Sam Pittman defiant about Arkansas' 2024 potential, job status: 'I'm not close to finished'

Sam Pittman is in a potential hot-seat situation as he enters his fifth season in Fayetteville. That’s not at all on his mind, though, considering what he’s currently focusing on at Arkansas.

Pittman addressed the weight on him coming into this year during an appearance on ‘SEC This Morning’ on Thursday. When it comes to his job, he remains grateful for his opportunity with the ‘Hogs but doesn’t feel as though it’s going to come to an end anytime soon. That’s why, along with having the team that he does, he doesn’t feel any sort of way about this season.

“I’m very, very honored to be the head coach for five years now at Arkansas,” said Pittman at SEC Media Days. “I’m not close to finished. I’m not close to done. I love our football team. I love being the head coach at Arkansas.”

“I don’t (feel pressure),” Pittman said. “I think part of it is we have a good football team.”

Pittman has been a part of a turnaround before between year one and year two for him at Arkansas, although the record fell back off in years three and four. Now, being in need of another decent finish, he has that reminding him that they’re more than capable of posting any record that may be required of them.

“You know, we went from 4-20 to 9-4. We sure as hell can go from 4-8 to 9-4, 10-3,” said Pittman. “We can. We’ve got a good football team.”

“We certainly can go from 4-8 to whatever the hell we want to this year,” Pittman said.

Arkansas went from 3-7 in 2020 during Pittman’s debut to 9-4 as a Top-25 team in 2021. It then again fell to 7-6 in 2022 before a complete drop off at 4-8 in 2023. That slide back is why 2024 is a huge one in regards to the future of leadership for the Razorbacks.

However, if this is it for him, Pittman hopes everyone knows that this hadn’t ever been about him. It was always for his players, the staff, their program, and the state that they all represent.

“The other thing is it has never been about me. It’s about our kids, it’s about our facility, it’s about the state of Arkansas,” Pittman said. “I’ve been on several different staffs that got fired, you know, and everybody felt sorry for the head coach. Hell, the head coach has got a buyout, has got this, has made a lot of money.”

“It has never been about me nor will it ever be about me,” said Pittman. “I want to win for the state of Arkansas. The kids and the coaching is really all I care about.”

At 23-25 overall, Pittman has to find a way to get back above .500 both for this season and in his career. He has every expectation that he will do so too with him planning on his tenure continuing past this fall.