SEC media days: Arkansas coach Sam Pittman is on the hot seat, and he's not afraid to talk about it
Oklahoma native is a treasure.
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DALLAS — Sam Pittman sauntered onto the main stage at SEC media days, pulled folded but crumpled pieces of paper from his pocket and looked across the ballroom.
"Mornin', everee-budee," he said in his lilting drawl.
Media types couldn't help themselves, answering back his greeting like a Sunday morning congregation.
For the next half hour or so, the Arkansas coach and Oklahoma native charmed the room. Then when his time was up on the main stage, he went into the room for electronic media and continued the whimsy.
When a reporter mentioned that just two years ago Pittman arrived at SEC media days on the heels of a 9-4 season as one of the most popular coaches in the country, Pittman jumped in.
"I'm popular now," he said. "It's just the wrong way."
Laughter erupted.
"I'm hot," Pittman continued with a twinkle in his eye.
He's not wrong. No coach in the SEC is on a hotter seat than Pittman. Many thought the Razorbacks would fire him last fall amid a 4-8 season that included five one-score losses but finished with a couple of drubbings in SEC play, 48-10 to Auburn and 48-14 to Missouri.
Worst, both of those games were in Fayetteville.
Pittman understands why he's on the most lists of coaches on the hot seat.
"I'm starting those lists," he said.
"Listen, what's fair is fair. If you gonna get patted on the back, you're gonna get punched in the gut. ... And to be honest with you, the only one that can really control the hot seat is me and what we do with our football team."
Talk about an honest, open answer. Can I tell you how refreshing that is, especially among major college football coaches?
For four days this week, I watched coach after coach parade in front of the media at the Dallas Omni. Most of them presented themselves well. Represented their programs and universities well, too.
But most walked and talked like big-business CEOs, which they essentially are. They manage and oversee multi-million-dollar businesses that just happen to be college football programs.
The result is a bit plastic.
Or in some cases, a lot plastic.
That wasn't Pittman. Early in his opening statement in the main room — that's why he had the folded papers — he shared a story about Monte Kiffin, the legendary defensive coach who died last week.
Pittman's path first crossed with Kiffin's in 1978, when Kiffin was the defensive coordinator and Pittman was a junior on the football team at Grove High School, less than 10 miles from the Oklahoma-Arkansas border.
"In 1978, the Grove Ridgerunners played the Miami War Dogs," Pittman said. "Coach Kiffin came over to the game. ... He was there to see (Miami standout) Todd Berry. Todd Berry was the No. 1 ranked quarterback in the state of Oklahoma. He was not there to see any of the Grove Ridgerunners.
"We lost the game late, 21-16, and Charlie Cooper, our head football coach there at Grove, Coach Kiffin came in and asked, could he talk to the team? He came in and said some unbelievable things about our toughness and fight and our grit.
"I remember the impact that his speech, that it made on me. I thought, as I become a coach, how we can change lives and how we can be meaningful to young athletes and young people by the way that Coach Kiffin talked to us that day. I'll never forget that as long as I live."
Later, I asked Pittman about growing up an Oklahoma fan. He was born in El Reno, spent most of his life in Canton, then moved to Grove when he was in high school.
"I went to Oklahoma football camp; they didn't know I was there, but I was," he quipped.
Not until moving to Grove did his passion for the Sooners give way to a love of the Razorbacks, who recruited him a bit before he ultimately decided to play small-college football at Pittsburg State, about an hour and a half north in Kansas.
But when Pittman was 35, he was hired by John Blake to be OU's offensive line coach.
"It was one of the biggest thrills of my life," Pittman said. "You know when there's thrills in your life is when there's thrills for your parents ... and that was one of those moments for my mom and dad as well as my brother, my three sisters. I have high respect for Oklahoma."
And now, of course, Pittman is the head coach for the other program he grew up cheering.
But he understands he won't be long for Fayetteville if the Razorbacks don't take big steps forward this season. That's why Pittman made the unconventional move of hiring Bobby Petrino to be the offensive coordinator. Petrino was an extremely popular head coach at Arkansas before off-field issues cost him that job, but Pittman didn't blink at the prospect of bringing back Petrino.
"It's been great," Pittman said of Petrino's return. "He's passionate. He likes to win, likes to win and score points. So it's been great."
Pittman said he's always liked having a former head coach on staff, giving him someone who he can bounce ideas off and giving him a sense of security.
As a result, Pittman has Petrino in his office more than anyone else.
"I apologize to him," Pittman said. "I don't know if he likes it or not, but I do make him talk to me a lot."
Ego doesn't seem an issue for Pittman, who also called himself "the oldest GA in the country" as he assists new offensive line coach Eric Mateos.
Pittman believes ego is a barrier to the team getting better. How will something affect him? If he worries about that, it might keep him from doing something beneficial for the Razorbacks.
And he wants the best for them.
"We've been working tirelessly to address areas we need improvement; our players have shown remarkable resilience and commitment this off-season," he said. "We know our fans deserve a team that competes at the highest level. We're excited to make that happen.
"Our focus is to embrace the hog, which means we need to be tough, we need to be together, we need to be consistent."
Hold up. Did he say "embrace the hog"?
You betcha, and by the middle of Thursday afternoon, at least one online vendor was selling Arkansas shirts with EMBRACE THE HOG in big letters on the front.
It's pretty clear Razorbacks everywhere love Pittman's folksiness; they just want him to win more than four ballgames a season. Thing is, no one wants that any more than Pittman.
He believes he's got a team that can do that.
"I really like this team," he said. "I really do. I'm not trying to win media days. I'm just going to tell you how I feel — I really like this team, and I think with the culture and the tightness of the team, I think you can win those games a little bit easier than if it's the other way."
Pittman might not have been trying to win media days, but that's what he did. Here's hoping he wins enough ballgames to bring his charm and whimsy back to SEC media days next year.