Coach Sam Pittman on the hot seat at Arkansas

Hogs hoping for boots from return of Bobby Petrino as Razorbacks’ offensive coordinator

By Stephen Hawkins

Paxton Sports Bureau

DALLAS (AP) — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman made a headline-grabbing hire in the offseason when he brought Bobby Petrino back to Fayetteville as offensive coordinator.

Petrino was head coach of the Razorbacks from 2008-11, but was fired after a scandal involving an extramarital affair and a motorcycle crash.

Petrino has bounced around a lot since, including a one-season stop at Texas A& M last year to work for Jimbo Fisher as offensive coordinator.

“I hire people, I give my opinion, but he’s the offensive coordinator and it’s his responsibility,” Pittman said.

“I would want to work for me, if I was an offensive coordinator. I’m gonna let you go get ‘em. Give him freedom to run what’s best.”

Petrino has been a head coach at Louisville (two stops), Western Kentucky and most recently Missouri State. He was 51-34 for the Razorbacks. “Bobby has been a great resource for me,” Pittman said.

“So there is a lot of times where I’m able to run things by him and we decide collectively at times what is best for the University of Arkansas football team.”

Pittman is 23-28 in four years at Arkansas and coming off a 4-8 season.

The presence of Petrino only ramped up speculation about how secure Pittman is in his job. And he didn’t shy away from it.

“I’m popular now, just in the wrong way,” Pittman said.

“I’d say I’m hot. I’m at the top of those lists.”

Pittman admitted that he, his staff and players got away some this summer to reset their mindset for this fall.

“I think our kids need that,” said Pittman. “I don’t think you can’t build strong leadership if you are there all the time. You aren’t going to be in the locker room with them, going to be in the player’s lounge with them. I think they need some of that. We always had four coaches there each day.

“Used to I wouldn’t get away at all. Went up early. I think they need that a little bit for their own development as leaders. Most of the time I spent at Hot Springs down there at our lake house. Other than that back and forth, in and out, each week. I was in the whole week this week.”

Pittman noted that with the players coming and going so much now due to the transfer portal, it’s harder to develop leadership. Pittman named some of the leaders on this year’s team.

“Obviously Taylen Green,” Pittman said of the quarterback, who is a transfer from Boise State. “I just don’t know how you have success if your quarterback isn’t the top guy leadership, character wise on your team. He’s certainly one of them.

“Fernando Carmona, our left tackle, is the same way.

Keyshawn Blackstock, our right tackle, and Addison Nichols, our center, those guys have come in out of the portal and they’ve been like they have been here for awhile. Obviously Andrew Armstrong at wide receiver, Luke Hasz is back.”

Pittman then talked about the leadership he’s getting from the players on defense.

“On defense, I think you look at Cam Ball (tackle) and Landon Jackson (end),” Pittman said. “Eric Gregory has been around for awhile, too. Xavian Sorey has done a really good job at linebacker since he came in as a man and player.

“We’ve got a couple of portal

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guys we haven’t seen yet in Larry Worth and Stephen Dix (linebackers). Then in the back end Jayden Johnson has played a lot of ball for us.

(Jaylon) Braxton has played a lot of ball for us. Hudson Clark has played a lot of ball for us.”

Pittman then talked about the feel of the team.

“The feel of our football team is as good as it has been since I’ve been there,” Pittman said. “I think we’ve got a talented football team. But I love the leadership. I love what the strength coaches have done in the weight room. I just really like the feel. I liked it in spring ball. I like the feel of our coaching staff.

“But I love the fact that we’ve got a quarterback that is a leader and can do it on the field as well.”

Pittman reflected on the hiring of Petrino.

“We needed some help offensively,” Pittman said. “We needed some players, but we also needed some X-and-O help. I didn’t know if Bobby had any interest in coming back to Arkansas. I got a text from his agent saying he was. I immediately called him. I talked to several different guys. Bobby is a brilliant offensive mind. That all played a factor.

“Then it became a no-brainer if we can get him, let’s go get him. I went to the athletic director and said I would like to hire Bobby. What do you think? He made it happen.”

Pittman also talked about why he and Petrino felt Green was the perfect fit for this offense they plan to run.

“We sat there and looked at about four or five,” Pittman said. “There’s a lot of quarterbacks in the portal. We talked about what Bobby wanted to do, what I want to do. I want to run the ball and be able to protect the quarterback on play action. That was Bobby’s forte as well.

“Then we started watching these guys. We knew Taylen Green could make things happen not only with his arm, but with his legs. So we said let’s go after him and see if we can get him. He was the guy we wanted. Bobby was actually the first guy to offer him when he was the head coach at Missouri State, so that played a factor. I think Bobby played a huge part in getting him here. It was a really big hit for us.”

Pittman’s mindset entering the season is a confident one.

“We went from 3-7 to 9-4,” Pittman said. “We can sure as hell go from 4-8 to 9-4 or 103. We can. We’ve got a good football team. I’m very honored to be the head coach five years now at Arkansas. I’m not close to being finished.

I’m not done. I love our football team.” A reporter asked Pittman how much pressure he feels entering this season. “I don’t,” Pittman said. “I think part of it is we have a good football team. The other thing is it has never been about me. It’s about our kids … and about the state of Arkansas. It has never been about me, nor will it ever be. I want to win for the state of Arkansas and the kids and coaching staff.”

Arkansas opens the season Thursday, Aug. 29, in Little Rock against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

For more from the Arkansas Razorbacks, visit arkansasrazorbacks. com. Follow them on X and Facebook.