Arkansas football HC upbeat despite middling tenure: 'I'm not close to done'

Arkansas football head coach Sam Pittman should be feeling a bit of pressure heading into 2024.

After a 2021 season that saw the Razorbacks go 9-4 with a win in the Outback Bowl — Pittman's second year at the helm — the team has, frankly, underperformed. Arkansas went 7-6 in 2022 with a bowl win and had a terrible 4-8 season in 2023.

Pittman is now 23-25 in four seasons and yes, he's 2-0 in bowl games, but heading into Year 5, he seems to be approaching a pivotal moment.

The SEC getting stronger with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the creation of a 12-team playoff alongside conference expansion as well as the emergence transfer portal and NIL are quickly setting up an era of college football where there will be the "haves" and the "have nots".

Arkansas, and Pittman in particular, needs a big season in 2024, but if one were to listen to the head coach talk, he doesn't seem to be thinking that it's "do or die."

“I’m very, very honored to be the head coach for five years now at Arkansas,” Pittman said at SEC Media Days, per On3 . “I’m not close to finished. I’m not close to done. I love our football team. I love being the head coach at Arkansas.”

Pittman is talking as a coach who either knows he has long-term assurances in Fayetteville, or he's simply trying to ignore the pressure and focus on what he can control.

“I don’t (feel pressure),” Pittman said. “I think part of it is we have a good football team.”

Pittman can feel confident in his football team and he can love coaching Arkansas, but the fact of the matter is that the Razorbacks need to have (at the very least) a bowl season, and there's no excuse for them to not compete to be in the CFP.

The pressure is there, after all... even if he can't feel it.