Arizona head coach Mike Stoops and offensive coordinator Seth Littrell know better than anybody how tough it is to play at Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens Stadium.

Both coaches have spent the majority of their careers in the Big 12 Conference. Stoops spent 12 seasons in various positions with Kansas State and Oklahoma, while Littrell spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Kansas before coaching running backs for four seasons at Texas Tech.

And for both, it’s their first trip to a Big 12 stadium since leaving the conference.

Boone Pickens Stadium’s sideline seats are unusually close to the team benches, and Cowboys fans will turn the noise up a notch or two because of lingering animosity towards head coach Mike Stoops after an incident during Oklahoma State University’s 2003 game with Oklahoma, when Stoops was the Sooners’ defensive coordinator.

“I’m sure I’ll get a big welcome committee there for me,” Stoops said sarcastically. “I can’t wait.”

While Stoops said he knows that Oklahoma State fans are holding a grudge against him, Littrell said he doesn’t have any lingering feelings toward the Cowboys after playing running back at the Univeresity of Oklahoma.

“There’s nothing like that,” Littrell said. “(I’ve) been in this profession long enough that if you have as many rivals as schools you were at, you’d hate everybody.”