Players should again be fighting Razorbacks
The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday and today was a regularly-scheduled event.
It was not called to fire Sam Pittman.
Did Pittman’s name come up? Most likely. If it didn’t, they aren’t doing the job they were appointed to do, which includes protecting the UA and its finances.
Pittman isn’t worried about job security or buyouts. What he has said every day this week is he is trying to make his team better. He even said he wasn’t going to mention his job to the players.
That’s noble, honest and he was sincere.
But someone needs to tell the players that if they don’t play hard, it could cost their head coach and their position coaches and maybe the entire staff their jobs.
Pittman talked openly about the lack of effort the defense gave in a 48-10 loss to an average-to-mediocre Auburn last Saturday,
How they didn’t seal the edge and wrap on tackles. That everything the defense didn’t do right has been pointed out to them in film sessions.
That’s exactly what a coaching staff is supposed to do.
Now the coaches need to find a way to push some buttons on both sides of the ball and make them the fighting Razorbacks.
Losing to Florida International on Saturday night at Reynolds Razorback Stadium is unacceptable.
The Panthers are 4-6 and the wins were against Maine, North Texas, UConn and Sam Houston State, which have a combined season record of 8-32.
After the win, Pittman’s seat cools down a little and he gets to go to work and fix some issues.
His incoming recruiting class ranks No. 23 in the nation, which is 11th in the SEC. But a huge factor these days is NIL and the Razorbacks rank No. 12 in the SEC in NIL money.
That has to change. Georgia has the No. 1 recruiting class but it spent more than $4 million on recruiting and that didn’t include NIL deals. Arkansas spent about $1.5 million.
Until Congress comes together and passes legislation that puts NIL under some kind of guidelines and direction, the rich are going to get richer. But for now, there are no rules or leadership and that means Pittman — or anyone who coaches the Razorbacks football program — is not going to be on a level playing field.
Pittman is not worried about his salary or buyout but how to get a win for the team and fans.
Obviously Jimbo Fisher’s jumbo buyout of $77 million by Texas A&M is a record.
The previous largest buyout was by Auburn to Gus Malzahn at $21.7 million and the next biggest was Auburn shelling out $15.5 million to Bryan Harsin.
The combined $37.2 million is still less than half of what Fisher will get and it is highly doubtful he’s going to save the Aggies any money by finding another job.
Ryan McGee, senior writer at ESPN.com and co-host of the “Marty and McGee Show” on ESPN, spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday and in his column Wednesday about the bottom 10 college football teams in the country, he listed at No. 10 Arkansas, which he referred to as “Arkansaw.”
Here’s what he wrote about the 3-7 Razorbacks:
“I spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday and after the speech visited with dozens of Razorbacks fans. At least six of them insisted that since Arkansas had just lost 48-10 to Auburn to put Sam Pittman on the hot seat, I needed to put their beloved Woo Pig in these rankings. I’m always a sucker for #Bottom10Lobbying, especially when it is in person. And especially when those people are pleading with me about their Hogs while handing me a heaping helping of ribs. I’m a sucker for a real-life metaphor. Especially when it’s slathered in sauce.”