Sam Pittman shares that raising money is a priority for him

There’s a lot to do in an offseason in a football program at the collegiate level. That now includes raising money for name, image, and likeness in order to run everything as well as you can in this era.

Sam Pittman deemed that as his current focus at Arkansas right now during a recent appearance on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’. With the spring cycle of the transfer portal being closed, raising funds for that aspect of the program is his largest priority in the present.

“Raising money, you know,” said Pittman.

“I’m going to be out in May trying to talk to the state of Arkansas about why we need the money and how it would benefit us, how it would benefit our kids, the state, obviously our record,” Pittman said. “That would be, probably, the biggest thing going.”

That’s not different than many other coaches, though. Pittman expects that’s what all his other colleagues, including those in the Southeastern Conference, are up to in some way or another.

“I would assume all the coaches in the SEC are very similar. Going out and trying to raise money for the NIL program,” Pittman said. “That’s the next thing going on.”

Arkansas has collectives working in Fayetteville for such things like Arkansas EDGE and Athlete Advocate Consortium. Some of those have already seen an influx of cash over the past month or so for the athletic department. That’s due to the hiring of John Calipari as the next head coach of their basketball team. Now, Pittman needs something similar in order to produce the results that the ‘Hogs are wanting to see.

In order to do so, Pittman has planned some meetings with people involved in donations at Arkansas. He wants to capitalize with this time to generate the kind of dollars that he needs for Razorback Football.

“We’re going to have a thing, a get-together at my house in Hot Springs for some folks down there. Then some different sit-down dinners and things like that,” said Pittman. “It’s just May instead of – before it was a little bit different in May. Now it’s just, certainly since the portal has closed down and most of that recruiting has stopped, we’ll have more time to go out, meet the folks of Arkansas, and try to raise some money for our program.”

NIL is as prominent and important as almost any facet for any team in the college ranks. That’s why so much emphasis, including Pittman and Arkansas’, is on that now as programs head into the summer.