Arkansas football has let go of the rope under Sam Pittman

Sam Pittman's future as the head coach at Arkansas has seemingly been up in the air since the end of 2023. 

That was the year that Pittman, coming off a solid 16-10 record in his first two non-COVID seasons at Arkansas, led the Razorbacks through an abysmal 4-8 campaign that culminated with a pair of blowout home losses to Auburn and Missouri. 

The Razorbacks got their heads back above water with a 7-6 season in 2024, but five games into the 2025 season, Pittman's job security is back in serious jeopardy. Arkansas fell 56-13 to No. 22 Notre Dame at home on Saturday, extending its losing streak to three and marking another exceptionally poor performance in front a strong Fayetteville crowd. 

As Notre Dame poured on 42 first-half points, it was apparent that Pittman's sixth — and likely final — Arkansas squad was out of its depth. An effort as lackluster as Saturday's from the Razorbacks raises the question of whether or not Pittman's players have let go of the rope. 

In all fairness to Pittman, he was the man who delivered Arkansas from the depths of college football purgatory in 2020. After back-to-back 2-10 seasons under Chad Morris in 2018-19, Pittman won three SEC games in 2020 and backed that up with a nine-win campaign in 2021. 

But his success at Arkansas has significantly stagnated over the last three-and-a-half years. The peaks Pittman has reached since the start of 2022 are a win against No. 4 Tennessee in 2024 and a pair of Liberty Bowl victories. 

Since the start of 2023, Pittman is 13-17 as head coach. When Bret Bielema — Morris doesn't count for the purpose of this statistical discussion — was fired at Arkansas immediately following the 2017 season finale against Missouri, he had just wrapped up an 11-14 record in his previous 25 games. 

Bielema was fired walking off the field before he could even take the podium for his postgame news conference after a season-ending loss. 

Sam Pittman comments on his future

Pittman, meanwhile, took to the microphone on Saturday afternoon following Notre Dame's dismantling of his Razorbacks. When asked about potential coaching changes over Arkansas' upcoming bye week, Pittman did not mention anything regarding his future. 

"I understand. I get it," Pittman said in his postgame news conference when asked about fans being frustrated. "If I was a fan, I'd be mad at me too. I'd be frustrated as hell with me."