Silverfield Not One To Be Distracted By Vices During Football Season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ryan Silverfield has preached discipline on and off the football field for his players since his first day on the job as the head football coach at the University of Arkansas.

The first-year head coach, who turns 46 on Tuesday, makes sure to apply it to himself, too. Silverfield gives up social media, sugar and alcohol at the start of fall camp to ensure he's fully focused on the task at hand.

"I think as you get older and older, you realize, I've got plenty of vices, right? I don't sleep much during the season," Silverfield said Monday. "That's how coaches are, just in general. I was finding the things that were distracting me at all."

It seems like it's a good thing that Dairy Queen isn't a significant donor or NIL partner of the UofA.

"I'm not ordering the Oreo Blizzard at 11 o'clock on DoorDash anymore come tomorrow," Silverfield said.

"I am certainly not preaching to anybody on healthy eating habits," Silverfield said. "But I think part of that is, I just don't need it. Let me just eat my lunch and my dinner. The alcohol, I will enjoy it in the offseason within reason, but during the season, even having a drink after a win, if that impedes my sleep or the ability to be better for my team the next day, it's not worth it."

Silverfield also gives up social media, which is arguably the biggest distraction of all given how many opinions there will be of his performance and that of his team over the next four months.

"Whether it's good or bad, it shouldn't matter to me what's said, what's out there," Silverfield said. "It just becomes a distraction. And you talk to a lot of players, and they talk about the social media, they'll say even after a win, 'This guy was on me.'

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Ryan Silverfield at Red-White Game in Fayetteville, Ark. | Ted McClenning-allHOGS Images

“Don't worry about that. Don't worry about what was written about you, good, bad or indifferent. Because sometimes if somebody says something positive about you, you start filling yourself with that. It doesn't matter."

There's certainly something to be said for coaches and players avoiding the cesspool thatg can be social media, message boards and other corners of the internet where fans and pundits alike share their opinions.

In 2023, then-Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos quarreled with students after a loss to Texas A&M over email, an exchange that only looked worse on Enos' part as the Razorback offense continued to sputter. Enos was eventually fired after a 7-3 loss to Mississippi State.

So, Razorback fans, if you see Ryan Silverfield around Fayetteville, don't offer to buy him a drink, a slice of pie or ask him to follow you on Instagram. For the next four months, those three vices of his are out of sight and out of mind.

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