Sam Pittman has spent a bulk of his three seasons as Arkansas football coach preaching. Not about religion or anything. No. Pittman proselytizes on the importance of family and sticking together.
College football coaches often have to walk into the homes of 16-year-olds and ensure mothers and fathers that he will take care of their child. With some, it’s lip service. But with Pittman, what he tells the moms and dads is what he continues to tell the players once they’ve arrived.
We stick together.
So when news broke earlier during Liberty game-week that Pittman’s boss Hunter Yurachek was up for the athletic director job at Auburn – not only up for it, but reportedly was offered it – and turned it down, Pittman knew he was working at the right place for the right guy.
“That’s a man that practices what he preaches,” Pittman said. “For him to do exactly what at times he asks us to do, it’s powerful. I’m so glad that he’s staying.”
Yurachek hired Pittman in late 2019, entrusting the never-before-head-man to lead Arkansas back into the right direction following the disaster that was the Chad Morris tenure. Had the hire not gone well, Yurachek might already be feeling the pressure to leave Fayetteville.
It hasn’t come to that. The opposite, in fact, as every major hire Yurachek has made with Arkansas athletics since arriving in 2017. Thus the Auburn pursuit.
In staying, Yurachek furthered the rapport with his coaches and the Arkansas fan base.
“Shows what kind of man he is,” Pittman said. “To say I’m excited that he’s going to stay here would be an understatement. I have a lot of respect for him and Jennifer. I mean what I’m sahying. I’m ecstatic he decided to stay.”