Arkansas is using Kentucky blueprint in latest football contract

Many folks in national college football media believe that Mark Stoops currently has one of the best jobs in college football. That is mostly due to his contract situation. Arkansas is looking to follow a similar blueprint.

After two surprise seasons, former Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman has led Arkansas to a 12-11 overall record in his first two seasons with the Hogs. In 2021, the SEC West program beat both Texas and Texas A&M in the same season and finished the year with a New Year’s Day victory over Penn State in the Outback Bowl. Arkansas finished the year inside the AP Top 25 for the first time in a decade.

Athletic director Hunter Yurachek was more than ready to reward his head football coach following the season. After some contract negotiations, both Pittman and the university have come to terms on a deal that will get him out of the basement in the SEC when it comes to year head coach pay.

On Thursday, the University of Arkansas announced that Pittman had agreed to terms with a contract extension that will increase his yearly play over $5 million over the next four seasons up through 2026. However, Pittman will receive a new bonus for a good season.

“The contract will be automatically extended a fifth year, through December 31, 2027, if Arkansas wins seven games in any single season, and that includes with a bowl win over a Power 5 opponent,” according to Trey Biddy of 247 Sports. “Pittman previously made $3 million a year, and the new deal also contains compensation escalators ‘based on the number of wins per season and incentive bonuses based on postseason success.”

That may sound very similar. Since 2017, Mark Stoops has received an automatic extension for one year whenever the Wildcats record seven wins on the football field. Kentucky has just happened to do that every year since ink went to paper on that new deal in Lexington. If Stoops were to win 10 games, the head football coach received a two-year extension on his deal.

After another top 25 season for the Wildcats in 2021, Stoops signed another extension that raised his pay up to $6.35 million in 2022 and will reach $7.6 million by 2028. Pittman has a long way to go to get to that mark, but it’s clear that Arkansas likes the guy that is wearing the headset, polo, and khakis in Fayetteville and wants to keep him around longer as the SEC is about to enter a new world when Oklahoma and Texas join the league.

Some might call it a “copycat” league has Yurachek is completely ripping a play out of Barnhart’s playbook.