Arkansas Football: Sam Pittman proves why he’s SEC Coach of the Year

Arkansas football is having a resurgent year and continued that with a 31-28 victory over No. 17 Mississippi State on Saturday. This was the Razorbacks’ third victory against a ranked opponent this year, their most ranked team wins in a year since 2016.

They are now 6-3 on the year, might find themselves in the top 25 College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, and will play in their first bowl game in five years. Arkansas fans have not seen their team play like this in a long time, and they have Sam Pittman to thank for that.

From 2017-2019, Arkansas was the laughing stock of the SEC. They had a record of 8-28 in those three years and had just one SEC conference victory.

They had not been to a bowl game since 2016, and the poor coaching of Bret Bielema and Chad Morris was running the program to the ground. Gone were the days of Arkansas consistently winning 10 or more games and playing in big bowl games like the Sugar or Cotton Bowl every other year. From 2017-19, they were just happy to get wins.

Then came Sam Pittman, who had served as the Offensive Line coach at Georgia under Kirby Smart, and was at Arkansas prior to his time with the Bulldogs. Pittman was a phenomenal recruiter and helped lay the foundation for the recent Georgia football domination we have seen over the past few years.

In his time with the Bulldogs, he helped develop great Georgia offensive linemen such as NFL first-rounders Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wynn. He would be hired as the Arkansas head coach at the end of the 2019 season.

There were many who thought Arkansas was nuts for hiring Pittman. He had never been a head coach before, and many felt a current head coach was needed to rebuild the Arkansas football program.

Following a 3-7 first season that saw the Razorbacks pick up their first SEC conference win since 2017, Coach Pittman and his team are playing at a level that Arkansas fans have not seen in a long time.

They started the year 4-0 (first time since 2003), defeated rivals Texas and Texas A&M in convincing fashion, and were ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2012. Though they went on to lose to three ranked SEC teams in Georgia, Ole Miss (could have won that game if it wasn’t for a failed two-point conversion), and Auburn, the culture of the program had changed, and the fans could feel it.

Recruiting has also improved under Coach Pittman. He credited Kirby Smart for teaching him the importance of consistently recruiting, and so far he is having success with it. The Razorbacks had the 25th ranked recruiting class in 2021, and are ranked No. 8 in the country for 2023 so far.

In his introductory press conference, Coach Pittman spoke about how honored he was to be at Arkansas, and what kind of football he wanted his team to play going forward:

"“This means a lot to me…I’m humbled to be your coach. We’ll do our best for you. We’re going to work our butt off for this university. We’re going to get it done.”“We want our program to reflect the great state of Arkansas. I’m not a big slogan guy, but we’re going to work hard, we’re going to be blue collar about it, and we’re going to be tough. We’re going to earn what we’re getting and we’re going to go after them.”"

Hiring a good head coach is a challenge for a university and an athletic department. They look for a lot of characteristics, including the ability to win, develop players on the field, and develop them off the field. So far, Sam Pittman has proven to be the right man for Arkansas football, and deserves to be named the 2021 SEC Coach of the Year.