Arkansas coaching search: Multiple coaches with SEC ties linked to Razorbacks job
By Jake Faigus
Published:
Arkansas recently parted ways with Sam Pittman as head coach after the Razorbacks were blown out at home against Notre Dame this past weekend. This comes after the Razorbacks also lost two straight games on last-second turnovers, resulting in scores to both Ole Miss and Memphis. There is a long list of potential replacements, with a few having past SEC experience.
CBS Sports college football writer Will Backus wrote a list of potential replacements and immediately mentioned Guz Malzahn, Barry Odom, and Bobby Petrino as options thanks to their ties to the SEC.
Malzahn has revitalized the Florida State offense so far this year. The Seminoles are averaging 53 points per game after a massive struggle last season. However, his most recent stint as a head coach at UCF was an enormous disappointment. His time with Auburn was mainly great before it fizzled out, and he was a former offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Arkansas.
Odom was fired in his previous SEC tenure, but has found success after. He was also Sam Pittman’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022. Before that, Odom was the head coach at Missouri from 2016 to 2019. After Arkansas, Odom went to UNLV, won, and is now in Big Ten country with Purdue. This is his first season, so the timing probably doesn’t work, but the ties can’t be ignored.
Petrino is a realistic option for Arkansas despite all the baggage. Arkansas is currently fourth in the SEC with 514.6 total yards per game and third in the conference with 213.8 yards rushing per game. Petrino’s time as interim will be interesting because the off-field issues were what did him in during his first stint with Arkansas.
Arkansas has money to spend on a head coach, so seeing where they go with this new hire will be interesting.
