All Hogs

Latest Podcast Segment Makes Pittman's Seat Even Warmer

Arkansas AD throws several people under bus for last season's failures

Kent Smith

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman dresses down a referee during a game at Alabama.
Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman dresses down a referee during a game at Alabama. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The same podcast interview that set the Arkansas basketball world on fire a few days ago has come back with another segment from Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek laying out clear expectations for football coach Sam Pittman.

"I don't know that it is a make or break year, but we definitively have to show some improvement from the 2023 season, which was a disappointment from a record standpoint to the 2024 season," Yurachek said of Pittman's job security. "... I don't know that this is a make or break year, but this is a year definitively, we've got to show some improvement heading back in the direction away from 4-8 and toward 7-5, 8-4."

The Arkansas AD put the blame for last season on a lot of shoulders, including players and short-lived offensive coordinator Dan Enos.

"One of the things in our program I think was really missing last year was strong leadership, both on the offense and defensive side of the ball," Yurachek said. "We had some talent. I'm not sure we had great leaders. We had an offensive coordinator who may not have been the best fit at the best time for our program."

Obviously, Enos has his fair share of problems, one of which included texting university students instead of focusing on why the team lost a game just minutes earlier. There were also much talked about issues in the locker room that pulled the team apart.

Had these issues not been there, some of the close games that were lost could have had a different outcome. It's one reason Yurachek was able to see last season in a slightly different perspective that may have helped in his decision to give Pittman another year.

"We had games on the road against Alabama, against Ole Miss, and against LSU that were one possession games that we had an opportunity to win all three of those games late in the fourth quarter," Yurachek said. "Think about that. If you beat an Ole Miss, you beat an Alabama, you beat an LSU, if you win two of those three games on the road, our season looks dramatically different with those wins. And so we were on the cusp."

When Yurachek diagnosed a possible cure for what ails the football program, he saw the need to install an assistant with head coaching experience who could continue to help guide Pittman.

"That's where coach Petrino has filled in that gap," Yurachek said. "One of the things I truly believe that Sam Pittman missed last year was having a head coach like he had in Barry Odom, a former head coaches a member of his staff. Coach Petrino has been a head coach in the NFL and at many stops along the college space. I think he offers a different perspective and point of view for Coach that he did not have."

So, with Petrino securely in place and joyously focused solely on rebuilding the Arkansas offense, Pittman is left with little rope. He will need at least a 75% increase in wins over last season before he can feel comfortable about another season.

Where those three or four extra wins come from are fodder for an entire fan base to talk about all summer long. If they can't be found, Arkansas may find itself in a year like 2019 where Yurachek again has to find a strong answer to who can lead the football and basketball programs over the course of a calendar year.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.