Sam Pittman updates his health status for Liberty Bowl after hip surgery

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman has found himself on availability reports after needing to get his hip replaced following the end of the regular season. But it appears Pittman is on the road to recovery.

Ahead of the Liberty Bowl, Pittman shared an update on his health following the hip replacement and shared that he’s going to continue to use a cane while coaching on the sidelines at the bowl game. This comes after he initially shared he needed the surgery in November.

“I can walk without a cane about 20 yards, maybe,” Sam Pittman said. “I’m going to have it on the sideline just, I don’t know, maybe it’s a security blanket, maybe I need it, I don’t know.”

Sam Pittman was forced to coach the Missouri game from the boxes, which in a bad weather environment it was speculated that he wanted to be more sure of his footing. That came despite knowing since prior to the start of the season that he was going to need the surgery.

Now, it sounds like he’s beginning to feel better on his new hip and he should be able to coach from the sidelines again, with the assistance of his cane. However, he still does have time to change his approach before the game.

“But I’m sleeping a lot better,” Pittman said. “If I knew then what I knew now, 20 days after the total hip, I would have just bit the bullet late June when I found out and would have been able to be more active during the season, but I feel like I’m getting there.”

When Pittman initially explained his need for hip surgery, he shared that he had a chip in the bone that was causing him some soreness. Since getting the procedure done, he’s now been in bowl preparation while also dealing with the transfer portal. That was something that Pittman noted before Christmas.

“I think, you know – I want everybody to know now I had my hip surgery on Tuesday and I was in the office on Wednesday now. So, this portal, what’s going on with the portal right now had nothing to do with my hip surgery,” Pittman said. “I’ve been in every single day since I had it because I was told that, if I was, you know, tough enough, I could do it. Fortunately, I was.”

The Arkansas Razorbacks are set to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Liberty Bowl on Friday, December 27th at 7:00 p.m. EST from Memphis, Tennessee.