022
Brandon Manumaleuna	1997-00	Lawndale (CA) Leuzinger HS	Football	2020
Jennifer Martinez-Walls	2008-09	Abraham Baldwin (GA) JC	Softball	2017
Craig McMillan	1984-88	Santa Rosa (CA) JC	Men's hoops	2000
Richard Mercado	2002-04	Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei HS	Baseball	2019
Leighton Milton	1992-93	Hollywood (CA) HS	Football	2020
Edwin Mulitalo	1995-98	Southern Virginia	Football	2018
Ronnie Palmer	2005-08	Monterrey Peninsula (CA) JC	Football	2020
Jose Portilla	1996-97	Heritage Academy	Football	2017
Rebekah Quiroz	2002	Pima CC	Softball	2019
Colt Sedbrook	2006-08	Crown College (MN)	Baseball	2024
Jason Stewart	1997-99	Encinitas (CA) San Dieguito HS	Boys hoops	2014
Damon Stoudamire	1992-95	Georgia Tech	Men's hoops	2023
Rafael Valenzuela	2008-10	Bowling Green (A) Rays	Baseball	2023

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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.