Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman 'Rooted for the Sooners' and Soon Will Play Them in the SEC
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman was born in Oklahoma — El Reno, to be exact. Grew up in the Sooner State — Grove, actually. Competed in high school sports here — even won a state championship in the shot put.
So naturally, he can’t wait for the Sooners to join the SEC.
“I was a kid, rooted for the Sooners ’til I moved over to eastern Oklahoma, where I became a Razorback fan,” Pittman said Wednesday at SEC Media Day in Atlanta. “Storied football program.”
Pittman, beginning his third year in Fayetteville after turning the Razorbacks around last year as the Hogs reached a top-10 ranking and finished with a 9-4 season, is eager to see how the 16-team SEC schedule eventually plays out. Most of the talk centers around either three permanent opponents or possibly four quadrants — both of which could line up nicely for Arkansas fans.
“Oklahoma would be another rival that would be pretty cool, to be honest with you,” Pittman said. “If we could play Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, that would be really neat.”
On Monday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pointed to the addition of Oklahoma as a “contiguous state” with Arkansas and Texas and said while OU is reuniting with Missouri from the Big Eight and Texas is reuniting with both Texas A&M and Arkansas from the Southwest Conference, the Hogs and Sooners have the potential to form a fantastic border rivalry.
“I’m not the schedule maker. I'm just a football coach,” Pittman said. “But to answer your question, that would be a really cool deal, growing up in the state of Oklahoma.”
OU and Arkansas have played 15 times in their history, with the Sooners leading the series 10-4-1. But in the last 104 years, they’ve only played three times — all in bowl games (1978 Orange, 1987 Orange, 2002 Cotton).
“We're having recruiting battles with them right now, thank the Lord,” Pittman said. “Before, we couldn't get in the door. But we're having recruiting battles. We are having recruiting battles with Texas. I'm not telling you we're whipping them or anything like that. I'm telling you we're in the conversation. It's so close, you know? You have two storied programs there.”
Pittman said “it was fun playing Texas last year,” a game that went Arkansas’ way by a score of 40-21 in Fayetteville. Texas leads the all-time series 56-23.
“Obviously it was one year we had a nice game against them and those things,” Pittman said. “Have a lot of respect for Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) and the Longhorns.”
Asked what he would tell OU and Texas fans as they prepare to take on the SEC schedule, Pittman smiled.
“We love you, Texas and Oklahoma,” he said. “Can't wait for you to come over. We got a great place.
“I would tell them what they already know: it's a hell of a league. It's about big people and fast people. Not any different, probably, than the Big 12. Consistently each week you better have some depth. Those guys are great coaches over there at Texas, Oklahoma. They know that.”
