Sam Pittman opens up on public support from Arkansas players

The 2023 football season is not going the way the Arkansas Razorbacks intended, losing their last five games in a row and failing to secure a single win in SEC play so far.

There’s no denying the Razorbacks’ rocky start to the season, but that hasn’t stopped their players from continuing to be supportive of their head coach Sam Pittman. Both in the media and social media Arkansas’ players have stood by Pittman’s side despite their struggles, and at a press conference this week Pittman responded to the support of his student-athletes.

“We love our players,” Pittman said. “When they win they’re respectful and excited and when we lose they — you know we haven’t lost our team by any stretch of the imagination. I know somebody keeps saying that then they feel like they have, I don’t. But I love this team, I think we do it the right way.”

Pittman impressed early in his tenure for Arkansas, improving the team from three wins and nine wins between his first and second seasons at the helm. They took a step back last season finishing 7-6 on the year, but would have to run the table and win the rest of their games this season to get back to the seven-win mark.

“There’s high expectations of going to class, I told our staff we’ve lost a few games here let’s do not compromise in any way the education, the expectations, getting to everything on time. And no matter who they are, if they’ve not, whatever the situation be we got to handle it,” Pittman said. “I think the kids appreciate that, I learned a long time ago that you lose your team when you lose your focus of your team expectations and we haven’t done that.”

The Razorbacks are taking care of business off the field despite things not going their way on the field, with all but one of their five losses being by seven points or less as they’ve continued to suffer from narrow defeats.

“But I will say this, we have great kids and they’re so much fun to be around. The key is they believe that we can win, and as long as they believe that way they’ll believe in us, we just gotta get some results on the field,” Pittman said.

Pittman is known and respected for his wholesome and relatable personality, which clearly still resonates with his players through the team’s losing streak. Arkansas will look to get on the winning side of things this weekend, as they host Mississippi State at noon ET on Saturday in a game airing on ESPN.