Reports: Arkansas has identified 'top candidate' for head coaching job
According to multiple reports, Arkansas has identified Georgia associate head coach and offensive line coach Sam Pittman as the top candidate for the vacancy.
In fact, college football insider Brett McMurphy says that it’s “90 percent done,” too. So, the Hogs may have a new head coach soon.
Georgia OL coach Sam Pittman to Arkansas as Hogs new coach is “90 percent done,” source told Stadium. Yahoo 1st reported
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 8, 2019
Pittman is a well traveled SEC assistant who’s known as a really good offensive line coach and a dynamic ace recruiter. Pittman has SEC experience at Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, among other places, during his long career.
He coached the offensive line and was the recruiting coordinator for the Hogs from 2013-15.
ESPN’s Chris Low says Pittman is the leading candidate for the position.
Sources tell ESPN that Sam Pittman, Georgia’s associate head coach and offensive line coach, has emerged as the top candidate for the Arkansas head coaching job. Pittman was at Arkansas from 2013-15 as assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 8, 2019
The Hogs pursued Lane Kiffin hard, but he opted for the Ole Miss job. Arkansas has also been interested in current interim head coach Barry Lunney Jr., Appalachian State’s Eli Drinkwitz and FIU’s Butch Davis; however, it appears that Pittman has jumped to the forefront as the leading candidate.
I’ll just leave the question here. Why?
This would be huge! WOO PIG
Snatch him while you can. Your not going to get anyone better. Hate to lose him but he deserves a chance. If you hire him I guarantee I don’t want to play Ark in 2 or 3 years.
Just a loser at Georgia not diff here not a good fit I don’t think
You are 100% spot on boss! He will surround himself with top assistants and with the talent we have – and yes, we have talent – we will be competitive again immediately!
He was my #1 pick from the beginning. I couldn’t be happier!
riiiight
Would be a massive blow to UGA. Probably the best OLine coach/ Recruiter in the country.
you are a worm. he has done well and deserves a chance. All you care about is how it affects UGA. Pathetic.
Idk wtf you’re talking about but the only pathetic one is you. I never said he shouldn’t get a chance and obviously I care how it affects our biggest rival. Sometimes I question the sanity of UGA fans.
Garbage hire. Yurachek deserves to be fired over this. Not even a coordinator. A line coach. Wow. Our very own version of Joe Moorhead with even less prestige.
Orgeron came to LSU with the same background. He is nothing like Moorhead, as he was both a coordinator and a former HC.
At least Orgeron ACTUALLY had experience as a head coach. Bet you we will be here 3 years from now, probably paying 2 other buyouts. Wonder what junior high coach we will scoop up then, since from Bielema to Morris to Pittman the hires just continue to get more pathetic and the program drifts deeper into irrelevance. Big middle finger to the donors and taxpayers in arkansas who have spent millions for facilities upgrades over the last 5 years.
Only as an interim Head Coach. Outside of him being in line of command at USC, he has the same career path as Pittman. I have my reservations, but at the same time, it’s worked at LSU. Calling it a garbage hire and calling for Yurschek’s firing is premature. Fans like you are the reason why recruits and potential hires shy away from our program. Too many “fans” spouting off bs versus trying to show support for the school.
Man…You have no clue. You want a coach or prestige?
I LIKE IT !! I LIKE IT A LOT !! Helluva recruiter. Will likely put together a helluva staff. Most important, he will make this a friggin’ TEAM again.
Arky had been turned-down by as many coaches as South Carolina, when they hired a proverbial-loseras Head Coach, Will Muschamp(I beleive he was the 5th coach offered the job). It must be sad to offer million$ and coaches say “NO WAY”. The Arky program must be a bigger dumpster-fire than most people know. Lots of luck, guys…with your offensive-line-coach, head coach. Your “O” should resemble Bret Beilema’s.
Why the hell would anyone want it to look like that? My god this program doesn’t know its head from its @ss. This isn’t freaking Georgia and it isn’t Alabama. The only way to win is to air it out like Petrino did because he’s not going to beat Saban for lineman. Besides who wants to watch that offense? So we are just going to backtrack again. Awesome. We will be crap for another 10 years.
It’s pretty apparent from all your whining on here that you really don’t know much about football, the program, or how it all works. If you really feel that way about the hire and the program, then maybe you need to go find another team to root for. Pittman should be an excellent hire – he is a GREAT offensive line coach, one of the best recruiters in the country, and respected by everyone….except you that is.
Do you people just agree with whatever the department does? It never ceases to amaze me how somehow the fan base seems to galvanize around whoever the hire is. I bet you’d tell me the same thing if they went with Lunney, too, and two years ago, you probably were the one saying I was wrong about Morris.
It’s called supporting your team. Pretty cool concept. You should try it.
Well if supporting your team and willful ignorance were synonyms then Chad Morris should still be the head coach.
Chad was given two years. He failed. The new guy hasn’t even started yet and you are already giving up. That’s not being any sort of fan.
Well said LSUSMC. gohogs7988, you can not like the hire, but I equate your whining to another saying. Your whining is like wishing that the pilot of your airplane would die. I was excited about Morris, but I offered my support for him and gave him plenty of opportunities, but he failed. Pittman is the same way. I love the guy, but I’m not sold on him being the head coach. I will support him and give him his chance, just like I did Chad. You don’t have to like it, but for God’s sake, stop scaring off our recruits with your bs.
*wasn’t excited about Morris
Hired him because he was formerly “at Arkansas.” Oh my god who cares? Why can’t this program and this state get past this “Arkansas ties” crap?
Because Arkansas is a very unique job with very unique challenges (recruiting). It stands to reason that someone who has been there would know and understand this. While not a requirement, having experience at Arkansas should be viewed as a positive.
Which is why you need to recruit outside the state, so not sure why that would matter. Northwest Arkansas is not some desolate place out in the middle of the desert. It’s one of the fastest growing metro areas in America. The problem is, there’s a bunch of the old guard that doesn’t want to see that times are changing.
While at Arkansas, Pittman recruited Dan Skipper from Colorado, Denver Kirkland from Florida, and Frank Ragnow from Minnesota. How’s that for out-of-state recruiting? Pittman has connections all over the country and at the JUCO’s. Your argument is crap because it’s based on anger, not logic or reason. Go have a beer and relax.
My only point was that having outside connections would seem to be more relevant than being “sufficiently Arkansan.” I think that that mentality limits the program in so many ways. Mark my words. I said the same thing when they hired Morris. We will be in the same place 3 years from now.
Probably the best realistic choice left. Like Orgeron in that he’s a line coach, never a coordinator, but a great recruiter. If he can surround himself with a good staff, this might work out.
More realistically it’s happening because Yurachek put all of his chips in on Lane Kiffin instead of going after Leach. Nobody stays in Pullman, Washington to sign a one year extension with no pay raise unless he thinks he doesn’t have a chance of being hired.
Leach and his one-dimensional offense would be dogmeat in the SEC. Went 6-6 in the PAC12.
It worked Petrino. Those were the best years Arkansas ever had in the SEC. I disagree with a ground and pound philosophy which is what I am afraid will come with this guy. I think it’s hard to be competitive with comparatively lower talent, and frankly I think it makes no sense to go from that philosophy to recruiting players who fit a passing-oriented attack (even if it never actually materialized on the field), and back to a run first offense. For one thing, even if this guy is any good (which is a huge if), now we have to go back to recruiting players for a completely different offense. By next season, it will have been nearly 3 years since Arkansas even won an SEC game. Don’t think fans have the patience.
Good for Pittman..one thing for sure Arkansas will have a good o- line soon…but can you guys do us favor? Since your taking Pittman…will you please take Coley also…
you are idiot.
To whom are you referring to being a idiot?
Apparently you lol. He’s “special”
Special Ed…
I wasn’t sure OMiss, Arkansas, or Missouri would land a coach that could get them in the hunt for a division title. I’m on record for being a Kiffin detractor. But during all the published comments about and considering Kiffin, i’m ready to expect him to do well at OMiss. There is no doubt that Arkansas hired an anchor type coach. A ship of good assistants could be anchored to this quality hire. As for Missouri, this hire is an extremely high reward potential hire, with almost no risk. Good job SEC.