Arkansas fires Sam Pittman: Razorbacks move on from football coach amid 2-3 start and 32-34 overall record

Arkansas has fired coach Sam Pittman, the school announced Sunday. The decision comes following Saturday’s 56-13 loss to Notre Dame and a week after the Razorbacks squandered an 18-point lead on the road at Memphis. Situated on one of college football’s hottest seats entering his sixth season at the program, Pittman finishes 32-34 overall at Arkansas, including a 14-29 mark against SEC competition.

Arkansas also revealed that offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, who coached the Razorbacks from 2008-11, will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season. 

“I want to thank Coach Pittman for his service and dedication to the University of Arkansas throughout his time as head coach,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said. “From Day 1, you could tell how much this opportunity meant to him. At this time, however, I feel a change is necessary to put our student-athletes and program in the best position to be successful. The goal for our football program is to be highly competitive within the Southeastern Conference and compete for a national championship. 

“As we move forward in the process of finding our next head coach, I am certain we will be able to provide the necessary resources to our staff and team to reach our goals. We will begin a national search for our next head coach immediately and that search will include Coach Petrino, who has expressed his desire to be a candidate for the full-time job.”

Since finishing 9-4 overall and finding a spot inside the final AP Top 25 poll to conclude the 2021 season, the Razorbacks have sputtered under Pittman’s guidance despite a bevy of coaching staff changes and roster alterations annually in recruiting and through the transfer portal.

The Razorbacks suffered a couple costly penalties and mistakes against the Tigers in Week 4, before failing to show defensively against the 22nd-ranked Irish at home. Previously during the SEC opener at Ole Miss, Arkansas fell 41-35 after several missed opportunities, including a fumble in the final moments in position to take the lead.

🏈 Sam Pittman’s tenure as Arkansas coach

Yurachek said earlier this month at the Little Rock Touchdown Club that the Arkansas football program was “not set up to win a national championship” and was “brutally honest” about his university not wanting to operate in the “third lane” with others not up to code with the current guidelines. 

These remarks were similar to what Pittman has said previously about facing an uphill climb against other SEC rosters but noted he felt things would even out a bit with revenue sharing in the future.

Now, he’s not going to get an opportunity to show that in Fayetteville. And in his final 12 games at Arkansas that were decided by a single possession, Pittman was just 2-10 including a pair of losses this season.

Pittman has dealt with job-related questions the last two seasons with the Razorbacks, those murmurs coming to a head in November 2023 following a 48-10 home loss to Auburn. Pittman was granted another season, managing a 7-6 finish last fall, and was preparing for a last hurrah of sorts in 2025 with his future on the line.

Pittman addressed job security speculation over the summer at SEC Media Days.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish games and to me it’s all about turnovers right now, and if we can get more,” Pittman said. “We need to get more. It’s not just the offense turning it over. We have to get more, and if we can take care of the ball better, which we believe that we can — we all understand the offense a little bit better — then we could have a very special season because of the way our schedule lines up.”

Finishing games was always an issue for Pittman at Arkansas. The Razorbacks were 7-19 overall in single-possession games during his tenure and only finished with a record of .500 or better in SEC play once in six seasons.