Houston Nutt thinks Sam Pittman has uphill battle to win with Razorbacks

This is the first in a series of articles based on conversations with former Razorbacks football coach and player Houston Nutt.

Only Ken Hatfield and Houston Nutt can legitimately say they know how Sam Pittman felt the day he was hired as coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

That's because those three each had a dream -— the same dream -— of being the leader of Arkansas' football program.

Hatfield and Nutt each played for the Razorbacks and felt it was a privilege to wear the helmet with the Hog on the side.

Pittman didn't suit up for the Hogs but grew up just across the Oklahoma line, cheering for Arkansas and wishing he'd one day walk the sidelines as the head coach.

I've sat with Nutt. I've sat with Hatfield. I've sat with Pittman, and the man pours his heart and soul into the job.

Like with Hatfield and Nutt, Pittman aches for Arkansas fans when his team loses. That's the emotion that comes with having a dream job and not living up to your own expectations.

Did any Arkansas' other 33 football coaches call it their dream job? Not in the modern era, for sure, which we'll say goes back 75 years.

It was Arkansas' 23rd coach who turned the job into a coveted position. That was Frank Broyles, still the winningest coach in school history at 144-58-5.

Broyles' .708 winning percentage is third all-time on The Hill, behind Ken Hatfield (.760, 55-17-1 from 1984-89) and Lou Holtz (.735, 60-21-2 from 1977-83).

Ken Hatfield, coach of the No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks, on the field prior to facing the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl on Nov. 26, 1988. Arkansas lost 18-16 and fell to 10-1 while Miami improved to 9-1. | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

Oh, coach Norman Paine is tied with Broyles for third at .708. He went 8-3-1 in the 1917 and '18 seasons.

It's no coincidence that the only coaches with a higher winning percentage at Arkansas are the two coaches who followed in Broyles' footsteps.

Broyles turned a stale program into a national power, nearly winning three national championships but settling for one in 1964.

I sat with Broyles many times, and Hatfield and Nutt. Broyles knew that having a coach who bled Razorback red was important. He knew that coach was invested in the program.

So it is with Pittman. But times have changed. It's harder to win now at Arkansas than ever before.

Why? Two reasons, Nutt says. Neither is a surprise but both are relevant.
1 - The Hogs are in the SEC.
2 - NIL money.

When Nutt coached the Hogs, some coaches were arguing to pay players but that was still decades from happening.

Now, it's the biggest factor between what was always perceived as the "haves" and the "have nots."

If you haven't guess already, Arkansas is one of those in the category of "has less than most others."

Even in this first season of revenue sharing. Schools all get $20.5 million to disburse as they see fit. It's still not a level playing field.

That's because Arkansas' NIL coffers are much shallower than the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M.

That's tough on Pittman, who can't pay enough to get the 5-star recruits and has to coach up the lesser guys better than his rivals if he ever hopes to challenge for a championship.

Arkansas joined the SEC for the 1992 season, 33 years ago. Nutt coached 10 of those seasons.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt during the 1st quarter against the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on Dec. 2, 2006. | Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

From 1998 to 2007, Nutt posted just three winning records in the SEC even though he has the second most wins in UA history with a mark of 75-48 (.610).

After his first meeting with Arkansas' team after he replaced Danny Ford as coach, Nutt asked legendary Arkansas trainer Dean Weber why the Hogs weren't winning.

"They don't believe they can," Weber said.

That is Pittman's biggest task: Making his players believe they can beat LSU, Texas and the other stellar programs in the SEC.

How tough is it for Arkansas to finish in the top half of the 16-team SEC, the most powerful conference in the land?

"It's very difficult," Nutt said without hesitation. "It's always been a very hard job."

In comparison, he said, the Arkansas job is not unlike coaching at South Carolina, so he talked about Hall of Famers Steve Spurrier and Holtz.

Yep, the same Holtz who won at Arkansas and later won a national title at Notre Dame. Coaching the Fighting Irish was Holtz's dream and he was 100-30-2 in 11 seasons in South Bend, Ind.

"Coach Spurrier did most of his Hall of Fame work when he was at Florida," Nutt said. "Coach Holtz did his at Notre Dame but put them at South Carolina and look at those records. I don't even think they had a winning record in the SEC overall."

Holtz resurrected the South Carolina program but was only 33-39 in six seasons, just 19-29 in SEC games.

"That's what I'm talking about," Nutt said. "Each and every day I don't care if you're playing Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, each of those stadiums is full and it's a tough, tough way. Every win is precious in the SEC."

Spurrier was 122-27-1 (.817) in 12 glorious seasons at Florida. He won the national title in 1996. He never finished lower than 13th in the final AP poll. His Gators finished in the top 10 nine times and top five in six seasons.

After his failed NFL venture with the Washington Redskins, Spurrier followed Holtz at South Carolina and led the Gamecocks to their most successful stretch ever, going 11-2 for three straight seasons and finishing in the top 10 of the final poll each year at 9, 8 and 4.

The "Old Ball Coach" was 86-49 at South Carolina, the highest winning percentage in Gamecocks history (.637).

In the SEC, though, he was 44-40, and retired during his 11th season with a 2-4 mark, 0-4 in the conference.

"It's just not easy," Nutt said. "I'm partial, but it's the toughest conference there is.

"The SEC's been down a little bit the last couple years. But overall, when you look at the NFL draft picks (that come from the conference), it's very hard to compete week in, week out.

"So, to answer your question, Coach Pittman does have a very difficult job."

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