Razorbacks Make Only Move They Can to Raise Money

Petrino isn't coming back as head coach, but Pittman knew he had to make big hire

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Nov 29, 2023 9:51 AM EST
Original:
Nov 29, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas may have just created the biggest ruckus around hiring an offense coordinator since Gus Malzahn left Springdale High School for the Razorbacks in 2006. Bringing former coach Bobby Petrino back may be bigger, shrouded in mystery and possibly a desperation move.

After a 4-8 season, Sam Pittman may be needing help, but athletics director Hunter Yurachek needs it on a much bigger scale. He needs millions. It was interesting that word of Petrino started leaking early Tuesday morning, gained traction and the train was rolling full speed by the afternoon. That was about the same time the UA put out the release of its new NIL collective.

Missouri State coach Bobby Petrino before their game with the Arkansas Razorbacks — Bobby Petrino coaching Missouri State against the Razorbacks in September 2022 reportedly coming back as offensive coordinator.
(Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

It sounds like a move to get maximum public relations exposure just as they kick off a campaign to raise money to pay players. Nobody could have ever imagined that sentence five years ago, much less a decade ago when Petrino was the head coach.

Shoot, I will not be surprised if they make an "official" announcement during the basketball game with Duke on Wednesday night. It is a prime time national television audience on ESPN. Considering they are trying to count on smaller donations for their NIL deal that adds up to about $9 million a year, the timing is interesting. That may or may not be anywhere near enough to be competitive because we have zero transparency on this whole deal. It's a way for fans to put their money where their social media claims are frequently.

There is not a shred of anything official to it. The Arkansas athletics department has neither confirmed nor denied Petrino's hiring officially, but that will likely change Wednesday. It has to. The lack of denials or responses one way or the other from anyone in charge of anything with the Razorbacks has made everyone believe it's accurate.

Petrino was fired for cause back in 2012 and University guidelines clearly state that means he can never be re-hired. The word trickling out is the loophole being used is it's not the same job, so all is well. How they justify it from a public relations standpoint is even more interesting. They may just continue to lay low and roll the dice on winning enough games for everyone to ignore minor details like university by-laws.

After Arkansas staggered to a 4-8 finish, did Yurachek have any other options at this point? Considering Pittman had already cut his own buyout in half by finishing below .500 this year, they still wouldn't pull the trigger on firing him or working out a retirement so he wouldn't have to try and get a job at 62 years of age. That sounds like they didn't have the money or cash flow to make the monthly payments. They can say whatever they want, but without a complete set of books to submit to private forensic accountants, nobody would believe it anyway.

They have to get a lot of money coming in quickly. They are going to have a big payroll to meet pretty soon. No telling what the price of playing with the big boys in the transfer portal this year will be. The numbers being thrown around are ridiculously high and having a high-priced quarterback is going to require a high-priced offensive line. No one wins a championship completing a lot of passes from a horizontal position.

There is a segment of the Razorback fan base believing Petrino could make that happen. Most of that is based off a 21-5 two-year stretch largely due to some incredible playmakers along with quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson. Both years they were third-ranked team in the SEC West behind Alabama and LSU.

This time, he won't be the head coach. His only responsibility will likely be running the offense and coaching quarterbacks. His reputation has been built on calling plays, but he hasn't won a championship anywhere he's been. Last year he was at Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher got fired after a 7-5 year where the offense wasn't really the problem.

We don't know what his responsibility will be. Pittman had a former head coach in defensive coordinator Barry Odom with whom he spent a lot of time around picking his brain. It's interesting Odom has turned UNLV around in a year to 9-3 while the Hogs fell to 4-8. Maybe Pittman wanted a former head coach so he can continue his learning process on the job.