Yurachek, Pittman Hold Discussions on General Manager for Razorbacks

Arkansas looking into potential of hiring someone to oversee program with wide range of new issues

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman with athletic director Hunter Yurachek before the game against Louisiana Tech / Nilsen Roman - Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas has a lot of moving parts for in the past two weeks. Since the portal opened, over 20 players have jumped ship. Arkansas signed its class of 2025, which includes 24 players. The Razorbacks also have a bowl game to prepare for in 14 days.

That's a lot for any one person to oversee. Many schools have already hired a general manager to help in an a college football world that requires the coach to perform more duties than ever before. Stanford made waves by hiring former NFL quarterback and alumnus Andrew Luck as its GM.

Eight of the 16 SEC schools have someone listed officially as a "general manager" or "GM" for football in the althletics directory. Arkansas is not one of them. Coach Sam Pittman and athletic director Hunter Yurachek have had discussions about hiring one, but see no eminent urgency.

"Mr. Yurachek and myself have talked about a general manager," Pittman said. "We have a criteria for one, we just, we’re not going to do it until probably, if we do, until April or something like that."

Until then, Pittman and the rest of the staff are tasked with dealing with the over 3,600 kids that are in the portal and finding the correct players on the budget available to build the roster, something that he remains confident in.

"I don’t feel like we’re behind there at all," Pittman said. "I don’t feel like we’re behind in the portal, I don’t feel like we’re behind in who’s knowingly available."

Money isn't an issue either, with the coach mentioning unprompted that they are not losing kids to the portal because they don't have money.

Pittman just preaches patience from a fanbase that may have concerns about a huge portion of the roster looking for opportunities elsewhere

"I would ask is that they [the fans] be patient to see over the next week and a half," Pittman said. "If I didn't bite off more than I can chew. See if we get out of the portal what I think we can get. If we do, they'll be very excited about that."

Arkansas is now 2 weeks away from the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 27 and will be broadcast on ESPN.

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