Arkansas has made official two new members of new coach Sam Pittman’s staff.
Sam Carter will serve as the Razorbacks’ new cornerbacks coach and Rion Rhoades will be the new linebackers coach.
Carter comes from Missouri where he served as a defensive quality control and analyst for Barry Odom, who Pittman tabbed as the program’s defensive coordinator earlier this week. Carter was an All-Big 12 safety at TCU. The New Orleans native played in 49 games for the Horned Frogs from 2011-14, starting 39 including all 38 over his final three years. As a senior he was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, a Senior CLASS Award finalist and a Senior CLASS Award second-team All-American.
Rhoades was the head coach for the last 13 as the head coach at JUCO Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas. A former Hutchinson linebacker for Pittman, Rhoades returned to his alma mater as the head coach in 2007 after turning around a struggling Fort Scott CC program in just one year.
At Hutchinson, Rhoades led a run of six straight seasons capped by an 11-1 season in 2014 that claimed the Jayhawk Conference and Region VI championships. Rhoades’ team this fall finished 10-2 and No. 3 in the final NJCAA Rankings.
These additions join Odom, offensive line coach Brad Davis and wide receivers coach Justin Stepp on Pittman’s first staff.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
