Sam Pittman responds to hot seat talk surrounding him entering 2025: 'I'm not worried about it'

Sam Pittman has seen his name pop up on the hot seat over the past two or so offseasons. Going into year six for him with the Razorbacks, though, the Boss ‘Hog isn’t worried about any of that.

Pittman was candid about being a coach on the hot seat while at the podium at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Thursday. He knows some of that is to blame on himself with wins being the only way to correct but also noted that, in this conference he’s in, not many coaches last all that long anyways.

“How can we stop that? We can win more games, you know. That’s what we can do,” Pittman admitted. “Look, most everything a guy brings on him, he brings on himself, you know. Most things that come out, you earn it. Now, you may disagree with some of it and all that but, I’ve earned that. I mean, I have. To get off of that, we’ve got to win more games.”

“I’ll say this. To consider that you’re going to go coach somewhere for 10 years in the SEC? You’re a fool,” added Pittman. “Kirby Smart, (Mark) Stoops. That’s it in this league. So, I think you’ve got to look at it is year-to-year, how you’re doing.”

Through five years in Fayetteville, Pittman has a career record of 30-31 (.492) at Arkansas since 2020. 2021 went well when they went 9-4 but the other four seasons have combined for a mark of 21-27 (.438) with the team being 18-22 (.450) since 2022. They also have yet to post a winning record in conference play under him at 14-28 (.333) against the SEC. It’s been fine, and statistically right about average, but not much to show from this tenure.

With that, Pittman has been projected on the hot seat, specifically over last offseason and this offseason. CBS Sports recently had him among the hotter seats in all of college football while Athlon Sports considered just how hot it is in their preview of the upcoming season.

That said, Pittman doesn’t care about what that means for him. His only concern with his name coming up during that topic is that it affects the Razorbacks’ recruiting, especially in-state, as he justifies that he’s still the head coach.

“Let me say this. The only ramifications of someone constantly having you on this list or this list or whatever other list is recruiting,” said Pittman. “That’s the only thing, and it seems to affect us a little bit more in the state of Arkansas because they’re, you know, up on the Razorbacks. They see more.”

Pittman made it plain and simple about how to end this conversation in general, which is wins and only wins. He thinks he has the team and program to do it too come kickoff this fall for the ‘Hogs.

“I’m not worried about it because I’ve got a good staff and a good team,” said Pittman. “So, I’m not worried about it at all.”