Soule' Photography / Shutterstock.com
Arkansas has fired head coach Sam Pittman after a brutal 56-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday. The decision comes just one week after the Razorbacks blew an 18-point lead against Memphis. Pittman, who entered his sixth season on one of college football’s hottest seats, leaves with a 32-34 overall record and a dismal 14-29 mark in SEC games.
Bobby Petrino — who previously led the program from 2008-11 — will take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season. He’s also expressed interest in being considered for the permanent position.
“I want to thank Coach Pittman for his service and dedication to the University of Arkansas throughout his time as head coach,” Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek said. “From Day 1, you could tell how much this opportunity meant to him. At this time, however, I feel a change is necessary to put our student-athletes and program in the best position to be successful. The goal for our football program is to be highly competitive within the Southeastern Conference and compete for a national championship.”
Yurachek added that a national search for the next head coach begins immediately, with Petrino included among the candidates.
The Hogs have struggled mightily in close games under Pittman’s leadership.
Since their promising 9-4 finish in 2021 (when they cracked the final AP Top 25), the Razorbacks have been in a downward spiral. Despite Pittman’s annual staff shakeups and aggressive portal moves, the results haven’t followed. The team has been plagued by costly penalties and defensive collapses — like the one against Notre Dame this weekend. In their SEC opener against Ole Miss, Arkansas fell 41-35 after fumbling away a potential game-winning drive in the final moments.
Pittman’s Run in Fayetteville
| Season | Overall Record | SEC Record | Bowl / Postseason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3–7 | 3–7 | No bowl (season impacted by COVID‑19) | |
| 2021 | 9–4 | 4–4 | Outback Bowl — 24-10 win over Penn State | |
| 2022 | 7–6 | 3–5 | Liberty Bowl — 55-53 win over Kansas (3OT) | |
| 2023 | 4–8 | 1–7 | No bowl | |
| 2024 | 7–6 | 3–5 | Liberty Bowl — 39-26 win over Texas Tech | |
| 2025 | 2-3 | 0-1 | N/A |
Earlier this month at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, Yurachek made waves when he admitted the Arkansas football program was “not set up to win a national championship” and was “brutally honest” about the university’s position in the current college football landscape. These comments echoed what Pittman himself had previously mentioned about facing an uphill battle against better-funded SEC programs — though he’d expressed hope that future revenue sharing might level the playing field.
That opportunity won’t come for Pittman now. His teams went just 2-10 in their last 12 one-possession games, including two heartbreakers this season. The inability to close out winnable games became the defining characteristic of his tenure — Arkansas went 7-19 overall in single-possession contests under his leadership.
Job security questions have followed Pittman for the past two seasons. The speculation reached fever pitch in November 2023 after a humiliating 48-10 home loss to Auburn, as reported by 247Sports. Though he managed to save his job and guide the Razorbacks to a 7-6 finish last season, 2025 was widely viewed as his last chance to turn things around.
Pittman seemed aware of the pressure this summer at SEC Media Days when he addressed what his team needed to improve. “We’ve got to learn how to finish games and to me it’s all about turnovers right now,” he said. “We need to get more. It’s not just the offense turning it over. We have to get more, and if we can take care of the ball better, which we believe that we can — we all understand the offense a little bit better — then we could have a very special season because of the way our schedule lines up.”
That special season never materialized. The Razorbacks only finished with a .500 or better record in SEC play once during Pittman’s six seasons — a stark reminder of how far the program has fallen in the ultra-competitive SEC.
