Pittman Has Become True Head Coach, Displays Modern Wisdom

When Arkansas coach got chance to reset the program, he did so in a forward-thinking manner

Previously published Dec. 2022

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – While it wasn't a pretty process to watch as it evolved over the past month or so, Sam Pittman is now THE head coach of the University of Arkansas football program, and it was probably time for that to happen.

Not only that, but he has made choices in his newfound freedom that may be unique for a coach of his generation, but that could pay off in a big way in the long run.

When Pittman first got the job, he was as wide-eyed and innocent as coach with 32 years of experience could be. He was introspective, so he made the right call in recognizing that he needed someone with head coaching experience to advise him while also complementing his skills with strong defensive knowledge.

Hiring Barry Odom was the best decision he could make in those first couple of years.

Bringing on a younger guy with the ability to craft a run-first offense into something that would appeal to modern athletes was also a stroke of self-awareness. In hiring Kendal Briles, Pittman could play to his personal strengths as a now ex-offensive line coach while essentially being able to let Briles be an offensive skills position head coach of sorts.

It was a system that let Pittman have room to grow into the role of head coach. From the outside looking in, Arkansas had three head coaches with Pittman taking on the executive duties as the face of the leadership team.

That was all well and good the first couple of years, but as Pittman grew in his understanding of how to be a head coach, the time to move to a new model became obvious. For the first time, Pittman was taking the heat for what was happening on and off the field.

Having learned how to cook the meal, it wasn't going to be long before he would become tired of dealing with the complaints about how it was coming out of the kitchen.

Pittman needed to take more control over the team, so as job offers starting coming for his coaches, there was no need to get in the way. He needed the opportunity to bring in coaches who could see him for the head coach he has become and not the coach in training he once was.

The only two coaches he absolutely couldn't afford to lose were offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and running backs coach Jimmy Smith. Briles was important because he might take KJ Jefferson with him. As for Smith, his value is a key we'll explain later. 

Briles flirted with Mississippi State, which could have been a disaster for Pittman. It's why he was willing to break the bank to keep him even though it would have hamstrung the program financially in coming seasons when it comes to hiring top of the line coaches.

Had the program not gone through the turmoil of late November and December, Pittman might have let Briles go anyway, but things were so chaotic and Mississippi State coming along as the lead suitor increased the chances of Jefferson going also.

So, Pittman stuck with him.

That is until Briles provided him an out.

The now infamous "Run it back!" tweet where Briles partnered with Jefferson to let Arkansas fans know they were putting all the late season drama behind them and move forward as a united front provided Pittman the leverage he needed when Briles tried to dangle his name out there once more with the TCU job.

It showed a lack of loyalty to both Jefferson and Razorback fans. Pittman was now free to open the door and help Briles walk right out, bringing a sense of stability with his exit.

In the span of a month, the coaching room has become a changed dynamic in every sense of the word. 

There is no longer a three-headed monster. Pittman is the Godfather of this operation and he has a staff and team that now sees it that way.

The evolution is complete. He's no longer an offensive line coach happy to be learning how to be a head coach.

He's the man.

That doesn't mean his introspection has gone away. Quite the contrary.

There were a lot of lessons to be learned amid the turmoil at the end of the year.

There are two key components that appear to have gone a long way toward shaping the choices Pittman made for his staff.

The first is how the Myles Slusher thing went down. The coaching room wasn't built to handle that situation in a way that fits the current times.

Pittman is old school and he handled it the same way nearly every coach from 2015 until the beginning of college football would have handled it. Slusher got into legal trouble and he got suspended for doing so.

Had the coaching room had a different dynamic, the process for handing the situation might have been different. There still may have been a suspension, but the approach that went into the suspension and handling the fallout would likely have been different, and approach really matters.

Odds are, the discussion probably didn't go any deeper than Pittman and Odom, although only those in the room know for sure. 

That discussion is missing a needed perspective. If both coordinators were involved, there's still a missing perspective.

The only coaches on the staff who could have spoken on the matter from the perspective of an African American male on Slusher's behalf were low level assistants.

Considering the end of the season isn't the best time of year for lower assistants to speak up, and also the worn, irritable demeanor Pittman wore even in public in the midst of a mentally taxing time, it was a brave and noble thing they did if such talks did occur.

Whether it's because someone got into Pittman's ear or he figured it out himself, it's clear that Pittman realized he needed more diversity involved in the decision-making process in regard to player situations.

Hence the effort to bring in a wider variety of backgrounds when it came time to reshape the staff.

That brings us back to Smith. He was a high school coach not that long ago. 

He's not exactly that experienced when it comes to recruiting and planning against college defenses. Yet, when you talk to recruits, especially right after they arrive on campus, regardless of which side of the ball they play on, Smith's name always comes up.

Words like "relatable" and "cares" come up a lot.

One dynamic that has evolved that people who don't work with large numbers of teenagers on a regular basis might not realize is the extreme change that has taken place over the last four to five years.

For pretty much the entire existence of the sport, the young men coming through were pretty much the same from year to year. There were a few minor differences, but not much.

Therefore, coaching was coaching. It was a lot like baking the same cake over and over.

However, around 2017 or so, a massive change happened in the upcoming group of teenagers. It was so extreme that it's almost as if a different subspecies of humanity had risen. 

Their brains work in dramatically different ways as if they are on a non-stop emotional overdrive. 

Teachers and coaches retired by the droves as they struggled to relate or be able to manage this new crop of young men and women.

Those who found success were those willing to listen endlessly and ride out the non-stop wave of rising and falling emotions. 

They found a way to maneuver through the never-ending minefield of eggshells that could trigger emotional breakdowns, sending countless teenagers running from the room in tears, leading to calls for administrators and SROs to comb the campus looking for the student in question before things could get worse.

Coaches who relied on yelling or just expecting athletes to do what they're told watched as a mass exodus of players left their rosters. Even those who were simply stern when they felt the moment called for it struggled to manage the room.

The ability to handle even the most basic adversity became a fading trait.

This new generation of athlete has begun to hit campus. Smith was a head coach in high school when this change started to take place.

That has put him in position to have the tools and understanding for managing this current crop of young men that older coaches don't have yet, and may never have. 

Of the staff that remained from 2022, he was the most valuable in the room. While fans may have wanted Pittman to go after the old list of names of highly successful lifetime coordinators and assistants, Pittman realized that in addition to a more diversified staff, he needed to get younger and as caring and relatable as possible. 

Instead of "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose," the mantra for putting together a staff for what's coming out of the high school ranks right now is "High energy, big hearts, passionate, but chill."

Look at the hires on the defensive side of the ball.

Travis Williams – Was coaching high school in 2013. Has three school-aged daughters.

Marcus Woodson – Two school-aged sons.

Deron Wilson – Two young children.

Pittman has excelled in this regard.

With all three, the words great recruiter isn't far behind when their names are uttered. That only happens by applying to the highest level the idea that recruits don't care what you know until they know that you care into family's living rooms.

Coaches who only care about what happens on the field and in the classroom don't get that level of accolades anymore. It has to go so much further than that.

These are three men who are better positioned to relate to the modern athlete than a 55-year-old career journeyman who spent a good portion of his life doing Oklahoma drills and being told he couldn't have water because it would make him weak.

If things looked bleak in the cold darkness of December, they look much brighter now. 

Pittman has been able to fully hit the reset button at Arkansas and so far he has made moves that indicate a forward looking wisdom not often seen in coaches of his generation. 

If he can survive next season, it could pay big dividends in the long run. 

If for some reason it doesn't, at least he will be able to retire knowing the choices that got him fired were his. 

And as odd as it sounds, there's a great deal of comfort in that for a man.

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