Arkansas Football: Sam Pittman is SEC’s most underrated head coach

Sam Pittman has been a godsend for Arkansas football for the past two seasons but he still doesn’t get the respect he deserves.

Sam Pittman has only been at Arkansas for two years and yet his impact has been immeasurable.

Pittman has been the offensive line coach just about everywhere throughout his career including Arkansas previously, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kansas. That’s a pretty clear indication that he was so good at what he did that he was a top target for plenty of programs to coach the offensive line. The fact that he became a head coach is not shocking.

Arkansas had a vacancy after the Chad Morris era was a massive failure, finishing up with zero SEC wins, and Pittman just made sense in Fayetteville.

The move was a little nerve-wracking for some fans because Pittman had been an offensive line coach for decades but never a head coach. Was he ready for that role? Two seasons in, the obvious answer was yes. He was more than ready.

Taking over a program that went 8-28 overall and 1-23 in SEC play over the previous three seasons, Pittman had his work cut out for him. How did he fare in a situation that could have been considered one of the biggest rebuilds in college football? Oh, he just went 3-7 in a COVID-19-shortened 2020 season with all three wins coming in SEC play. Yes, he tripled the program’s SEC wins from the previous three seasons in a shorted 2020 campaign. Not too shabby.

Everyone was curious to see how he’d follow up that ‘successful’ three-win season and he tripled his own total wins, going 9-4 which is the most wins the program has had since 2011.

Arkansas also finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2011 and made its first appearance in the top 10 since 2012. And he’s doing all this without the roster being a majority of his own guys.

Now that he’s showing he can be a solid recruiter (No. 25 class in 2021, No. 28 in 2022, and the early No. 2 class for 2023), Pittman is getting the talent he needs to compete. If he can win nine games with the roster still in a rebuilding situation, just imagine what he can do with top 20-30 classes.

Pittman may be just 12-11 in two years as head coach of Arkansas, but he’s already far exceeded expectations and he’s just scratching the surface.

It’s time to give Sam his due.