Arkansas Fans

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I’m watching the Finebaum show as I go to sleep, and he’s interviewing Sam Pittman. The guy seems nice, but boring as all get out.

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That's fine with me. The last two coaches came in and immediately ran their cocksucker and then proceeded to suck cock their entire tenure. I'm fine with a quiet guy who keeps his nose to the grind until he proves something. Boring isn't bad when the alternative is probably going to be endless humiliation.

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-Are y’all excited about having him there?

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I'm keeping an open mind, because you can never really tell with a coach. Cristobal succeeding at Oregon, Frost failing so far at Nebraska. It's all more of a crapshoot than anyone is comfortable admitting. But no, I am not excited. I'm not excited because this was a far bigger risk than was necessary to take, at a time when it's never been more pivotal not to be a bonehead about a coaching search.

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-What’s been the vibe since he took over the ship? (Energy around the program, recruiting, player reaction etc.)

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I have no idea. I think the player reaction has been substantially better than it was with Morris, and the local media seems to love him. We were going to have a down year in recruiting because this is a really bad in-state haul for the 2021 cycle. We produced exactly one 4* prospect statewide, and he was rated like 90 or something extremely low. We lost that player to Texas A&M. We have one 4* recruit out of 18 so far. Chad Morris signed 11 his first full cycle, although the second cycle saw a significant fall off. Again, with the downturn in local recruiting, I didn't expect a whole lot. But with Pittman, we were supposed to count on: A] Solid o-line coaching, and B] Enhanced recruiting. He has objectively not delivered so far on the second point. He's holding steady with every other coach we've had. I don't mind saying one turbulent year doesn't mean anything and I won't let it make me form some harsh kneejerk reaction, but it honestly irritates me greatly when people want to pretend that recruiting this year hasn't been lackluster. The evidence so far is we've been oversold on that front.

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-I know he was Georgia’s O-Line Coach, but what else does he have on the resume and/or what is he bringing to the table?

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He's never been a coordinator or HC at the D1 collegiate level. We literally hired a lifelong o-line coach. Not to say that doesn't mean he won't be a natural with all his experience. But we literally hired a lifelong o-line coach.

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-How much work does he have to get y’all back on track?

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You obviously don't even need to ask this. Whether anyone agrees that Pittman is right for the job or not, our program has never been in worse shape, and unless he posts 2–10 three years in a row or something truly dismal, he deserves his fair shot of four or five years. Unless he turns out to be the next GOAT, he's going to need some time to go through growing pains. We can't afford to keep running through coaches like this. Both financially and in an image sense.

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-Is he the right man for the job?

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Clearly, no one knows. Neither the sunshine pumpers nor the pessimistic ones. Culturally, he's the best fit we've had in a long time. He has a real passion for being a Hog and it shows. That will go a long way in him giving his full effort. Is his full effort good enough? Probably not, but here's hoping.

Players seem to love Pittman and I don't think they would call him boring at all. His former players even fought to get him the job. He was always well liked by players when he was here before and we had a very good line back then. I do think he looks a little tired since returning from Georgia and you can see that in his press conferences, imo.

I am excited, but then he was one of my favorites from the beginning. To be perfectly honest, we were in bad shape after everything that has happened in the last 8 years and I didn't think we had much chance of hiring a proven winner. I'm not keen on Kiffin or Leach, so I preferred Pittman all along.

Right now, fans seem to like Pittman, and while most of us have a "wait and see" approach, I think we mostly like what we're seeing. Plus, if Pittman works out, then he could be here a while and we could use that stability. He allegedly loves Arkansas, having grown up somewhat close to NWA, and he campaigned for the job.

So far, recruiting hasn't been the big splash that some promised, but he's recruited well everywhere he's been in the past. And let's be honest... After losing 19 straight SEC games, it can't be easy to recruit for Arkansas right now. So far, he's assembled a class that looks extremely solid, but just not spectacular with a lot of higher rated players.

I honestly think Pittman will surprise some people. Right now we're missing depth and talent at certain positions. We'll be competitive sooner than expected, but I won't venture to guess how long it will take to begin competing for the SEC-W, because I just don't know.

Let's just say Hog fan's optimism running high. I actually heard a caller on a show here in Northwest Arkansas predict 8-2 (losing to Auburn and Florida) and was asking if that would get them to a playoff spot. He was serious too.

I think Pittman could be a great hire, but you just don't know. Could turn out to be another Fulmer or could turn out to be another Matt Luke.

We had one of our OL players say recently that he only ever spoke to Chad Morris in-person like three times, and two of those were during the recruiting process.

I think Pittman is genuine and truly cares about the players and they will fight a lot harder for him. Plus he hired a very good pair of coordinators. You can tell by some of the things he says that he’s still getting used to the responsibility that being a HC brings though and he’s understandably probably a little overwhelmed with everything going on. But he’s so blunt and transparent about it that he admits it while other coaches just use coachspeak.

It seems like he’s trying to bring a more blue collar hard work mentality to the program instead of the Red Bull and flashy slogans we had before. Who knows how it will work out but he’s easy to root for.

I’m a little surprised we haven’t gotten more interest in blue chip OL so far but we have gotten quite a few guys with speed which is what we’ve been needing. We’re ranked 29th in recruiting right now which is about on par (maybe slightly lower) than we normally are so he’s doing okay there...but considering we’ve had back to back 2-10 seasons I’m sure it’s not a walk in the park.

Yes more than I would be with Kiffin or a 30 year old head coach.

Very positive. Players of former and current on social media exploded with responses. He did very well in recruiting last year. When he took over the class when it was ranked in the 100s. When signing day arrived, it was a top 30 recruiting class.

This year he is doing fine despite not having any official visits which hurts teams like Arkansas that are 2-10 more than for example Alabama that don't have to depend on official visits to lure big time recruits.

This year has a lot more energy than than these last two years.

He will help bring more offensive linemen not since 2015 when he left. Which ironically was the beginning of the end for Bert.

It won't take him long to get this team bowling again. The rebuilding won't be that long as Arkansas does have talent but didn't showcase it because of poor effort and coaching.

He is better than immature and underachiever Lane Kiffin and old enough to be father of Eli Drinkwitz which to be honest doesn't have the composure needed for this job. We needed age and world experience to weather the storm and he has it.