I've concluded (I think) that Sam Pittman was too harsh & flippant to players at Arkansas

I think deep down that Sam is a good guy, but that he was playing a role in regards to how he perceived his approach should be judged. He was "good ole boy" in front of the local media, and behind the scenes, more than a few players were taken aback at his harshness.

One thing is, he didn't sell it. Little bitty Lou Holtz could rip a player's arse, and he sold it. There was no question what was going on if an arse chewing was in session on the sideline. I was a little kid during Holtz' time, but there's no question he never wavered; if you got a arse chewing coming, he gave it in front of the entire world.

There were two defensive backs who got arrested on a weekend night and anyone who looks at the video knows it was the police officer who was in the wrong. One of you can post that video, I'm not getting into it any further, but if I was Sam Pittman that next day, I would have been calling the chief of police and Fayetteville mayor and ripping the a new a-hole. There was no reason for the cop to act the way he did, and Sam refused to stand up and defend his two players. And I imagine he lost some of the remaining players over this.

Then there was Ty Washington who was kicked off the team in 2024, and he was just an emotional kid at that point because his grandmother had got put in hospice. And Sam reportedly just didn't care about the kid's emotional problems and kicked him the hell off the team for him supposedly refusing to go into a game for a few moments and then coming back and saying, yes, he wants to go in. I'm not taking up for either Ty or Sam, none of us were there, but there's one thing about the Arkansas sports "media", they never say shite about anything until some coach has been fired, and then they're all Mister Tough Guy sports reporter.

So as Arkansas fans, we never hear shite until after the fact, and we are forced to assume this or that. At least Sam wasn't a little pussy like Chad Morris. But the pendulum swung too far in the other direction on the Sam hire

Sam worked for Butch Davis at UNC and he worked for Kirby at UGA and I can't remember who else at this point. So he had good mentors, even Kirby being so much younger than him. One thing I know, the Arkansas "media" will not dig in and find out, except our former tight end DJ Williams, and a few other younger guys who are very promising media guys