Arkansas fires head coach Sam Pittman after 6 seasons

Arkansas has fired head coach Sam Pittman, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. He took over the Razorbacks in 2020, spending nearly six full years with the program. The school officially announced the news on Sunday, too, and named Bobby Petrino as interim head coach.

Arkansas was Pittman’s first Division I head coaching job after spending a majority of his career as an offensive line coach. He previously worked at Georgia from 2016-19, including his final year as assistant head coach in addition to working with the offensive line. From 2013-15, he held the same roles at Arkansas under Bret Bielema.

Pittman also had one of the more unique buyouts in college football, as On3’s Pete Nakos detailed. His contract states that if he’s .500 or above since 2021, the Razorbacks would owe him roughly $9.8 million, which is 75% of Pittman’s remaining salary. He’s currently 29-27 since 2021.

Upon Pittman’s arrival in the COVID-impacted 2020 season, Arkansas went 3-7 before an impressive 9-4 record in 2021. The Razorbacks then went 7-6 in 2022 before struggling to a 4-8 mark in 2023, leading to question about Pittman’s future. However, after making staff changes – including bringing Bobby Petrino in as offensive coordinator – Arkansas went 7-6 to take Pittman off the hot seat.

This year, though, it was an up-and-down start with a 2-2 record and back-to-back losses against Ole Miss and Memphis heading into a matchup against Notre Dame. Things didn’t get better, though. Arkansas fell to the Fighting Irish at home and allowed more than 500 total yards of offense in the process in a 56-13 loss.

Now, Arkansas is opting to make a change and move on from Pittman as head coach. He finishes his time in Fayetteville with a 32-34 overall record, as well as a 14-29 mark in SEC play.

Sam Pittman: ‘It’d be kind of hard to have more pressure’

Following the loss to Memphis Sept. 20, Sam Pittman received a question about the amount of pressure on both him and the program. He pointed out the “opportunity” at hand to try and alleviate some of it, though it’s not necessarily out of the ordinary.

“It’d be kind of hard to have more pressure,” Pittman said. “I mean, the pressure you put on yourself is obviously a lot, because you want to do well for a lot of reasons. But I’ve kind of had this same type of pressure for, I don’t know, three years now. It seems like 40, but it’s been about three.

“We have an opportunity. The only way we can get people who don’t believe in us to start having more positive thoughts about our program is to win ballgames — that’s the bottom line. You can say whatever you want, do whatever you want, but at the end of the day, it’s, ‘What’s the score?’ That’s what changes people’s perception.