Sam Pittman gives hilarious take on facing Bret Bielema on the football field

From 2013-15, Sam Pittman worked as an assistant coach under Bret Bielema at Arkansas. But this week, Pittman faced a question he probably hadn’t thought much about: Could he take Bielema one-on-one on the football field?

That’s what Greg McElroy asked the Razorbacks headman during an episode of “Always College Football,” and it led to an entertaining answer.

“We would both lose,” Pittman joked. “But could I get open? I don’t think so. He’s long, got big hands. I don’t know.

“I haven’t seen him for a while, so it might be a hell of a match. Right now, I’d have to give it to him because he’s younger than I am. … Maybe if he slipped, I could get open.”

Bielema played tight end at Iowa and has experience coaching linebackers before becoming a head coach. But Pittman, a former defensive end, could have an idea of how to evade a defender. As he said, that could be a fun matchup.

Bielema is currently getting ready for his second year as the head coach at Illinois while Pittman enters year three as Arkansas headman. After leaving the Razorbacks following the 2015 season, Pittman headed to Georgia before returning to Fayetteville in 2020.

KJ Jefferson reveals how Sam Pittman changed Arkansas football

Pittman and KJ Jefferson are at the forefront of the return of Arkansas football’s to prominence, combining to bring hope to Razorbacks faithful after years of disappointment. During an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show Jefferson revealed how Pittman was able to get the ball rolling.

“Just making sure that we’re all together,” Jefferson said when asked what Pittman has meant to Arkansas. “The locker room being divided under no circumstances. Just making sure that we’re together. We trust in him, we trust in the whole coaching staff that he put together. Just being loyal. Just being loyal when you get a new coaching staff that comes in. Once you gain their trust, you just have to be loyal. Willing to do anything for that coaching staff.

“My teammates, we all just — we love the way Coach Pittman came in, bought into the system that he put together around us, and the culture that he brought back with the hard working mentality. So we all just bought in, and trust the process.”