So, let me get this straight, was Pittman a good hire or a bad hire?
Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow see into the future and visualize how a decision will affect us, even before we have to make that decision?
The old adage agrees, we all have 20/20 vision in hindsight. Which never rings more true than with coaching hires – and many marriages, I guess. If we would have just known, we could have taken a different path and saved the pain.
The current swirl around the Arkansas football program has reached that dilemma. Was Sam Pittman a good hire or a bad hire? The current state of affairs doesn’t look very positive, but it never does when things go south. Should Pittman be let go or should he be given a little more time? I agree that things are wearing thin, but I don’t earn enough money to have to make that decision.
I do know that on Sept. 11, 2021, as fans rushed the field inside Razorback Stadium, after the Hogs’ stunning 40-21 win over No. 15 Texas, Pittman appeared to be a great hire. Then after defeating Texas A&M two weeks later – for the first time in 10 years – followed by a win over LSU in Baton Rouge, Pittman was the talk of the college football world. Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek looked like a genius.
Arkansas then bounced blue-blood Penn State in the Outback Bowl to finish the season with nine wins – the most since that ill-fated motorcycle crash. Razorback fans couldn’t wait to get their hands on that iconic poster of Pittman sitting on a throne, surrounded by the Golden Boot Trophy, the Battle Line Rivalry trophy, the Outback Bowl trophy, with Larry the bowling ball, all residing in Fayetteville.
“Turn that damn jukebox on” became the chant of Northwest Arkansas.
Yet, just two short years later the program has again hit the skids, and in the eyes of many, Pittman was now a horrible choice. Some comparing the hire to the shameless debacle of winless SEC head coach Chad Morris. Apparently, the ol’ coach that just lifted the program from the ashes of ruin, now has no clue what he’s doing.
Some are even calling for the head of Yurachek for making the hire. From genius to idiot, in the blink of an eye.
Jeff Long was lashed the same way after Bret Bielema’s tenure ended on a sour note in 2017. Although, when Bielema was hired away from Wisconsin in 2013, he had just taken the Badgers to three straight Rose Bowls – averaging 10 wins a season over that stretch – with a power brand of football that most fans loved. After seven wins in just his second season, including back-to-back shutouts of Ole Miss and LSU and a “borderline erotic” victory over Texas in the Texas Bowl, Bielema seemed to have the program headed in the right direction.
With eight wins and a Liberty Bowl victory over Kansas State a year later, most Hog fans were riding the Bielema bandwagon. But then things began going downward over the next two seasons and the once-promising coach was suddenly a terrible hire, and Long was to blame.
If that crystal ball would have just been functioning correctly in the beginning.
Unfortunately, in the world we live in, things rarely go as expected, even half the time. Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.
On the flip side, many fans pleaded with the program to steer clear of Memphis coach Mike Norvell and Appalachian State coach Eli Drinkwitz, during recent coaching searches. Although Norvell played collegiately at Central Arkansas and Drinkwitz is from Alma, neither guy seemed to have the resume the Razorbacks needed. Fast-forward to 2023, and they are two of the hottest coaches in the country, at Florida State and Missouri, respectively.
If that darn crystal ball would have just let us know.
The biggest knock against Pittman is the fact that he was just an offensive line coach and not a “real” head coach. Yet, that path has worked out well for Kansas City Chiefs Super-Bowl winning coach Andy Reid, as well as former LSU national champion coach Les Miles. All in addition to a number of other successful head coaches, like Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, who were “just offensive line coaches.”
If marriage is any indication, the failure of long-term compatibility in any relationship is about 50 percent. And ironically, Arkansas has the highest divorce rate of any state in the entire country. So, why should we be surprised when football coaching relationships end with a bitter taste?
The Razorbacks have had their share of successful coaches since Hugo Bezdek famously declared that his team played “like a wild band of Razorback hogs,” 113 years ago. Of the 31 non-interim head coaches in Arkansas history, 18 have left with winning records. Unfortunately, none since Bobby Petrino in 2011.
And if you want to drop all the blame on Yurachek for hiring Pittman, at this point, also give him credit for his home run hires, like men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, softball coach Courtney Deifel and gymnastics coach Jordyn Wieber, all among the nation’s best. Not to mention, the fact that Arkansas has won more overall conference championships in the SEC than any other school since he took the reins in 2017, including 23 conference titles in the past three years alone.
Only time will tell who the next successful head football coach at Arkansas will be. But when that happens, Razorback Nation will rejoice. At least for the time being.
