Sam Pittman satisfied with new-look coaching staff

Sam Pittman and Arkansas saw plenty of turnover on the coaching staff this year, with five new faces entering the fold. As spring ball gets underway, the Razorbacks headman sounds happy with how they’ve all fit in.

Arkansas hired Dan Enos as offensive coordinator, Travis Williams as defensive coordinator, Marcus Woodson as co-defensive coordinator, Morgan Turner as tight ends coach and Deron Wilson as secondary coach. That’s a lot of turnover, especially at the coordinator positions, but Pittman said they’re all fitting in well.

In fact, he thinks Arkansas knocked those hires out of the park.

“They’re very, very loyal,” Pittman said. “Hard workers. Great recruiters. Basically, once we make a decision, that’s — to a T — exactly what we’re going to do, and that’s been on both sides of the ball with all of our new coaches, including our strength coach. I feel like at this point, I don’t see it going any other direction, I feel like we’ve really hit a home run with our hires.”

Sam Pittman admits mistake made with transfers, depth chart last season

Expect quite a bit of depth chart maneuvering from the beginning of spring practice to the end at Arkansas. Coach Sam Pittman admitted he made a mistake with transfers last season, one he doesn’t intend to repeat this year.

Spots on the depth chart will be earned, not given away.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I made a mistake last year,” Pittman explained. “I believe that anybody that’s new, they need to earn the spot, even if the whole team knows that they’re going to be the starter. You’ve got to put them on the second, third team, somewhere in there.”

Though Pittman didn’t allude to any team chemistry issues, one of the concerns when new players come in are that the players already on the depth chart at that spot get disillusioned.