Money changes things.

It can change priorities. It can change approach. It can change scrutiny.

The last one is especially true for a modern Power 5 football coach, most of whom are making north of $4 million annually. Fifteen years ago, Nick Saban was the only coach in America who made that much. Now, Clark Lea and Shane Beamer are the only SEC coaches who aren’t in the $4 million club.

One of those guys who vaulted into that group this offseason was Sam Pittman. After delivering Arkansas its best season in a decade, Pittman received a team-friendly contract that earned him a substantial bump in annual pay (from $3 million to $5 million) and was loaded with incentives, even down to the buyout.

It was a win-win contract, which runs through 2027. If all goes according to plan, it won’t be the last deal Pittman works out with athletic director Hunter Yurachek.

Even after a disappointing 3-game losing streak to all but squash the Hogs’ hopes of a New Year’s 6 bowl, Pittman isn’t on any hot seat. A skid like that is nothing new for Arkansas. It’s actually the 6th consecutive season in which the Hogs suffered a 3-game losing streak at some point. Welcome to life in the SEC West.

But entering a unique matchup across the country at BYU wherein Arkansas will be a slight underdog, it does feel like a defining time for the impossible-to-hate Pittman.

Let me explain.

If this current pace continues, Pittman is going to have a decision to make on Barry Odom’s future. As in, his top assistant who already got multiple raises just to stay at Arkansas. Odom, who received a raise earlier in the offseason to bump him up to $1.85 million annually with a deal that runs through 2024, led one of the conference’s most disappointing units so far.

Yes, losing preseason All-American Jalen Catalon in the season-opener was a tough pill to swallow, but losing 1 player shouldn’t be a unit-destroying development, especially when that unit is led by an assistant who is making nearly $2 million.

Yet through 6 games, Arkansas’ defense ranks:

  • No. 88 in FBS in rushing yards/carry allowed
  • No. 108 in FBS scoring defense
  • No. 116 in FBS in yards/pass attempt allowed
  • No. 120 in FBS in yards/play allowed
  • No. 121 in FBS in rushing TDs allowed
  • No. 127 in FBS in passing defense
  • No. 131 in FBS in 30-yard scrimmage plays allowed

If Arkansas had a team with a quick-strike offense like Tennessee, the Hogs could get away with some of that. But as we know, that’s not the case. Kendal Briles’ offense is run-heavy, and it’s built to wear down an opposing defense, not rally back from a multi-score deficit late.

This formula isn’t sustainable. The question facing Arkansas is twofold.

Can Odom make any adjustments to stop the bleeding? And if he can’t, would Pittman be willing to fire a coordinator for the first time?

There’s not a definitive answer to either question yet.

In Odom’s defense, he tried making adjustments against Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense by dropping 8 into coverage and sending less pressure in an effort to help the struggling pass defense. Little did he know that Leach would be willing to run the ball 36 times. Not only could Arkansas not stop Dillon Johnson and the Bulldogs’ ground game, but it looked like Will Rogers could’ve pulled out a lawn chair and squeezed in a power nap before delivering the football against Odom’s defense.

MSU adjusted better than Arkansas in-game, and Alabama threw out the game plan when Bryce Young went down early in the second quarter. After a blitzkrieg of long passing plays early from the Heisman Trophy winner, all the Tide did without Young was rip off a trio of 70-yard runs to squash Arkansas’ comeback attempt. Shoot, even Bobby Petrino dialed up 357 passing yards against Arkansas with an FCS offense.

Odom doesn’t look like a guy with answers right now. Soon, it’s Pittman who’ll have to answer the Odom question.

Pittman has always spoken candidly about his efforts to keep Odom in Fayetteville as long as possible. In February 2021, Pittman outlined how negotiations went with Odom after his first season leading a surprise unit in 2020.

“Barry has stayed here for the last two years for a significant amount of money less than what he could’ve made if he left,” Pittman said on The Saturday Down South Podcast. “Now part of that is because of the man Barry Odom is. Part of that is because of our friendship and his belief in Arkansas and part of it is our administration. It took 15 minutes with our administration to get his contract what Barry was comfortable with this past time. The time before, it was a walk in the indoor (facility) with myself, (Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek) and him.

“You have to give the university credit because they’re going, ‘Hey, we know his value to us and let’s get it done.’ In those situations, you don’t have time. You can’t say, ‘Well, let’s get it done in 2-3 days. The guy might be gone.”

For Pittman, that decision was an easy one. He knew what he wanted and he just had to communicate to Yurachek why Odom was so valuable and deserving of a raise. The same was true the following year.

But how critical is Pittman going to be if the defensive struggles continue? Will Odom get another year to figure it out? Remember that Arkansas’ defense could undergo a major facelift if Catalon and Drew Sanders both bolt for the NFL at season’s end. Also remember that even if the path of least resistance is keeping Odom for Year 4, that can still loom large for a head coach’s future.

When Florida had its worst defense since the Woodrow Wilson administration in 2020, Dan Mullen made the unpopular decision to keep Todd Grantham for Year 4. The result was Florida didn’t show nearly enough defensive improvement to warrant that non-move, and it was one of the reasons why Mullen’s time in Gainesville was cut short.

If you think it’s impossible for Pittman to follow that path, remember that this is still the SEC. This is still the conference that chews up and spits out coaches of all backgrounds, especially when they fall short of expectations.

This current 3-game losing streak hit Arkansas fans a bit differently because this was the first time the Hogs started in the AP Top 25 in 7 years. Losing 3 in a row with a team picked to finish in the bottom half of the division is different than losing 3 in a row when you’re picked to finish 3rd and potentially reach a New Year’s 6 Bowl.

It also hits differently when you’re no longer just the likable coach with the unconventional path on a cheap contract. Pittman is still 2 of those things, but the money changed. So, too, have expectations.

For most of the last 3 years, Pittman earned nothing but praise for his coordinator hires and their subsequent raises. We knew that those would define someone without experience as an FBS coordinator or a head coach.

The same will be true of his next decision.