Sam Pittman shares respect he has for Kalani Sitake

On Saturday, Arkansas will host BYU in the second game of their home-and-home series. While their head coaches, Sam Pittman and Kalani Sitake, will be adversaries in Week 3, they share a friendship off the field. As the Razorbacks prepare for their Saturday night primetime home matchup, Pittman reveals how their friendship came to be and his respect for Sitake.

“Well, we have mutual friends which started it,” said Pittman. “And then I knew Kingsley, their left tackle, knew his parents. They rave about Kalani. So I already knew some people that told me several wonderful things about him. And then, I just like the way his team plays. But if you talk in the coaching circle, he’s one of the most well-respected guys in the country.

“You go and play them; their team plays extremely hard, they’re well coached, very disciplined. I just have a lot of respect for him as a family man, how he runs his business, and he was very kind to me when we went out there last year. When you lose, obviously, we were fortunate we won; it’s hard to say some things after the game. It’s hard, but he was very respectful of the team and myself and all those things, even after the win.”

After reeling from three-straight SEC defeats, dropping to 3-3 in the early part of the 2022 season, Arkansas packed their bags and headed to Provo, UT, to take on BYU. That mountain getaway was just what the Razorbacks needed as they picked up a much-needed 52-35 victory. This year, Pittman and crew plan on continuing their winning ways against the Cougars, this time winning at home. But regardless of the outcome, Pittman will continue to have a high level of respect for his coaching colleague Sitake.

Pittman says Friday night is movie night

But before Arkansas handles business on the field, the program has a little team-building planned. According to the Razorbacks’ headman, the scheduled event is a tradition that dates back to this time at Georgia.

“We got a movie set up; I can’t remember the name of it -Denzel Washington,” said Pittman. “You can’t go wrong whatever it is. So we’re going to go to the movies Friday night.

“The first time we went on the road and played in that night game, we went to the movies and we won, didn’t we? Didn’t we beat Mississippi State? So that was kind of a staple. We did it all the time when I was at Georgia. If it’s a night game, you go to the movies.”

The Razorbacks are playing in a night game on Saturday, allowing the team to stay out a little bit later for this team bonding exercise. But it also changes the itinerary for Saturday, adding the opportunity for an extra team meal before the game.