Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman opens up on his decision to finally adapt to the new age of college football
The Arkansas Razorbacks are one of the few SEC football programs that have not adjusted well to the new college football world — the world of the transfer portal and NIL. Now, in basketball they have, they have reached yet another Sweet Sixteen.
However, in football, they are constantly hovering at a mediocre level or near the bottom. And, sure, no one is asking them to win a National Championship, which may never happen at Arkansas for that sport, but everyone is asking for them to be a competitive team again. There was a time when they were a team in the SEC that was taken very seriously. Nick Saban used to talk about preparing for Arkansas in a way that made them extremely respectable.
Now, no one in the SEC really respects the Razorbacks. Even Vanderbilt made huge progress this last year, and they have almost always been considered the worst SEC football program. A lot of the reasons surrounding Arkansas’ struggles in this new era is because they have not adapted well. The program as a whole hasn’t, while head coach Sam Pittman has tried to.
They don’t have a ton of NIL compared to other schools, and what they do have, they use for the sport that they are more likely to win a National Championship in — college basketball. They were one of the last teams on the football side to get a general manager, as the NIL side of things is forcing football to sort of turn into free agency.
Now, they have one, and they are hoping that will help them manage the player side of things with both recruiting the high school ranks and the transfer portal.
“From what I understand, it’s like being an Athletic Director, and then having another AD [Athletic Director] over football,” Sam Pittman said. “I don’t think we’re there yet, but I do think that we are moving in that direction. When he [Remy Cofield] sat down and talked, he had a really strong personality.
“We needed someone who had experience dealing with agents. And, so, he’s going to take a little bit off of our plate on the non-football related, it’s all football related, but that can be another voice and another evaluator, and I think he can do a really good job.”
The Razorbacks are working from behind. Every now and then, they will have a big recruit commit to them. But, they will always hover around that top 30 area in recruiting, that is, until they start getting with the program and doing what every SEC school is doing now.
