Will Sam Pittman be sticking around Arkansas longer than his original contract called for in Fayetteville?

Yessss Sssssir!

At least it looks that way on paper as the Razorbacks have made the decision to “reset” Pittman’s contract, which essentially means the program has given its head coach a one-year contract extension. Pittman’s contract at Arkansas now runs through the 2025 football season.

Why was this done? According to Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek, the two parties agreed that all the issues surrounding 2020 made for an unfair evaluation of the job Pittman did in Fayetteville.

“What I did for Coach is we just did a total reset of his contract,” Yurachek said according to Tom Murphy of Whole Hog Sports. “So he’s kind of starting from Year 1 again this year. So in a sense it’s given him a one-year extension.

“But I didn’t feel like for Coach that to be evaluated on his first season without spring practice, playing an SEC-only schedule was the appropriate measure for him. So him and I agreed, let’s just reset your contract, really to kind of like this is your first year coming up this year. He and I both executed that this past week.”

During Pittman’s first season as head coach of the program, Arkansas went 3-7 playing an all-SEC schedule.

The Razorbacks beat Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee and were headed to the Texas Bowl before TCU failed to make the trip for the game due to COVID issues within its program.