In Show of Unity, Pittman Should Join Drinkwitz on This One

Even though Mizzou coach has tried hard to get under Arkansas coach's skin, this cause is bigger

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman shakes hands with Missouri Tigers coach Eil Drinkwitz after the game at Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 34-17. / Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS – As obnoxious as Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz's over the top effort to manufacture the faux Battle Line Rivalry with Arkansas into something real can be, even the most hardened Hog fans had to set their sweet tea down and utter an amen when the Mizzou coach called on special action to be taken to put Mike Leach on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

Because Leach passed away weeks before Mississippi State knocked off former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema's Illinois team to cap off a 9-win season, he officially finished a victory short of technically qualifying for the winning percentage required to automatically make the ballot. It's wrong, and if it takes Drinkwitz giving up valuable time to promote his program to make it happen, then respect to him for doing so.

He made a lot of valid points that should be echoed by other SEC coaches, including the Hogs' Sam Pittman and fellow coaches all across the country. Even back when Leach and Hal Mumme became the Georgia of the Division II Gulf South Conference, making life miserable for the likes of North Alabama and Central Arkansas, it was clear he was going to have a significant impact on the game with his air raid offense.

"I understand that standards are there for people to make decisions," Drinkwitz said. "But, I also understand that Coach Leach would be a great value to the Hall of Fame because of the legacy that he has, because the impact that he made, because of the innovator that he was, because of the legacy of coaches that he left, and in my opinion, not only a winner, but a Hall of Famer."

Every word of that is true. Leach was a legend both on and off the field.

Pittman will be under pressure to bring a bit of fun and unique interest when he takes the stage Thursday because that heavy lifting is no longer done for the SEC by Leach. His thirst to make the whole world think differently as he expertly answered any question thrown at him, whether it be about law, marriage advice or talk of dinosaurs, was only matched by his thirst to make defensive coordinators look at the world from a different perspective as his offense sliced and diced them on a weekly basis.

Leach isn't one loss short because he wasn't a brilliant coach. He is one loss short because he went places so few others were willing to go and patiently put in the work to make those programs matter.

No one wants to go try to recruit players to Lubbock and then go face Texas back when the Longhorns truly were back. Yet, there he was, plugging along until, in 2008, Graham Harrell was ready to lead No. 7 Texas Tech over Colt McCoy and Mack Brown's No. 1 ranked Texas team at literally the last possible second.

Then he went to Pullman, Washington, a town even more remote than Lubbock and without the advantage of a Texas high school football system thriving while running offenses birthed by Leach. Washington State handed him four of his five losing seasons over his 21 years as a head coach.

It not only ended Leach's perfect streak of winning seasons after a decade of being a head coach, it's why he's not currently eligible for the Hall of Fame. Yet, he took one of the sport's most broken programs and brought it back to life.

He doubled his Big 12 Coach of the Year awards by winning a pair of Pac 12 Coach of the Year awards. He went 11-2 in 2018 and made Garner Menshew and his mustache a college football legend.

A year later he had his choice of embattled SEC program to resurrect. In true Leach fashion, he considered the two most downtrodden schools at the time, Arkansas and Mississippi State, before ultimately deciding to do the Lord's work of winning season after winning season in Starkville during the NIL era.

Between the Cougars and the Bulldogs, he led teams that aren't typically thought of as bowl regulars to postseason play in nine of his last 10 seasons. That last win where his players and his team went and ran his plays with his spirit clearly filling the stadium at the Reliaquest Bowl should count toward Leach's record. He earned it.

So, while Pittman probably isn't too fond of Drinkwitz and some of the antics he has pulled over the past calendar year, this is one area where the moment and cause should be bigger. Arkansas should join Missouri in leading the call for Leach to get his due.

If that means taking a few minutes from what is usually Pittman's brightest spotlight when it comes to selling himself and the program with his small town charm, then it's a sacrifice worth making. There are plenty of calls he's made over the years with which Arkansas fans have disagreed, many of which were on fourth down, but this is one even the most cynical Razorbacks fan should be able to get behind.

HOGS FEED:

• Did Arkansas fans really expect Texas coach to acknowledge them?

• Odom never wanted to leave Arkansas as defensive coordinator

• Former Hogs assistant says Missouri gave him raw deal

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