Pittman exceeds Yurachek's expectations in Year 1
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FAYETTEVILLE — When he hired an offensive line coach who hadn’t even been a coordinator at the Division I level as Arkansas’ next head coach, Hunter Yurachek was met with criticism and skepticism from across the country.
The Razorbacks’ athletics director was confident in his decision to hire Sam Pittman, but he was still blown away by how quickly he turned the program around.
Speaking to the local media on a Zoom videoconference Thursday morning, Yurachek wasn’t shy about admitting Pittman “absolutely” exceeded his expectations and saying the 3-7 season - in which three of those losses were by a combined seven points - was a step in the right direction.
“I felt like he was going to be successful,” Yurachek said. “To say that he was going to be successful out of the gate like he was, with all the obstacles we overcame, I would be lying to you if I said that, but I thought Sam Pittman - I wouldn’t have hired him if I didn’t think he was the right person for the job.”
Inheriting a team coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons that included losses to a pair of teams out of the Mountain West and C-USA and riding a 19-game SEC losing streak, expectations weren’t particularly high for Pittman’s first season.
It was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which canceled all of the Razorbacks’ spring practices, forced them to install their new offensive and defensive schemes virtually and limited their offseason workouts.
When the season finally arrived, instead of getting to play Nevada, ULM and Charleston Southern, Arkansas had a 10-game SEC slate that added Florida and Georgia - the top two teams from the East.
“He and his staff overcame a number of obstacles to really create a level of confidence amongst our student-athletes that they were going to be put in positions to have success,” Yurachek said. “Then you put on top of that an SEC-only schedule, (which) I still think it was one of the toughest schedules in the history of college football.”
Despite some legitimate predictions by national media that they’d go 0-10, the Razorbacks knocked off Mississippi State in Week 2 and added wins over Ole Miss and Tennessee.
A controversial ending at Auburn prevented them from starting the season 3-1 and back-to-back heartbreaking losses to LSU and Missouri contributed to a four-game losing streak to end the year.
Even with a 3-7 record, Arkansas qualified for a bowl game and was selected to play in the Texas Bowl, but it was canceled because of COVID-19 issues within TCU’s program.
Pittman was vocal about his feelings that the Razorbacks deserved a bowl despite a sub-.500 record because three SEC wins is typically enough to qualify for the postseason when you also play three winnable non-conference games.
Assuming it wouldn’t have upset Notre Dame on the road, Arkansas likely would have been 6-6 against its original schedule. Not only would that be enough for a bowl, but it would have triggered an automatic $250,000 raise for the next four years of his contract.
Yurachek said that has been brought up in their offseason conversations, but nothing has been finalized as of Thursday.
“Coach Pittman and I have discussed some parameters within his current contract multiple times and we're working through some of those,” Yurachek said. “I think you'll see something here in the next month or so related to that."
That success meant other programs have tried to poach Pittman’s assistant coaches in the month since the end of the season and Yurachek commended him for how he’s handled it.
Wide receivers coach Justin Stepp left to take a job at South Carolina, but his role was quickly filled by Kenny Guiton - who Yurachek believes will do “really, really well” with the Razorbacks.
As of Thursday, he was the only departure, despite multiple programs - like LSU and Texas - pursuing Barry Odom. He didn’t reveal any specifics, but Yurachek hinted that the defensive coordinator received a raise.
“Obviously, Barry Odom was a hot commodity with how our defense played the majority of the season and having been a former head coach,” Yurachek said. “It was important for Coach Pittman that we retain Coach Odom and we did that.”
It was a big win for the Razorbacks to keep Odom because he has experience as a head coach in the SEC, which is invaluable for a first-time coach like Pittman, plus continuity is a key in turning around a program.
Because his son is a walk-on linebacker on the team, Yurachek likely has a pretty good idea of just how important Odom was to the 2020 team’s success.
“Our student-athletes on the defensive side of the ball love him,” Yurachek said. “He obviously created schemes that put us in positions to have some success throughout the season and he’s an important piece of our puzzle.”