Advertisement
Published Apr 8, 2020
How previous Arkansas coaches have fared in Year 1
circle avatar
Andrew Hutchinson  •  HawgBeat
Managing Editor
Twitter
@NWAHutch

Sign up for an annual HawgBeat subscription and get $50 for Arkansas gear on the Rivals Fan Shop ––> details

Advertisement

College Students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95. Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to nchavanelle@yahoo.com.

Whenever the 2020 football season starts, Sam Pittman will become Arkansas’ 10th permanent football coach since Frank Broyles ushered the program into the modern era in 1958.

Here’s a look back at the previous nine coaches - including Broyles - and how they did in their first seasons in charge of the Razorbacks.

Only three of them had winning records in Year 1 and their combined winning percentage is .481.

1958 - Frank Broyles

Record: 4-6 (2-4 SWC)

When Jack Mitchell bolted after three seasons to coach Kansas in his home state, the Razorbacks hired a young, inexperienced coach as his replacement. A native of Georgia and standout player at Georgia Tech, Broyles had just one year as a head coach under his belt, leading Missouri to a 5-4-1 record in 1957. He actually ended that season on a three-game losing streak and then started his Arkansas career with six straight losses.

However, Broyles eventually figured it out and won the final four games in 1958. That sprung the Razorbacks into a 9-2 season capped by a win over his alma mater in the Gator Bowl, which earned them a No. 9 national ranking. In Year 7, he led Arkansas to an undefeated season and national championship. Broyles finished his career with a 144-58-5 in 19 seasons before focusing solely on his duties as athletics director.

1977 - Lou Holtz

Record: 11-1 (7-1 SWC)

In his final season as head coach, Broyles limped to the finish line with four straight losses to cap a 5-5-1 campaign. To find his replacement, he looked to the pros and found Holtz, who had been with the Jets for less than a year but had struggled to a 3-10 record. Before making the jump to the NFL, Holtz led N.C. State to four straight winning seasons, including one ACC title and three top-20 rankings.

Back in the college ranks, Holtz had one of the most success seasons in UA history. The Razorbacks’ only blemish was a 13-9 loss to No. 2 Texas, which meant they finished second in the SWC and sent them to the Orange Bowl. Despite being a heavy underdog, losing All-American guard Leotis Harris to a season-ending injury in practice and suspending three key players, Arkansas actually knocked off Oklahoma in that game, cruising to a 31-6 win to cap the 11-win season.

1984 - Ken Hatfield

Record: 7-4-1 (5-3 SWC)

Following a 6-5 campaign in 1983, Broyles dismissed Holtz and hired one of his former players as the next coach. Hatfield came to Arkansas after five seasons at Air Force, where he built the Falcons into a 10-win and top-15 team. That 10-2 season came just three years after the second of two straight 2-win seasons, which earned him national coach of the year honors.

Hatfield’s worst season with the Razorbacks was his first, but he still led them to a 7-4-1 record - with all four losses by six points or less - and an appearance in the Liberty Bowl. Over the next five years, Arkansas won at least nine games and reached a bowl game each year, helping Hatfield compile a school-record .760 winning percentage.

1990 - Jack Crowe

Record: 3-8 (1-7 SWC)

With his relationship with Broyles not on the best of terms, Hatfield - despite back-to-back SWC titles - left Arkansas a few weeks before signing day to take the head coaching job at Clemson. Crowe, who joined the Razorbacks as an offensive coordinator in 1989, was set to join Hatfield with the Tigers, but Broyles convinced him to stay in Fayetteville and become a DI head coach for the first time.

That marked the beginning of a rough stretch for Arkansas. Crowe won two of his first three games - including a win over Colorado State - but went 3-8 overall and won just one conference game, making it the Razorbacks’ worst season in nearly four decades. But it got worse. After sneaking into a bowl game in 1991, Crowe suffered an embarrassing season-opening loss to a DI-AA (now FCS) team, The Citadel, to begin the SEC era and was promptly fired the next day.

1993 - Danny Ford

Record: 5-5-1 (3-4-1 SEC) - 6-4-1/4-3-1 with Alabama forfeit

Joe Kines finished out the 1992 season and actually won a handful of SEC games after the loss to The Citadel, including an upset at No. 4 Tennessee with a true freshman quarterback. Despite being out of coaching for a couple of years, Ford was brought in to help that season and he was eventually hired as the head coach.

A national championship-winning coach at Clemson, Ford wasn’t quite able to recapture that magic with the Razorbacks. He helped them beat ranked South Carolina and Georgia teams and tie a ranked Mississippi State team, but they also lost to Memphis. It’s worth noting, though, that Ford did lead Arkansas to its first division championship in 1995 despite a season-opening loss at SMU.

1998 - Houston Nutt

Record: 9-3 (6-2 SEC)

Following that SEC West title, Ford had back-to-back 4-7 seasons and was fired. His replacement was Houston Nutt, who became just the third former Arkansas player to be the Razorbacks’ head coach - joining Hatfield and George Cole (1942). He returned to Fayetteville after just one year at Boise State and four seasons at Murray State.

Led by Clint Stoerner and Anthony Lucas, Arkansas won its first eight games under Nutt. That set up a top-10 showdown at No. 1 Tennessee, which ended in heartbreak that Arkansas fans don’t need reminding about. The Razorbacks would have gotten a rematch with the Volunteers in the SEC Championship, but they lost at Mississippi State the following week.

2008 - Bobby Petrino

Record: 5-7 (2-6 SEC)

Nutt remained at the helm for a decade before leaving amid controversy to take the Ole Miss job. That opened the door for new athletics director Jeff Long to bring in Petrino, who - mirroring what Holtz did three decades earlier - left the Atlanta Falcons just 13 games into his first season in the NFL.

It was an up-and-down year for Petrino in 2008. He opened the season with narrow wins over Western Illinois and ULM before suffering three straight blowouts during a brutal stretch against top-15 teams Alabama, Texas and Florida. The Razorbacks won just three of their final seven games, but two were over ranked opponents (at No. 23 Auburn, vs. No. 18 Tulsa) and the other was a dramatic win over LSU to end the year. It’s also worth noting that three of those four losses were by three points or less.

2013 - Bret Bielema

Record: 3-9 (0-8 SEC)

Despite taking the Razorbacks to levels they hadn’t experienced since joining the SEC, Petrino was fired after an 11-win 2011 season because of the scandal that followed his motorcycle accident on April 1. John L. Smith was brought back as the interim coach for a disastrous 2012 season before Long lured Bielema away from Wisconsin.

Arkansas won its first three games with Bielema at the helm and was on its way to a fourth straight win, but blew a 24-7 lead. That sparked a nine-game losing streak capped by an overtime loss to Mississippi State and heartbreaking loss at LSU.

2018 - Chad Morris

Record: 2-10 (0-8 SEC)

The Bielema era ended just minutes after a season-ending loss to Missouri in 2017. Led by interim AD Julie Cromer Peoples, the Razorbacks settled on supposed offensive guru Chad Morris as his replacement. It was a disaster.

After beating an FCS opponent in his first game, Morris opted to punt from midfield instead of going for it on fourth and one to start the fourth quarter at Colorado State and it eventually led to an embarrassing collapse. The season spiraled from there, including a blowout loss to North Texas. Arguably the worst coach in SEC history, Morris was fired with two games remaining in 2019, which was a second straight 2-10 season.