Is Sam Pittman returning next season a positive move or is Arkansas making a huge mistake?
The hottest topic surrounding Arkansas football in recent weeks has been Sam Pittman and his job security.
As it turns out, the rumors and speculation of his demise as head coach of the Razorbacks were greatly exaggerated. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek put the uncertainty to rest on Sunday afternoon when he confirmed that Pittman will remain in Fayetteville for the 2024 season.
“Our team was extremely excited last night after the game when I informed them that Coach Pittman is our head coach and will be moving forward into the 2024 season,” Yurachek’s statement on Twitter (X) read. “This has not been the season any of us anticipated. We have work to do. I am confident that together, we can meet the goals and expectations of our program.”
“I want to thank the many Razorback fans who have supported our team this season. I look forward to honoring our seniors and cheering on this team on Friday as we take on Missouri.”
The news was met with an overwhelmingly negative response from Razorback fans. There were a few in favor of the move, but the majority of people believe that the team’s performance this year warrants a coaching change.
Let’s take a look at a few reasons that retaining Sam Pittman could be good for the program and, conversely, why it could end up being a huge mistake.
Positive: Pittman's contract
As the speculation over Pittman’s job security began to dominate the conversation in recent weeks, naturally, Arkansas football’s financial situation came into focus. Particularly when it comes to Pittman’s contract and how much it would cost to buy him out.
According to the term’s of Pittman’s contract, if he is fired without cause while holding at least a .500 win percentage (from the 2021 season-opener to now), he’ll be owed 75% of his remaining contract. When Arkansas defeated Florida back on Nov. 4, that guaranteed he would finish the year at that .500-or-better threshold.
So, if Arkansas were to fire him at the end of this season, he would be owed over $16 million. When you couple that with the estimated cost of hiring his hypothetical replacement, the move would cost well over $20 million.
Now, it’s not like Arkansas doesn’t have access to the appropriate funds to make the move if they needed to. The fact of the matter is that, if things continue to trend downward, a potential buy-out becomes much more manageable a year from now.
Negative: Delaying the inevitable
When looking at the direction of Arkansas football over the course of Pittman’s tenure, things are trending the wrong way. After winning eight regular season games in 2021, they won just six in 2022 and are likely to win just four games this season.
At some schools, especially in the SEC, that’s more than enough evidence to justify a change in leadership. So, it’s not hard to understand why many people expected a change to be made at Arkansas.
If this downward trend continues, the decision to keep Pittman will have just delayed the inevitable. Instead of hitting the reset button, they will have wasted a potential rebuilding year on something that was never going to happen.
Arkansas will enter the 2024 season with everyone involved – from fans to players to support staff – knowing that their head coach is firmly on the hot seat. Everyone will have the understanding that if things begin to unravel – like they have these past two seasons – Pittman’s fate is decided.
Positive: Recruiting
Following the win over FIU on Saturday night, Pittman mentioned how much the rumors and speculation of his firing had hurt the Hogs in recruiting.
“I will say this guys, when we start talking about firing and all this, it kills us in recruiting,” Pittman said. “It does. Especially when we fabricate stories and put it out. It kills us in recruiting. When we give opinions about who is coming in and all those type things, it kills us.”
While fans criticized Pittman for his answer, he’s absolutely right. Earlier in the year, Arkansas had the 20th-ranked recruiting class according to 247Sports.com. That has changed as they’ve already lost one recruit, in-state four-star wide receiver Courtney Crutchfield.
Crutchfield’s de-commitment came right before Arkansas’ game against Florida and was at a time where Pittman’s future really began to come into question. Last week, when the speculation had reached its’ peak, another four-star commitment, Charleston Collins, received two crystal ball predictions from 247Sports to flip from the Hogs to Ole Miss.
Now, with Pittman’s future no longer in question, Arkansas can put all of their effort and focus into getting Crutchfield back and keeping the 2024 class together.
Negative: Fan apathy
As mentioned earlier, the news of Arkansas retaining Sam Pittman for next season was met with loud disappointment from a majority of fans on social media. Of course that doesn’t represent the entire fan base, but it’s enough of a sample size to tell that most are not happy with the program right now.
If you need more proof that fans are not happy, look no further than the attendance numbers from Saturday’s game in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The announced attendance was 61,442. According to Andrew Hutchinson, that is the 12th-smallest attendance since 2001, when Razorbacks Stadium was expanded. Saturday’s attendance is also the smallest in Pittman’s tenure to this point (not counting the 2020 season which had limited seating due to the pandemic).
One of the easiest ways for fans to show displeasure with their sports teams is to not buy tickets, not show up and, ultimately, not care – which can hurt the program’s bottom-line.
Entering 2024 with an upset fan base, could equate to historically low ticket sales, attendance and overall interest in the program. Which, aside from being embarrassing, would only increase the temperature on Pittman’s hot seat.
Positive: Pittman's hires
Sam Pittman has made mistakes with a handful of hires during his time at Arkansas, there’s no question about that. However, he has hit a few homeruns during his tenure too. Most notably, last season’s hiring of Travis Williams as defensive coordinator.
Now, Pittman will once again have to make a coordinator hire to replace Dan Enos, whose second stint in Fayetteville failed miserably. Given the success Pittman had with revamping the entire defensive staff after hiring Williams and the on-field success of the defense this season, there’s no reason to believe that he can do something similar with the offense.
There’s definitely some unique obstacles to overcome this time around, though. After all, what stud offensive coordinator is going to want to come to Arkansas, knowing that his boss is on the seat and the gig might not last a full year?
Surely these are conversations that have already taken place between Yurachek and Pittman. Now is not the time to sit back and hope a high-level coach falls into your lap. You have to go out and make it happen. With Pittman’s hiring track record, there’s reason to believe he can do that.
Negative: Pittman's game management
When Sam Pittman was hired in 2019, he had no prior head coaching experience at the Division I level. Being able to hire two coordinators with previous head coaching experience for his first few seasons, helped mask some of Pittman’s inexperience.
This season, though, Pittman’s weaknesses as a head coach have been in the spotlight more than ever, particularly his game management. Things like his timeout usage, decision-making at critical points and play-calling in certain situations have cost Arkansas dearly in each of their one-possession losses this season.
Then, there’s the disturbing theme of his teams just not being ready to play. Following a historic win at Florida, the Hogs were thoroughly embarrassed, 48-10, by an Auburn team who is barely bowl eligible. There’s the loss to BYU and ugly win over Kent State earlier this year, there’s the loss to Liberty and narrow win over Missouri State last season, there’s the embarrassing home loss to Auburn and narrow win over Rice in 2021.
Point blank: Pittman has to make massive strides as a head coach from this year to next if he wants to continue on at Arkansas. No more laying duds at home, no more wasting all of your timeouts with 14 minutes left in a close game, no more taking delay of game penalties on field goal attempts, none of those things are excusable any longer.
If Pittman can’t improve, the decision to keep him for another year is a huge mistake.
