Travis Williams, Morgan Turner detail process of Arkansas hiring

Newly hired Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams and tight ends coach Morgan Turner each had a different story about how they came to land in Fayetteville. As they were introduced in a Monday press conference, both coaches explained how they ended up with the Razorbacks.

For Williams, who was the defensive coordinator under Gus Malzahn at UCF the past two seasons, it all began with a phone call from Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman. The two then agreed to meet in person, where Williams remembers coming away impressed with Pittman’s demeanor and ready to join the team.

“Coach Pittman reached out and obviously he reached out to coach (Gus) Malzahn as well,” Williams said. “We got on the phone and had some conversations and then we got in front of each other. It’s all coach Pittman. Once I got in front of him, I said, ‘OK.’ I heard the stories about how great of a guy he is and getting in front of him, it was easy. So very excited to be here. Fired up. My wife is excited. My girls are excited. So we excited to get going.”

Prior to UCF, Williams spent seven seasons as an assistant under Malzahn at Auburn. Under his direction this past season, the Knights ranked as the third-best scoring defense in the AAC, allowing just 23.2 points per game.

Turner arrives in Arkansas after spending the past 10 seasons as the tight ends coach at Stanford. However, instead of receiving a call from Pittman, Turner was the one making it. Longtime Cardinal coach David Shaw resigned this offseason after 12 seasons, leading Turner to reach out to Pittman after receiving a tip from his uncle about the opening with the Razorbacks.

“A lot of change going on at Stanford right now,” Turner said. “I actually got a text from my uncle, who was born and raised in El Dorado. He said, ‘Hey, the tight ends job is open down at Arkansas.’ So I went through a couple of people and got coach’s number and then shot him a message saying, ‘Hey, I’d be very interested in this job.’ I gave a little bit of my bio, my background at Stanford and it kind of went from there. It very quickly materialized and I’m kind of figuring it out right now. It’s been fun.”

While at Stanford, Turner worked with tight ends such as Austin Hooper and Dalton Schultz, each of whom went on to NFL careers.

Arkansas is coming off of a disappointing 6-6 finish to this season after beginning the year 3-0 and rising up to No. 10 in the AP poll. With the additions of Travis Williams and Morgan Turner to the coaching staff, however, they’ll hope to bounce back in 2023.