Razorbacks's AD Finds Himself in Tight Spot in Big Gamble
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After a big loss to Auburn, a week of speculation and chatter about Arkansas coach Sam Pittman's job status was the result. That dragged on for an entire week until blowing out Florida International caused athletics director Hunter Yurachek may have taken a gamble.
With a 48-14 loss to Missouri on Friday, that gamble now looks like one with longshot odds roughly equivalent to a mule winning the Kentucky Derby, Welcome to Arkansas, Hunter, where failure in football draws the inevitable blame. It starts with the coach, then the quarterback and the athletics director is next. Don't ask me how that happened, but it did.
Since Sam Pittman has apparently dug in his heels, don't look for him to just walk away. It's been interesting to see the change in his business acumen since jettisoning his Little Rock lawyer for Jimmy Sexton's firm a couple of years ago. Coincidence?
Quarterback KJ Jefferson had a post on social media Friday before that debacle with the Tigers in Razorback Stadium wearing some sort of eye-rolling apparel (probably for money) that didn't exactly sound promising of any sort of return.
Enter Yurachek to center stage, whether he wants it there or not. We haven't heard a peep from him during all this, either, after he announced to the team after the win over FIU Pittman would return in 2024. Maybe it was an attempt to add some energy into a team that spent far too much time celebration mediocrity.
If the Hogs are going to be competitive in NIL, they need to find somebody willing to part with an awful lot of money to some kids still in high school. The amounts of money other places are reportedly putting up to players (some still in high school) is staggering. That's for us old-timers, who find all this mind-boggling and questioning the entire business model, but that's somebody else's problem to solve.
The obvious question is if Yurachek has painted himself into a corner and no way out is pleasant. Pittman was his first football coach to hire (he inherited Chad Morris). It was a gamble in 2019, giving someone who had never been a coordinator the head coaching position. It should be pointed out, though, Yurachek said at the time he was hired basically along with Morris he was in full support of it.
Pittman can salvage everybody's job with some staggering success in the transfer portal. He's got to swing for home runs. Last year they didn't get a single player that really blew anybody away. Following that with a 4-8 record makes people wonder if that was the best they could get or if they that bad evaluating.
Don't worry about high school players as much anymore, If they develop into spectacular players and the NIL money isn't there they won't be around long enough to develop. If the wide range in what players are getting creates problems in the locker room, well, Pittman has to figure it out fast. That's when you could have an offensive line see how much a high-priced quarterback can do throwing from a horizontal position.
Fans aren't patient enough to wait for on-the-job training. Not these days as the price to attend games. The only way to solve is not with excuses or dodging the media. If Arkansas wants to operate behind closed doors, wins better be the result. Fair or not, that's the ultimate bottom line.
HOGS FEED:
DO SAM PITTMAN'S MEDIA INTERACTIONS JUST NOT ADMITTING HE HAS NO CLUE WHAT'S GOING ON?
PITTMAN PROTOTYPE FOR OC SOUNDS FAMILIAR, HINTS AT POSSIBLE RETURN FOR FORMER RAZORBACK
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