I like and appreciate Coach Pittmans honesty, honor, integrity and deliberance. It seems like with every opening, or transfer, fans become less patient. In a time of instant information many have come to believe that fast decisions are successful decisions. As a chief of police who came up as a criminal investigator, speed often leads to uniformed, sloppy work and mistakes. With the two hires that Coach Pittman has made. I think he is again showing that maybe we should cut him some slack and give him the benefit of the doubt. He was the only man who wanted to lead us, and he is still ahead of schedule in rebuilding what was an awful team. I dont know if he’s the long term solution, but I also dont know that he isn’t, but for now he leads us with integrity and makes me proud.
The last few days I have watched as fans turned on each other and Coach Pittman, mostly because the coach had the gall to ensure he got his coach by keeping quiet. That will pay dividends in future searches. I have felt as anxious as everyone, but watching posters attack each other was frustrating. Just like games we win after struggling, people say awful things about each other and the coaches. I think we have a tendency to forget how bad we have been recently.
I love the Hogs, like and appreciste our coach, and really enjoy this board. I just wish some would do the right thing and maintain some level of tact and respect toward each other. Opposition and debate can occur without being disrepectful.
It looks like another successful search and I am glad he did it the right way.
Probably. And me included. But Arkansas needs to win. Winning is the most important thing. This is the SEC. Arkansas had a disappointing season this year. Sam had better win more, nice guy or not (and I think Sam is an awesome guy). Fans want wins, not gold stars for being nice or “doing it right.”
Well said. Pittman is a big picture guy and his superpowers are human relations and line of scrimmage expertise.
So when it comes to the effective and right way to hire, fire, recruit, and communicate, I have no doubts about Pittman’s approach.
I have plenty of doubts about the casual fans concerns or advice in these areas. When they have the extraordinary level of experience that CP has as an assistant coach, recruiter and leader of young men, I’ll start considering their opinions worth getting worked up about, just as I’m sure CP doesn’t either.
Unfortunately Sam’s super powers are less of an advantage these days due to the portal and NIL, which are kryptonite.
My dad used to say fans know enough about how to be a head coach to be dangerous (to the program). They do speak with their money and the AD does listen to that.
I read this fairly often. What is this based on? Did Kiffin want the job or not? Did he want it until Sexton meddled or not? How do we know Pittman was the only one who wanted the job?
BTW I think Pittman is doing an admirable job, in line with or perhaps even above expectations
More of a question of, “did we want Kiffin?”
Could you as an employer work with a future employee with whom you have an agreement & two days later they reneg on that agreement with you in their in efforts to extort more $? HY made the right decision when he withdrew UofA’s offer to Kiffin. Obviously Kiffin did not really want the UofA job when he risked losing that by using OM as leverage & consequently having to accept less $ from OM.
If I remember correctly, we had Norvell (FSU), Leach (MSU), Kiffin (Ole Miss), Lunney was mentioned, Butch Jones (I believe was rehabbing at Bama then), and Coach Pittman. Each one fell through either by Sexton shenanigans, slow rolling the search, fan reaction, or money. Leach and Kiffin seemed to be the leading candidates. I believe Kiffin got caught up in Sexton games, and I think we passed on Coach Leach. I remember being shocked when Coach Pittman became a real possibility. I came around to the idea, and really appreciated how much he wanted to be here, but still just struck by the fact that at that point in our history we couldn’t get a more proven commodity. Through everything we went through with Coaches Petrino, Bielema, and Morris, this was the moment that said, we are at the bottom and hopefully this is the start of our ascent out of despair. At the time, it was said many times by media, fans and administrators that we did not have many if any options left. We had very little talent and a losing attitude. I think many were scared off.
I came around to the idea and believe whole heartedly that Coach Pittman was the right man at the right time. Whether he can win consistently at a high level has yet to be determined. I do believe that at worst he is a bridge who will be responsible for making us respectable again. Thats how I remember it anyway.
Norvell had no interest after Morris was fired - he was insulted when the goofballs running the search after Bielema was fired selected a coach he’d out performed record wise and also beaten like a rented mule in their head to match ups.
Can’t say I blame him. I’m not sure if there was a program being run in a more incompetent manner than Arkansas was at that time.
After the CCM disaster, not sure that turning around the Arkansas train wreck was an attractive opportunity for most available coaches. We have great facilities, rabid state-wide fan base, unique college setting, & access to nearby TX recruits. However most here believe our being in a small population state/alumni base & the pessimistic fans are overwhelming recruiting hurdles. I disagree.
Leach interview obviously did not go well (for whatever reason or perhaps MSU offer on the table), Kiffin proved again to be untrustworthy & with AR on being only a stepping stone (same as OM), understand Drinkwitz did not like Arkansas, & Novell already felt spurned by UofA when we hired CCM. Our options at that time & place were limited.
After some continued success & IF we can recruit well, expect UofA will be a much more attractive coaching & recruiting opportunity for our next coach - thanks to HY & CSP.
I agree. I hope the changes in personnel will reflect changes necessary to win consistently. We talk injuries and need for talent but we also had third most number on the SEC best players team after Bama and Georgia this year. We also did not backups in place and failed to show up in several games. Caching has to get better. We are entering year four—that is tipping point in the game today.