Sam Pittman reveals the state of the Arkansas Football program entering Year 4

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman joined Paul Finebaum on his show Tuesday to speak about the Razorbacks’ program. Pittman is entering his fourth season at the helm in Fayetteville following three years filled with a combination of highs and lows, which he discussed with Finebaum.

“Well I think the first year I thought we did some nice things, we participated well with most everybody, won some games. The second year winning nine getting in the top 10. Last year, let’s be honest, I mean it was disappointing for all of us to win seven games whenever we felt like we could challenge for the west title and we ended up 3-5 in the league, certainly disappointing,” Pittman admitted.

Pittman turned the program around from a 3–7 season in his first season in 2021 to a 9–4 finish in 2021, setting the table for a highly anticipated, successful third season. This was not the case, as Razorbacks finished 7-6 and did not meet the new precedent set by Pittman.

“But like I said before, to be where we are right now after that season, I really am excited about who we have on the team and who we have coaching the team,” Pittman said. “Very very excited about the spring game coming up and next season.”

The Razorbacks may have fallen short of reaching their goals last season, but were only a few plays away from doing so. As Pittman and his group have been working on the details that cost them last season so history doesn’t repeat itself yet again.

“Well I think it’s probably the situational football Paul, we lost four games by a total of nine points,” Pittman said. “And I can tell you right now three of the four were inside of the red zone where we either fumbled the ball, or we didn’t make a touchdown, or missed a field goal, whatever it may be. Those things right there we’ve got to really, which we have harped on it, practice it, we’re doing more situational football than what I’ve ever done in the spring.”

Righting their wrongs from last season is helping build the confidence of his team according to Pittman. Arkansas brings back the least amount of starters from last season in the SEC heading into the 2023 season. But a confident group led by Pittman and consisting of leaders like quarterback KJ Jefferson and running back Rocket Sanders could be a force to be reckoned with this fall.

“And basically it is building confidence, well you have to build confidence in the kids that we’re going to call the correct play and they’re going to execute it the right way because we are prepared and ready to go. And certainly we’ve had a lot of that in the spring and I think we’ll be much better at it, I think our kids think we’ll be much better in those situations,” Pittman said.