There are many factors that go into creating a competitive high school football program.
Talent is first and foremost, whether homegrown or built with transfer student-athletes. The development of athletes, no matter how they enter a program, is also key.
But sometimes, timing is everything. When a coach takes over a program, what type of experience the current class has, etc. There can be growing pains or triumph right away.
For Andy Litten, all of those factors and more have been present at nearly every stop of his coaching tenure.
"I've learned from every place that I've been at," Litten said. "One of the things I learned is you have to get to know your kids and the community. Culture is a big thing. There are things every program is really proud of.
"I try to find what's important to the community, to the kids, to the school, and try to find ways to mesh with what they care about and mesh it with what we're trying to accomplish as a coaching staff."
Litten’s coaching resume speaks for itself.
He led the Marana Tigers for seven seasons, creating a North Tucson power and setting the foundation for the program to accomplish great feats at the 5A level – most notably its No. 1 seed in the Open Division this past season. He departed for the Valley in 2018, when Mike Zdebski tabbed Litten as his offensive coordinator at Hamilton High School.
At the time, it was a dream job for Litten. He put himself in position to help lead one of the state’s best programs with unlimited resources and talent spilling out of the cracks. The first year was rough, with the Huskies winning just three games.
But two consecutive Open Division Playoff appearances with one of the top offenses in the state gave Litten the power to once again seek head coaching opportunities. He took the opportunity and ran with it.
"The most I learned at Hamilton was the culture of the Valley," Litten said. "Being a successful coach in Tucson is different than being a successful coach in the Valley. (Hamilton) gave me an idea of how things work in the Valley and how coaches prepare.
"I found out early on how good the Valley is with how I had to prep as an offensive coordinator."
Litten took over the Horizon High School program in 2021, following in the footsteps of Ty Wisdom, who was hired by Desert Vista months prior.
Wisdom took the Huskies to the Open Division playoffs during his tenure. Litten came in and built off that success.
In 2021, his first season with the Huskies, Litten coached them to the 5A state championship. Horizon made the 5A semifinals the next two seasons.
Litten credits the work ethic of the players for the immediate success at Horizon. But much can also be said about his coaching style and staff.
He ran the program similar to a college. Structured practices, punctual drills and a blue-blood mentality made his players passionate. Natural talent played a part, too.
Quarterback Skyler Partridge led the Horizon championship team. Wesley Lambert was a standout running back, Cole Linyard a receiver. Matthew Klopfenstein was one of the top tight ends in the state, and Jax Markovich followed in his footsteps.
Litten also had two of the top tackles in the state in Dylan Nolan-Cook and Carter Lavrusky, who is now at Kansas. Jackson Murray also emerged as a top defensive lineman. He's now at Colorado State.
Litten spent three seasons at Horizon. Then the Mountain View job opened. At the time, sources said he was the No. 1 candidate all along. That came to fruition when he was hired to be the next head coach of the storied Mesa program ahead of the 2024 season.
But he didn't go to Mountain View alone.
"My top two assistants at Mountain View now followed me from Horizon," Litten said. "That's huge for me. I don't think I would have left Horizon if I knew I wouldn't have some of my staff coming with me. That was a big part of it."
When Litten arrived on campus, Mountain View was in the middle of a surge of sorts. Joe Germaine had led the Toros to a turnaround season in 2023, going from 2-8 the year prior to 8-3 and a postseason berth.
Germaine departed for American Leadership Academy – North Mesa following the 2023 season, where he also became the school’s athletic director. He left a cupboard full of talent, including quarterback Brady Goodman, running back Reece Bodily, wideout Mikey Sumko and a defense littered with next-level players led by Beckham Barney.
Mountain View also saw the emergence of key players during Litten’s first season, including wideout Talan Arnett and defensive standouts Reign Curiel, Myron Christensen, Brody Anderson, Caleb Larson, Tavita Ta’ase and many others.
"I was blessed because this is a program that just lost a coach that was a legend in the community," Litten said. "They welcomed me into the community with open arms. That's what happened at Horizon and it happened at Mountain View. The kids wholeheartedly embraced us and that's what helped us get on track faster."
The end result for Mountain View was a trip to the 6A state title game, its first since 2006.
So how does a coach have success everywhere he goes? Marana became a southern Arizona power. Hamilton saw a surge with Litten on staff. Horizon won its second state title in program history under him. And Mountain View established itself as a contender in the East Valley, replicating the 1990s when it was the best of the best.
Litten is coy to take credit, instead recognizing his staff and the players. But maybe that’s what it is: his unselfishness as a coach.
"I've been able to work with a lot of really good coaches," Litten said. "I take a lot of pride in our assistants going on to bigger things."
Mountain View has had a solid 7s and big man summer thus far. The Toros are competing with some of the top teams in the state and appear to be a complete program yet again.
Most of its defense returns with the exception of Barney and Ta’ase. Goodman and Arnett will be one of the best quarterback-wideout tandems in the state. The offensive line, minus the size, looks to be a replica of sorts of Litten’s line at Horizon with Nolan-Cook and Lavrusky.
Litten has the Mountain View program riding high, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. He’s proven once again to be one of the top coaches in Arizona at building a program into a title contender.
"I give credit to these kids, they can be coached hard," Litten said of his Mountain View players. "I think that's part of the old Jesse Parker tradition. They respond really well to hard coaching.
"We don't look like the Bashas or the Libertys. But man, they're going to fight their tails off."
