Pittman's Expectations for Season Much Different Compared to Fans, Outsiders

Hogs' coach confident in team turnaround after struggling to 4-8 record last season

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman at practice Saturday on the indoor field in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — 'Talkin' Season' continues in Arkansas as Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman travels around the state to help with fan fatigue. Apathy for the Hogs at this stage of Pittman's tenure isn't nearly what it was during the Morris tenure and shouldn't be.

It's fair to not want the football program to fall at the wayside of irrelevancy either. Arkansas is in the midst of its worst stretch of football in program history with only five winning seasons since 2012.

Pittman led the Razorbacks to nine wins during his second season which might have been the worst thing he could've done. Expectations rocketed to Petrino's level, but he wasn't able to maintain the early success.

That certainly doesn't mean he is ok with middling around as a member of the SEC. He's hungry for the feeling of winning nine games once again, according to his speech at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club's Wednesday meeting.

"There ain't nobody in this room that thought in two years we'd be 9-4," Pittman said. "And guess what? There may not be many that think I'm not going to get fired, or I'm this, or I'm that. It don't really matter. I'm not worried about that one ounce. I'm worried about them kids in the building, these guys, the fans. We can win now, and we're going to. That's why I was hired. We had a bad year, but hell, if we won 11 last year, we couldn't live on that either."

True expectations for this team is hard to gauge given how many newcomers Arkansas brought in. Over 40% of the Razorbacks roster are either transfers or true freshmen with 43 total returners.

It's easy to predict this team to be one of the bottom four SEC programs this fall. A lot of analysts and content creators have already started coaching hot seat talk. That's the way of the world and Pittman knows that.

Without trying to sell a bill of goods, Pittman is walking and talking similarly to what he said last offseason and that he 'really likes this team.' He certainly had a roster capable of winning more that four games a season ago and should be graced with a final mulligan on an offensive coordinator choice.

Credit also must be given to Pittman for his transfer portal evaluations as he's hit on more than he's missed. Out of 22 transfers Arkansas signed this offseason at least 13 of them will start or play a lot of snaps this fall.

If Arkansas exceeds the seven or eight win threshold most will call it a miracle. As Pittman said, no one saw 2021 coming and, perhaps, the Razorbacks can catch the college football world by surprise once again this fall.

HOGS FEED:

• Chip on Jackson's large shoulders bad news for Hogs' opponents

• Nation's college basketball coaches acknowledge Arkansas' NIL superiority

• Hogs' OC not hiding lofty goals for Arkansas football

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