This hire proves it shouldn’t take 3 years to get something going. Pittman took over a program that was absolutely in the tanks 2 years ago and now they are a top 10 team. Pittman appears to know how to run a program. He clearly was not an exciting hire but no one gives a **** now.
Sam Pittman & Arkansas
- Thread starter ronpolk
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Yep, that’ is “proof” that’s all there is to it! Amazing how the likes of Florida State, Texas and Tennessee haven’t been able to turn it around after all these years.
Mr. Polk, folks may hate Ole Miss but you have to appreciate what Kiffin is doing up the road too.
Of course it doesn't
Dan Mullen took Chris Relf and won nine games in year 2 against one of the toughest schedules in the country...
Dan Mullen took Chris Relf and won nine games in year 2 against one of the toughest schedules in the country...
Maybe he can keep it going, but this smells like Orgeron part two to me. Pittman has the best coordinator duo in the country. And I’ll be in highly interested in who he replaces them with when the time comes.
Yeah and last year people were talking abt how terrible of a hire he was.
And Missouri beat that Arkansas team in the 9th game of the season.
And Missouri beat that Arkansas team in the 9th game of the season.
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Same here. Briles and Odom are positioning themselves this year to move on as coordinators to blue blood programs or to head coaching gigs and we'll see if Arkansas can keep it going.
Hard for a program like Arkansas (or State... or LSU apparently) to cycle through coordinators and maintain success, particularly on offense.
This is why I don’t buy the excuses for Leach. Arkansas was 4-20 under Chad Morris. Pittman is 7-7. Ole Miss was 9-15 the last two years with Luke. Kiffin is 8-5. We went from 14-12 under Moorhead to 6-9 so far under Leach. Among these three that made a coaching change the same season, we went from the only team with a winning record to the only team with a losing record.
Admittedly the optics of that are not great. But the turnaround taking longer for Leach is consistent with what happened at his previous stops. His teams get there eventually but that’s not much comfort before you actually get there.
This may come as a surprise to people who haven't watched any film on Texas A&M... but we've played 3 teams tougher than anyone on Arkansas's schedule. We'd be 4-0 with their schedule and in the top 10 as well. We'll see how real they are after Georgia. Both Texas SEC schools are vastly overrated this year. Remove the name from the jersey and neither would be receiving votes.
Jefferson makes that offense run. Is he even playing Saturday or is he playing not 100%. With out him thier offense is just average. I believe that is why GA is such a heavy favorite. Arkansas is top 10 but Vegas sure did not set the line like they are a top 10. It might be closer now don't know. With out Jefferson they might score 10 against GA.
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Point taken but they have been trying to find a coach for quite a while and went thru several coaches. We've gone thru 2 since Mullenz.
So here is my issue and not to say it's you but some folks said wait til year two is when your Leach team's starting getting better, now it's wait til year 3. What's it gonna be next year wait til year four?
Some of ya'll really need to learn how SEC football works. Arkansas was down a few years ago, but still recruiting reasonably well, because they could offer immediate playing time. Those guys are now juniors and seniors. Ole Miss has done the same thing. That is the cycle of being a have not, which those 2 and MSU are. As we got forward, some of that may get shortened due to the transfer portal, but the same dynamics are there. Couple this with Pittman having two good coordinators who will leave very soon, and this is just an 'up' cycle.
Arkansas will not be top ten by season's end, also.
Arkansas will not be top ten by season's end, also.
Indeed. We get a "Genius" for one side of the ball who sometimes hires a "Genius" for the other side of the ball.
Smoked Toag said:
Team talent going into 2020 season according to 247:
View attachment 22069
By what measure were we behind Arkansas and Ole Miss when we fired Moorhead and hired Leach that justifies where we are relative to those two programs today?
I think we are a little better this year, but I don’t know how much the W/L record will bear that out. All I know is his Texas Tech and Washington State teams took a little while to really get going. It was Year 3 at Tech, and it was Year 4 at Wazzu, which strangely enough was a year that started off with a loss to Portland State and ended with them going 9-4.
That’s not necessarily a true indicator of what will play out here, it could happen sooner or it could never happen at all. But his track record is what it is. Historically it’s been a slow burn at first but then ramps up noticeably after a few years. Maybe it plays out that way here, maybe it doesn’t, I have no idea.
Come on Quincy, you can't just take those subjective numbers as fact. You have to factor in class balance, age, transfers, the fact that some positions matter more than others. Your insistence on looking at hard numbers sends you in the wrong direction, man.
You can go look at Dave Bartoo's numbers and it will also show how good of a playcaller Mike Leach is. But you can cite recent W/Ls to refute that. Do you see how futile these arguments can be?
I would not take the time to explain this to posters like blue, etc. You're a smart guy, so I know you get these things. I still think you were trolling with the 'Moorlosses shouldn't have been fired' post.
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hiring a coach is hard. a few rules to remember. be very careful hiring a "system" coach. be careful hiring a coach who comes from a program that has advantages over its competition. in the SEC, be careful hiring a coach who is not intimately familiar with the SEC.
JoeMo checked all 3 of those boxes.
ETA: Be careful hiring a coach who has piggybacked on the success of the prior coach. Examples: Mike Norvell, Larry Coker, Heupel, Frost
JoeMo checked all 3 of those boxes.
ETA: Be careful hiring a coach who has piggybacked on the success of the prior coach. Examples: Mike Norvell, Larry Coker, Heupel, Frost
Yep. I will never get why people keep saying he was a great hire on paper. He wasn't. He also didn't fit our current personnel, so it really just made no sense on any level. It really wasn't dissimilar to just hiring Leach at that point. The results are about the same.
Smoked Toag said:
I don’t think 247 team talent rankings are the end of the discussion, but it’s at least one source that doesn’t support the idea that Arkansas and Ole Miss just needed a new coach while State needed a multi-year rebuild. I’m just asking what supports that idea?
Looking at 2018-2019 records and recruiting going into 2020, I expect us to still be better than the schools Moorhead beat four times by a combined score of 162-53.
I agree we didn't need a rebuild, and we aren't going through one. I mean we are a 6-6 level team, and lucks plays a part in a few losses one way or the other. Arkansas and Ole Miss just have an older team, we have a younger one. At least the guys who are getting the playing time. And remember, our 2017 and 2018 classes weren't good. 2019 was decimated by attrition. 2017-2019 guys are contributing for Arkansas and Ole Miss. Half our offensive starters are 2020 guys.
This is a ridiculous statement. You can't find anything outside of your subjective opinion to support such a statement.
of course. he was also very familiar with the SEC. And he coached under one of the greats in CFB. Also ran a good system for the type of talent we recruit. but there is no perfect, hard and fast rule when hiring a coach. That's why "hiring a coach is hard" and "be careful" was used.
I don't know that I agree with that. He was a fundamental coach with an emphasis on QB development. He also understood that the QB run is just another thing that helps, another option if you will. That's common sense.
I think it would take a lot for Odom to leave. He already turned down DC jobs at Texas and LSU. It would probably have to be a P5 head coaching job. He's already been fired by his alma mater.
Briles I could see going to a Houston or SMU type program as HC eventually though.
I agree. Mullen didn’t seem to need a specific player to win. His system clearly ran better with a guy like Dak rather than Tyler R. But he won games with both.
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