Sam Pittman explains hiring of Dan Enos as Arkansas' new offensive coordinator

Arkansas moved at warp speed in its hiring of Dan Enos following the departure of former offensive coordinator Kendal Briles for the TCU job.

Just how fast was Sam Pittman making plans to replace Briles?

“As soon as I found out that there was interest for coach to leave, maybe 10 minutes after that,” Pittman said. “Or five. Or three.”

Arkansas tapped Dan Enos to run things in very short order.

“I’ve had respect for Dan Enos for a long, long time,” Pittman said. “I talked to (my wife) Jamie last night, it’s just different. When I was here the first time he was my boss, and now I’m working with him in a different role.”

Enos served as Arkansas’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2015-17.

So Pittman already has a pretty good idea what it’s like to work with Enos and how effective he can be with the right pieces in place.

“I think you hire good people that are confident in themselves, but yet confident in guys they’re working with, too,” Pittman said. “I was very comfortable working with him, and I hope he feels the same about me.”

Hiring Dan Enos gives Arkansas flexibility

One of the most telling things about the Enos hire from Pittman is that the boss believes Enos will be perfectly capable of adapting his offense around the players he has.

He’s certainly got a good one in quarterback KJ Jefferson and running back Raheim Sanders.

“Offensively I think he can answer questions better than me, but Dan has always here, whether it be at Alabama, whether it be at Maryland, they’ve always ran an offense around their personnel and their talents, and all that starts, in my opinion, at the quarterback position,” Pittman said.

“Dan obviously knew coming here what we have at quarterback and we’re going to use KJ’s ability to the fullest, along with Rocket and all the other guys. I’m an offensive line coach for a reason. I like to run the ball, and Dan fit in that philosophy as well.”

The last several years have really rounded out Enos’ playbook.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to just score more points than they do,” Pittman said. “I really like since Dan’s left Arkansas he’s been in multiple formations, multiple sets, multiple offensive philosophies that I think he can adjust and will around the personnel we have.”