There is no way around it, this one breaks my heart. Everybody loves Sam Pittman, which makes this so incredibly difficult. A career offensive line coach got the opportunity to have his dream job when he took over the Arkansas Razorbacks after a stellar run coaching the big uglies in the trenches at Georgia. For a minute there, Pittman had Arkansas playing like a top-25 program. But now, it is over.
Pittman's Hogs got roasted alive vs. Hugh Freeze's upstart Auburn Tigers on Saturday to the tune of 48-10. This blowout loss came on the heels of a surprising three-point road victory over Florida. With this latest defeat to Auburn, the Hogs have dropped to 3-7 overall and 1-6 in conference play. All that remains for the Razorbacks this year are two home dates: FIU next week and Battle Line vs. Missouri.
Although Pittman would theoretically leave Arkansas in a far better place than he found it, it is abundantly clear that he cannot succeed at an SEC program without great coordinators around him. Losing Barry Odom to the UNLV job was a death blow, but seeing Kendal Briles go to TCU last minute was the ominous final nail in the coffin. Pittman is not Chad Morris, but he is not Houston Nutt either.
Here are three potential replacements for Pittman should Arkansas want to make a change for 2024.
Arkansas football: 3 replacements for Sam Pittman as Hogs head coach
3. Mike Elko is about to get paid some serious cash by somebody, alright
Even though the Duke Blue Devils lost a thriller in overtime to arch rival North Carolina on Saturday night, Mike Elko is still a fantastic head coach. In his two years since arriving at Durham, he has taken a bad news bears Blue Devils team and made them competitive as hell. Although not having star quarterback Riley Leonard available for most of the season, Elko has still found ways to win games.
The reason why Arkansas should at least kick the tires on Elko is because if they do not, he could just go to Southwest Classic rival Texas A&M as Jimbo Fisher's replacement. With Fisher out of College Station as of Sunday morning, Elko could be the No. 1 target to right the ship at A&M. He was Fisher's star defensive coordinator prior to taking over the operation at Duke. Elko can handle this A&M job.
Truth be told, he could stay at Duke if he gets a substantial raise. It is nowhere near as high-profile of a job as Arkansas and Texas A&M would be in the SEC. While I would not say the Hogs would be the favorite to get Elko, they need to at least gauge's his interest by speaking to his agent. Plausible deniability is a great thing. No matter what happens, Elko is probably going to see his salary double.
Hiring Elko would be like hiring Barry Odom, but also twisting the knife a bit into the A&M program.
2. Jonathan Smith could leave his dam good alma mater for the right price
Although his alma mater is not going to make the College Football Playoff this season, Jonathan Smith's alma mater is Oregon State University. Once the playoff format expands from four to 12 teams next year, then the Oregon State Beavers stand a really great chance of getting in, no matter what conference they play in or not. However, you have to wonder if Smith could leave Corvallis now.
Smith leads arguably the best team in the country that is pretty much mathematically eliminated from the playoff. Oregon State may have two losses, but the Beavers are dam good. It would not shock me if Oregon State were to either upset Washington at home on Saturday or in Eugene for some Strife Aquatic, possibly doused in Liquid Sunshine in Autzen. Of course, they could lose both and fall to 8-4.
To me, it is all about financial resources. Oregon State along with fellow Pacific Northwest Step Brother Washington State have been left for dead with the Pac-12 dissolving next season. While the university could keep this great program afloat with its good, but not great financial resources, that may not happen if Oregon State goes down a level. Smith is a great coach, but needs more ammo.
Do not be shocked if Smith were to leave his alma mater for a higher-end Power Five job by 2025.
1. Gus Malzahn is the native son who needs to save Arkansas football
In my opinion, Arkansas does not fire Sam Pittman without assurances of if the Razorbacks can get their top choice. It goes without saying that top candidate would be UCF head coach Gus Malzahn. Although he has not been as good in Orlando as he was previously at Auburn, and briefly at Arkansas State before that, Arkansas is Malzahn's alma mater. He played wide receiver there in the mid-1980s.
I don't know if this hire would have guys like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart shaking in their boots, but I can name at least three teams that would absolutely hate this: Missouri, Texas A&M and in some capacities, maybe even Texas? Auburn has already moved on Malzahn years ago. They may have stupidly gotten off the Gus Bus, but hiring Hugh Freeze after the Bryan Harsin disaster seems good.
To me, Malzahn is the clear and obvious choice. We have seen him coach at a remarkably high level at Auburn before. In the last few weeks, UCF has played considerably better since making the leap up to the Power Five during its first season in the Big 12. Arkansas has big-pocketed boosters and honestly, the only real serious candidate for the job should they decide that Pittman is overcooked.
Getting Malzahn back in the Power Five feels right, but that man belongs coaching an SEC program.
