New Arkansas strength and conditioning coach Ben Sowders is already off to a hot start with the Hogs.
Just a week after being hired in Fayetteville, Sowders already has his mind on taking advantage of untapped resources at Arkansas.
"We’ve got so many resources here that I feel like are untapped, so I feel like we’ve got to do a better job of that — from supplements, to nutrition, our staff, our food," Sowders said Wednesday.
Sowders accepted the director of strength and conditioning position after spending one year in the same role at Louisville. Prior to that, Sowders was on staff at Georgia as an assistant director of strength and conditioning.
For the 2018-19 seasons, Sowders and Pittman served alongside each other with the Bulldogs. Sowders said the relationship he has with Pittman is a big reason why he chose to take the job at Arkansas.
"If it was somebody else, I probably wouldn't be sitting here before you," Sowders said. "I believe in Coach Pittman, not only as a coach but as a man. I know how he does things, he's genuine, he truly cares about the players. He cares about the staff, he cares about this program. It was a no-brainer when he gave me the opportunity to come, I knew I was coming."
Sowders said that Pittman reached out to him after Louisville's last game of the season against Kentucky on Nov. 26 to see if there was interest.
"Just kind of asked me if this was a place I'd be interested in, and I told him absolutely I would be," Sowders said. "We kind of got a little further into talks, he brought me down, I was fortunate enough to interview with him, the staff, the administration, Mr. Yurachek. Got the green light, got the offer, and it's been rocking and rolling ever since."
Sowders said going into strength and conditioning was a "no-brainer" for him after he was around a great staff as a player at Western Kentucky in 2007-08.
Now, he has the opportunity to help develop players at an SEC program that he said he believes isn't far off from a high level of success.
"You know, the previous staff, I think did a good job," Sowders said. "There's going to be similarities, but there's also already a lot of differences, and I think if you asked our kids they’d probably tell you that. But it's not like I'm coming into a bad situation. I'm coming ahead of the game as opposed to behind it. So, it's encouraging."
Sowders did say that it will be a "clean house" when it comes to hiring his new staff. He mentioned that when news came out that he was taking the Arkansas job, he received about 126 text messages and half were from people asking about a job.
"They know this place is a special place," Sowders said. "They know coach Pittman is a special coach. It’s been overwhelming...They want to be here. They want to be a Razorback. Once again, that goes back to how special this place truly is."
He said he's still finalizing who his staff will be, but he has six or seven guys that he's narrowed it down to and he will select four from that group.
As far as a plan moving forward, Sowders said the goal is to get better in the trenches.
"This game, this league, you’ve got to win in the trench," Sowders said. "That’s O-line and D-line, so we’ve already put a huge premium on that. Our lifting and running, we start with our bigs on everything we do. That’s just to set the mindset of everything starts with you. We’re going to win and lose up front and for us to be successful, our O-line and D-line have to understand that they lead the charge."
Leadership within the team was another thing Sowders said he'd like to see improved. That was something that Pittman seemed to think the team lacked at times this year, especially after the 21-19 loss to Liberty on Nov. 5.
"Everybody wants to get better at leadership," Sowders said. "Some guys don’t know how. So it’s our job as coaches and staff to help them lead, right? Help them understand what leadership is, put them in roles so that they can lead, and then once they’re in those roles, we have to grow them to develop their leadership."
Sowders mentioned guys like KJ Jefferson, Rocket Sanders, Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr., Beaux Limmer and Luke Jones as players who have shown leadership in his short time in Fayetteville so far.
He also raved about the facilities that Arkansas has, describing them as "unreal." But he went on to say that a 45-pound plate weighs the same no matter how it looks.
"We’ve got to be able to roll our sleeves up and go to work," Sowders said. "We have what we need and we’ll continue to build on some of the things that I feel like we need to incorporate from a weight room standpoint."
The Hogs and Sowders will go to work one last time this season on Dec. 28 in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl against Kansas. The game will kickoff at 4:30 p.m. CT and it will be broadcast on ESPN.
