Coaching Shortlist: Arkansas
Overview and top five candidates for the now-vacant Arkansas job
Note: Sorry for missing the past week or so, I was dealing with some mental health stuff that kept me from writing. We’re hopping back on track with this article and Games of the Slot coming Friday!
Arkansas is the fifth Power Four program to be without a head coach and fourth to fire their leader during this season, as Sam Pittman was cast away from Fayetteville following a 32-34 record in six years with the Hogs, per
.In a, frankly, insane turn of events, former disgraced Arkansas head coach and current Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino will take over as the interim coach for the rest of the season.
Like we’ve talked about in the other Coaching Shortlist articles thus far, this carousel season is shaping up to be a crazy one. Now, the SEC gets their first opening of what will surely be a plentiful amount of vacant roles and jobs. Is this the best job on the market? It’s hard to tell, as all five available roles have shortcomings.
But, we’ll get into that soon. As with all of SID Sports’s Coaching Shortlists, we’ll first break down the job and then take a look at the five candidates I think make the most sense. Please keep in mind, unless stated otherwise, all candidates are speculation and not any form of reporting on inside information. If I had that, I’d let you know.
The Job
Arkansas is a tough place to win at, simply because they play in the SEC, which is clearly one of the nation’s two toughest conferences along with the Big Ten. The Hogs have met the definition of a mid-tier team, but have improved since Petrino’s arrival, especially on offense.
Pittman didn’t have a reputation of being a strong recruiter, with Arkansas generally sitting in the back half of the conference in terms of recruiting and transfer portal rankings. Instead, Pittman’s staff looked to develop their talent, a la Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Still, the cupboard is pretty bare in Fayetteville. Quarterback Taylen Green is the best player on the roster, but he’s in his last year of eligibility. The defense is horrendous.
Looking past the roster, which anyone can rebuild in an offseason in the modern college football landscape, things get more dire.
For one, Arkansas is not a traditionally talent-rich state, meaning the Hogs have to step out into nearby fertile recruiting areas like Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and others. In those states, competition is stout and Pittman wasn’t up to the task. Perhaps the Arkansas brass have noticed that those struggles are going nowhere and prioritize someone that can develop unheralded talent?
The main issue is that Arkansas isn’t a big player in the NIL game. They can throw money around - see the Hogs’ basketball team with John Calipari’s $8 million salary that eclipsed Pittman’s $5.5 million mark - but football isn’t a priority. In fact, it’s so low a priority that athletic director Hunter Yurachek claimed that “football, where we are right now, we’re not set up to win a national championship.”
That’s not to say there aren’t deep-pocketed donors that are invested in football. It’s more emblematic that Pittman didn’t use that cash, with Arkansas routinely falling short on NIL-related payments to players. They were getting outbid, with reports claiming that Pittman just didn’t engage that side of the fundraising arm.
This is a school that can turn around, but has those unique challenges of activating a previously dormant football donor base and having built-in recruiting struggles. But it’s a stable school, with Yurachek being one of the nation’s most respected athletic directors and holding his post since 2017 and the university chancellor in place since 2022. Stability is important to high-tier candidates that Arkansas hopes to draw for this job.
The Candidates
Even with those concerns listed above, this is an SEC job. It’s going to have some pull. But who can the Hogs pull? Let’s look at the top five names:
Bobby Petrino, Arkansas OC/Interim Head Coach: Athletic director Hunter Yurachek threw Petrino’s hat in the ring in almost the same breath as he dismissed Pittman, stating that Petrino is being considered as a candidate and the former Razorback coach has expressed interest in the job. He’s done a good job reviving the offense, taking them to the top half of the SEC since his return to Fayetteville.
Rhett Lashlee, SMU HC: Lashlee is probably the main leader for the job, even ahead of Petrino who’s already in the building. Lashlee has SEC experience as a coordinator under Gus Malzahn at Auburn and plenty of love in the Arkansas building. He’s also an Arkansas alum and has a great relationship with Jerry Jones - yes, that Jerry Jones - who is one of the university’s biggest and most influential donors. Trying to pull Lashlee away from SMU may open up a bidding war between Arkansas donors and the oil-rich SMU group that bought their way into the ACC.
Jeff Traylor, UTSA HC: Traylor’s name is getting hot on this trail, after being connected to both Arkansas and Oklahoma State openings. In case you missed the Pokes’ Shortlist, here’s a quick overview: Traylor is a strong recruiter with tons of big-time Texas high school connections and he’s won at a program that had no winning seasons at the FBS level prior to his arrival. Traylor does have a relationship with Yurachek from his breif stint in Fayetteville during the Chad Morris failure.
Eric Morris, North Texas HC: Morris was a near miss for the Oklahoma State Shortlist as well, so keep an eye on the Mean Green this season. Morris is an offensive aficionado that’s cultivated some serious talent, most of it coming from underlooked top players. Cam Ward? Morris got him going as a passer at Incarnate Word after recruiting the future Number One overall pick from an option-running high school. John Mateer? Morris was the one to bring him to Pullman and start his career. He’s a top-level talent developer that may be a great fit for this job, even if it took seven years to truly see results at North Texas.
Jon Sumrall, Tulane HC: Sumrall is almost guaranteed to hit any SEC shortlist you can find. He’s elevated both Troy and Tulane in almost no time at all and knows the south well. But, like we saw with Billy Napier at Louisiana, Sumrall is going to be picky about his role. Especially with other SEC jobs likely to open in the near future. But Arkansas gets the first swing and may be good enough to impress the 42-year old Alabama native that does nothing but win.
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Love it! The only thing I disagree with is the local talent portion. Arkansas has plenty of local talent, it often has been overlooked over the past few years. Look at Drake Lindsey, grew up in Fayetteville, threw for over 4,000 yards in high school, 50 touchdowns, said he was considering Arkansas, and Arkansas didn't even look at him. Now he's balling out for Minnesota.