Arkansas fans can't just enjoy important wins

This was going to be a nice notes and random observations piece centered around everything that has unfolded in Omaha involving the Arkansas Razorbacks and LSU Tigers as they barrel head-first into a rematch tonight, but leave it to Hogs fans to find a way to slam on the brakes and bring things to a screeching halt.

One of the notes was going to be how Tennessee fans immediately took over the comments on the Arkansas baseball Twitter as soon as the loss to LSU became official last Saturday as part of a note on how the Razorbacks will be the scorn of multiple fan bases tonight. However, who needs enemies when a team has fans.

While this isn't directly about the best-of-three series between LSU and Arkansas for the right to play in the college baseball national championship series this weekend, it is highly baseball adjacent. See, nestled among all the comments talking about momentum, bemoaning the final inning against UCLA, and wondering who the pitcher will be against LSU was a series of comments taking aim at Razorbacks football coach Sam Pittman.

See, multiple people noted the presence of Hogs basketball coach John Calipari. He's popped up here and there around the scene in Omaha and from time to time on the television screen as he's wandered in to support Dave Van Horn's men on their quest to capture a national championship.

However, instead of noting that beyond being a good thing to see the new guy get more involved with the other programs, it's good for recruiting and national image to see him showing up on ESPN every now and then during the game and leaving it on that positive, multiple Arkansas fans made it a point to say what a shame it was Pittman isn't there doing his part.

Now, just like every other Razorbacks coach, when there has been reason for criticism, it has come without hesitation on these pages. However, when praise has been due or there's no grounds for criticism, that's been addressed also.

So, when people were taking shots about how a high profile coach who has only been at the university for a year can show up and support the baseball team, but a man who has been getting paid by Razorbacks Athletics for six years can't bother to show up, it was obvious something needs to be said.

Not once has Pittman had any trouble making it clear he supports the other programs around the university. In fact, his arrival coincided with the common observation that Arkansas has the tightest knit collection of head coaches at pretty much any university, especially when former basketball coach Eric Musselman was hanging around.

So, before popping off at Pittman in an effort to shame him and make other fans hate him for being so arrogant as to not support the baseball team in its historic quest, perhaps a basic question should have been asked. If the head football coach isn't in the stands supporting the dean of Arkansas Razorbacks coaches, the most respected head coach on campus, then why is that?

It wouldn't have taken long to figure out. For every baseball story that's come out, there has been a recruiting story that has run alongside it about football as Pittman builds one of the largest and most highly ranked classes at Arkansas in a long time.

The one thing almost all of these stories have in common is every commitment seems to come immediately after either a big recruiting weekend or some sort of camp the Razorbacks are hosting on campus. So, if the question is why Pittman wasn't specifically in Omaha last night and won't be there again tonight, a two-second search can clearly provide the answer.

Today he is hosting a lineman camp. That's pretty important.