NWADG College Football

12 NWA COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 9.20.2020 and landing in the SEC during the winter. Yet he hired the 58-year-old Pittman, the only current SEC head coach whose background is on the offensive line. Among the other 13 SEC head coaches, six handled mostly quarterbacks as assistants (Drinkwitz, Jimbo Fisher, Kiffin, Leach, Malzahn and Mullen); six more were primarily involved with defensive backs (Saban, Derek Mason, Will Muschamp, Jeremy Pruitt, Kirby Smart and Mike Stoops); and the background for LSU's Ed Orgeron is on the defensive line. Pittman is one of very few current Power 5 head coaches who specialized in the offensive line before becoming a head coach. Kansas Coach Les Miles would qualify, as he played on the offensive line at Michigan and coached it for 13 years at Colorado and Michigan before embarking on a successful head coaching career. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Oregon's Mario Cristobal and Iowa State's Matt Campbell come to mind, and UCLA's Chip Kelly worked the O-line for two years at New Hampshire. So among all the Power 5 head coaches, the ones who earned their chops on the offensive front can be counted on one hand. Not that an offensive line background discounts the possibility of great success. Vince Lombardi, Joe Gibbs, Art Shell, Danny Ford, Phillip Fulmer, Johnny Vaught and Bo Schembechler won NFL championships, Super Bowls, NCAA championships and great acclaim after devoting parts of their careers to coaching or playing offensive line. Ford was head coach at Arkansas from 1993-97 after leading Clemson to the 1981 national championship, and Gibbs was an assistant coach for the Razorbacks in 1971-72. Pittman's case is somewhat unique. The Arkansas program was arguably at an all-time low as Yurachek started his search to replace Chad Morris following back-to-back 2-10 seasons. Yurachek felt he needed a coach who was truly passionate about coaching in Fayetteville above all else in his search. Former Razorback All-American Darren McFadden played a key role on Pittman's behalf during the search, passing along word of the letter of support written by Pittman's former Arkansas linemen. "From the time that we made a change in the leadership of our football program, people started talking to me about Sam Pittman," Yurachek said upon Pittman's hiring. "Obviously, he had developed quite a reputation for recruiting and offensive line play when he was here. "Then I started doing some of my own research and talking to people across the country about Sam, and watching him sometimes on the sidelines and trying to digest any type of videos I could of him and his enthusiasm. He and I visited a couple times by phone before I had a chance to officially meet him." Pittman is highly regarded in coaching circles, but he had to overcome the typecast of a career offensive line coach. "I was comfortable being an offensive line coach because I was driven to try to continue to be a good offensive line coach," Pittman said at his hiring news conference. "There's a lot of work in that. But I was head coach a long time ago at a couple of high schools and a juco and I enjoyed it. But when this came open, I felt like I was ready for the job. So that's why I pursued it. "There were some other jobs out there when I was a little bit younger, head coaching jobs that had a little bit of interest in me, but I just didn't feel like I was ready to be a head coach, and I do now certainly." Stinchcomb had a close-up view of Pittman's work at Georgia, as he lives between Atlanta and the Bulldogs' campus in Athens, Ga. "I think he's a brilliant recruiter and getting guys to buy in to what it is they're trying to do," Stinchcomb said. "It's not always easy, I think, to get a bunch of guys that are highly touted, that have talent, know they have talent, to play their role. That can be tricky. "And I think that was probably the most impressive part of it, was that it seemed as if in a room full of five-stars and highly touted recruits that those guys gee'd and haw'd pretty well with each other. That's saying something. And I think that was probably one of the more impressive elements of it. Step one is getting them to want to come play for you. Step two is to actually get them to do it once they're there. I think he was able to do that." Luke thinks the nature of offensive line coaches lends to strong leadership traits. "Offensive line coaches are always guys that are big family guys and guys that build those strong family relationships with the players," Luke said. "I think that part comes easy as far as that team unity and the buy-in. "I think that's going to be the strong part for any O-Line coach. The unique thing is that you make decisions that you know are best for what you believe in your heart, even when people don't agree with you. I think that's always the tough part. "Most offensive line coaches do have to work their way up. And so I think having that work ethic … and the blue collar toughness is what it takes to win football games, especially in the Southeastern Conference. So it is unique for an O-line coach to be a head coach, but I think the relationship side and the blue collar mentality are some of the strong points for sure." Pittman certainly had duties beyond a normal position coach when he was assistant head coach at Georgia (2019) and Arkansas (2013-15) in recent seasons, and at North Carolina (2011), Northern Illinois (2004-06) and Western Michigan (1999) before that. But the 26-year college assistant blew away Yurachek, Fagg and Cox with his passion for leading the Razorbacks. "I love this place, and I want it to be what it should be," Pittman said during training camp. "And it's going to take a lot of work. "But I'll tell you this my friend, I'm surrounded by some great coaches, and our players are playing hard. And as long as they'll do that, we're going to improve. … You can feel the passion of Razorback fans. They want some respect, and certainly we're going to try to give it to them." The search committee trio was welcomed into Pittman's home in Athens, Ga., for an interview the day after the Bulldogs lost to LSU in the SEC Championship Game. Cox was checking out the cookies supplied by the coach's wife Jamie Pittman when he noted napkins printed out with the phrase: "Run Uglies n Continued from Page 11 NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T.WAMPLER Razorback head football coach Sam Pittman at practice Monday Aug. 24, 2020.

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