Tag: Hunter Yurachek

Sam Pittman receives success-friendly contract extension through 2026

It appears that the jukebox will stay on for a few more seasons.

“They can fire me whenever they get good and ready to, but I can’t leave if that makes sense. Don’t want to, anyway.”

Following the announcement of contract extensions to coordinators [autotag]Kendal Briles[/autotag] and [autotag]Barry Odom[/autotag] in April, it was revealed that Arkansas head football coach [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag] would be receiving an extension as well. Although, at the time, the details had not emerged.

Now, the details of the extension have been revealed.

Pittman, who will enter his third season as the head coach in 2022, has signed an extension that will last through December 2026, where he will earn at least $6 million per season, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reports.

As far as the “but I can’t leave” portion of his quote, the new contract is very flexible. Pittman will make at least $6 million annually, with a $100,000 increase every year through the end of the contract.

In addition to receiving a bonus every year, Pittman also has the option of extending the length of the contract. Over the next five seasons, Pittman will receive a one-year extension to 2027 if Arkansas wins at least seven games.

Arkansas athletic director [autotag]Hunter Yurachek[/autotag] says that things are “just getting started” under Pittman.

There is no doubt Coach Pittman has proven to be the right man to lead our football team,” athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “He has earned this opportunity with the success he and his staff have had on the field and on the recruiting trail

Pittman is grateful for the opportunity to continue leading the program that he calls his “dream job.”

I am so grateful for our University and Hunter for believing in me, our coaches and staff and the program we’re building. We are all excited to continue to build on what we’ve done and continue to make our fans and the whole state of Arkansas proud of our football team

In 2021, Arkansas won nine games, which is the most since 2011. They won the Outback Bowl over Penn State to claim their first bowl win since the 2015 season. Not only have the Razorbacks seen success on the field under Pittman, but they are building for the future. Pittman’s first recruiting class ranked no. 22 for the 2022 cycle. So far, Arkansas’ 2023 class ranks no. 6 in the nation according to 247sports.

An Arkansas coaching legend is calling it a career

Andy Jackson has been coaching in the SEC for almost 40 years. Or, in other words, about twice as long as many of his players have been alive. The Arkansas men’s tennis head coach will retire on June 30. Jackson, an SEC lifer, practically, led the …

Andy Jackson has been coaching in the SEC for almost 40 years. Or, in other words, about twice as long as many of his players have been alive.

The Arkansas men’s tennis head coach will retire on June 30. Jackson, an SEC lifer, practically, led the Razorbacks program for the last nine seasons. Before that, he ran the programs at Mississippi State and Florida. He was a graduate of Kentucky, as well.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such a tremendous program,” Jackson said. “I wish continued success to our student-athletes and all those affiliated with the Razorback Tennis program.”

Jackson’s last on-court duty will be coaching senior Alex Reco in the NCAA Tournament from May 23-28.

Arkansas, as a team, made the NCAA Tournament during three of Jackson’s seasons: 2016, 2017 and 2021. In his career, he was 615-353 with 25 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Arkansas athletic director [autotag]Hunter Yurachek[/autotag] said a search for Jackson’s replacement will begin immediately.

Arkansas will get new field courtesy of Garth Brooks

Arkansas will replace the grass inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium this summer.

Remember all those signs in your high-school gymnasium that read “NO STREET SHOES!” near the floor? Think of that.

Country superstar Garth Brooks will play to a packed crowd April 23 inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Fans will be in the stands and on the field at the football home of the Hogs. University brass decided afterward was as good a time as any to replace the grass.

“This (field) will likely be damaged beyond repair to bring it back to life,” athletic director [autotag]Hunter Yurachek[/autotag] said. “They will come in Saturday and they will put that plastic square flooring across the field and that will knock it out.”

Arkansas last replaced the turf in 2019 when DWRRS switched from turf to grass. The likely plan is to replace the field in June. The process in 2022 is likely to more simplified than it was three years ago. The grass base is already in place.

Most of Arkansas’ practices during spring camp have been in the stadium, an unusual change from years past. The idea was to save the field on the usual practice field south of the Jones Center, Arkansas football’s main building.

“I think Garth Brooks and them are going to tear it up pretty good anyways, so we figured we’d get as many good practices in there as we can,” Arkansas coach [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag] said.

National media jumping on the Sam Pittman, Eric Musselman, Arkansas train

Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman and basketball coach Eric Musselman have given the Razorbacks a national identity.

Arkansas basketball and football fans are fully aware of significant the hires of Eric Musselman and Sam Pittman have been to their favorite teams.

But now, after the Razorbacks’ best football season in more than a decade and the basketball team’s 13-out-of-14 stretch, the world is picking up on it.

Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY’s national football columnist, spoke with Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek about the growth in the program over the course of the last two years. 

Arkansas had become, in football, anyway, a laughingstock. The two worst seasons in Razorbacks history came during the two seasons in which Chad Morris was coach. Yurachek had made what appeared to be a solid hire when he poached Musselman from Nevada for Mike Anderson, even as hard as that move might have been. But football is the money-maker in the SEC. He needed another splash.

“Many coaches that I talked to said, ‘You can’t win at the University of Arkansas. I don’t believe I can be successful at the University of Arkansas. That’s an uphill battle being in the SEC West,'” Yurachek said in the article. “Sam Pittman never said any of those things to me. He told me how you could win at the University of Arkansas.”

Pittman was considered a longshot by the rest of the college football world. A man pushing 60 who had never been much more than an offensive line coach would be leading an SEC program? Surely that couldn’t work.

They thought. They thought wrong.

Check out more of Toppmeyer’s discussion with Yurachek and the state of Razorbacks athletics.

REPORT: Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek Signs Extension

Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com has reported that Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek has signed a contract extension that will run through 2027. 

Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com has reported that Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek has signed a contract extension that will run through 2027.

According to Jones, Yurachek signed the contract on February 3, and the contract was finalized last Sunday. Yurachek’s salary from the University of Arkansas will be $566,00, and he will receive an additional $684,000 for speaking engagements, sponsorship obligations, interviews, etc.

Arkansas athletics has seen a revival under Yurachek’s tenure. Yurachek was responsible for the hiring of head football coach Sam Pittman, and head men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, and has seen contract extensions for head baseball coach Dave Van Horn and head women’s basketball coach Mike Neighbors.

In the second season under Pittman, Arkansas football has reached a winning-season, and has appeared in a bowl game for the first time since 2016 by finishing 9-4 win a win over Penn State in the Outback Bowl in 2021.

Razorback basketball has had a winning record in all three season’s of the Musselman era, including a 25-win, 13-4 SEC record in 2020-21. Currently, Arkansas is 19-5 with a nine-game winning streak, and recently defeated No. 1 Auburn in front of a sold-out crowd.

Baseball and softball will both start the season in the top-10, and nine Razorback teams won SEC championships last academic year.

The new contract will run through June 30, 2027.

Fun Police Fine Arkansas

Joy comes with a cost in the SEC. 

Whether you were in Bud Walton Arena, at home on the couch, or with friends at the neighborhood sports bar, last night etched a lasting memory in your brain. It was an incredible accomplishment. And all Hogs fans lived vicariously through the thousands who stormed the floor.

Joy comes with a cost, though, in the SEC.

As expected the conference announced a $250,000 fine levied against the University of Arkansas today in direct response to the fans rushing the floor.

This is the third offense for the Hogs faithful. There is no statute of limitations in the SEC. The first offense came back in 2014 after the football Hogs shut out a ranked LSU team in the Battle for the Boot, then again this past September after they embarrassed Texas on ESPN.

As Tom Murphy from WholeHogSports noted, Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek does not appear to be phased by the escalating fines.

Yurachek posted side-by-side pictures of the aftermath of the basketball game vs. Auburn and the football game against Texas on his Twitter account on Wednesday morning. Yurachek wrote “Priceless!” with the hashtag “WinAsOneRazorback” to accompany the post.

Arkansas has an extra day off after the Tuesday game, giving them more time to recover before heading to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to take on Alabama.