Clearly communicated
Pittman sets standard for interactions in UA program.
FAYETTEVILLE — As is Coach Sam Pittman’s directive, virtually all the highest-volume coaching directions and corrections during training camp at the University of Arkansas have been positive.
Offensive line coach Cody Kennedy belted out early in camp, “You can’t lift if you’re high!” during the opening moments of drill work. “Strike low and lift!”
Running backs coach Jimmy Smith was particularly impressed with a blocking rep performed by starting tailback Trelon Smith early in camp.
“I like it. I like it. I love it!” Smith shouted to the junior. “Shoot the hands!”
Pittman said he hires assistants based on how well they can communicate.
“I’m the worst one out there,” he said. “I hired guys because of the way they talk to kids and how they can relate to kids and how they can motivate kids and how they can teach them. I think that’s exactly what we have.”
“I want a guy that if we make a mistake here, it’s not, ‘You sorry [so and so],’ it’s ‘Hey, I’m going to teach you how to do something right.’ ”
Pittman said he loves the coaching staff.
“I think they work hard, I think they’re knowledgeable, and more important than anything, I think they can get their kids to play for them because they respect them. You know our mouth is very, very powerful,” he said. “And the way that they talk to kids, I think they respect that.”
Quarterback KJ Jefferson said he does.
“It’s a great thing because it just helps instill confidence in the whole team and gives everybody that good praise and lets them know they’re doing something good and just keep working on it,” Jefferson said.
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles doesn’t berate bad plays or reads from his charges.
“Every now and then he might pull me to the side,” Jefferson said. “He’s not going to yell at me. He’ll maybe pull me to the side and be like, ‘What’d you think on this? I feel like you should have done it this way,’ and then it just goes from there.”
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom recently said the biggest draw in his decision to return for a second season was remaining with Pittman. They walk together almost every day.
Odom, who has expressed a desire to land another head coaching job like he held at his alma mater Missouri from 2015-2019, turned down larger offers over the winter to stay with Pittman for a second season.
“This is a wonderful place,” Odom said. “I couldn’t think of a better person to work for than Sam Pittman and [Athletic Director] Hunter Yurachek.”
The Razorbacks — angling for their first winning season since 2016, the year after Pittman left for Georgia following a three-year stint as offensive line assistant coach for Bret Bielema — have latched on to Pittman’s positivity.
Instilling the belief they could win games last fall was a large part of the Razorbacks’ 3-7 season. The assistant coaches all dispense lessons and teaching from the Pittman playbook.
“I think that just comes from Coach Pittman being such a great person,” linebacker Bumper Pool said of the teaching approach of the assistants. “They want to coach hard for him, and he wants to be a great head coach for all his assistant coaches.
“It kind of just trickles down throughout the whole team. Our coaches have a very strong demeanor. They want to win as much as we do and as much as Coach Pittman does.”
Cornerbacks coach Sam Carter, one of the country’s premier recruiters, called Pittman probably the best head coach in the country.
“You guys are at practice, [you see] the way he talks to our guys,” Carter said. “It’s true love. A lot of coaches just speak about it, but Coach Pittman shows it each and every day. I think he’s the best leader that I’ve been around, besides coach Odom. Those two together, it’s unbelievable.”
Carter said Odom’s decision to return was a huge benefit to the Razorbacks.
“We went on break this summer, he was coming up with different things, different defenses he wanted to run,” Carter said. “I’m so glad he stayed. I don’t want him to leave. As long as Coach Pittman wants him here, I want him here, too. Don’t leave, coach Odom.”
Pittman lets it be known he won’t have assistants berate players. His philosophy is the loudest remarks players should hear from coaches is praise. Criticism is more for side conversations, and never over the top.
“He didn’t hire guys to scream at guys,” Carter said. “He hired them to coach them. Guys are going to mess up, it’s college football. They’re not getting paid $20 million. Guys in the NFL mess up.
“But if you coach them and talk to them, you’ll get more out of them. You don’t have to cuss them or disrespect them. Those guys have families, some of them come from different backgrounds. So if you’ll just talk to them and get to know them, they’ll do anything for you if they know you care about them.”
Senior tackle Myron Cunningham and junior defensive end Zach Williams said Pittman has instilled confidence by making the players believe they can win.
“He inspires a lot of the things that previous people really hadn’t, and he’s really down to earth,” Williams said. “He’s just a guy to fight for, and that’s really all I have to say about that.”
Added Cunningham, “I think Coach Pittman … inspires us to be great, and he just instills that in us every Saturday we go out to play. I mean, when we’re behind Coach Pittman, there’s nothing else we need.”