Now that Arkansas football has wrapped up its regular season with yet another disappointing loss to Missouri, it’s time for the most wonderful time of the year – the college football offseason.
The rumor mill and coaching carousel churning at 100 miles per hour, recruits flipping left and right and star players entering the transfer portal. You gotta love it.
Razorback Nation dealt with its own share of rumors in the past week, with whispers about the future of Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman and athletic director Hunter Yurachek becoming all the craze on social media.
Yurachek was supposedly in contention for the South Carolina AD job until he promptly shut that down. Pittman, according to illustrious “sources” and eyeball emojis, was apparently set to announce his retirement. That smoke seems to lack fire, as national media outlets confirmed the Head Hog will return to Fayetteville for Year 6.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be changes to Arkansas’ coaching staff this offseason, as a rumor with much more steam behind it tied offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to the Charlotte head coaching job. He was reportedly a finalist for the job, even flying to Charlotte on Sunday. But he was back in the office in Fayetteville on Monday, and withdrew his name from consideration on Tuesday.
Still, that doesn’t mean Arkansas is completely in the clear in the Petrino department. Some other Group of Five program, after all, could come in and throw Pittman an offseason curveball by trying to poach the grizzled playcaller.
The Importance of Keeping Bobby Petrino In Town
Last offseason, Sam Pittman was able to generate some positive momentum after a dreadful 4-8 season by announcing the hiring of Bobby Petrino to lead the offense. Obvious nostalgia and his innovative offensive mind gave some hope to folks that things could get better after the Dan Enos debacle in 2023.
To Pittman and Petrino’s credit, things did get substantially better on the offensive side of the ball. The Hogs finished the regular season ranked 13th in the nation in total offense at 451.2 yards per game. Compare that to last season, when they were 107th in that category.
Arkansas also improved in scoring offense, though that jump was more marginal, going from 69th to 48th nationally. All told, swapping Enos for Petrino gave the Hogs an extra 125 yards and four points per game. That was the biggest difference in the team winning two more games this season.
It wasn’t perfect, by any means, as the Hogs turned the ball over 22 times in 12 games and ranked 104th nationally in penalties per game. Arkansas fans were surely pulling their hair out by the end of the year from all the run plays getting called back for holding. But it was still a marked improvement that put the Razorbacks in position to win more football games.
Keeping Petrino for a second season would go a long way for continuity’s sake, too. Quarterback Taylen Green would be able to keep developing as a senior, and more time under Petrino’s tutelage would theoretically allow the Boise State transfer to improve on his solid 2024 performance.
Losing Bobby P would put the offense under the leadership of a fourth different offensive coordinator in the last four seasons. That turmoil is never a recipe for success, even if Pittman has gone 2 for 3 on his OC hires thus far.
Retaining him would also help keep more fans on board with another year of Pittman, according to Arkansas’ radio broadcaster Chuck Barrett.
“I do think that if we get to the end of the week…if Petrino is still here and you’ve had some announcements this week of good players saying they’re coming back, I think that’ll go — I’m not going to say a long way, but I think that will help the feelings of some,” Barrett said on the Chuck & Bo Show on Monday.
The Hogs have already gotten some good news in that department with defensive standouts Xavian Sorey Jr. and Cameron Ball both announcing their return for 2025.
On the other hand, Petrino’s departure would put Pittman and the program as a whole in a really tough spot. A wave of decommitments on the offensive side of the ball would surely follow, and the existing roster would have to learn a new system…again.
It’s also worth wondering what type of coordinator Pittman could bring in to replace Petrino. It was already a difficult job to convince someone to take last offseason, with hot seat rumors surrounding the Head Hog following a losing season. He ended up venturing outside the box, to say the least, to bring Petrino into town.
Now coming off a 6-6 season that many viewed as a disappointment, the pressure will again be on Pittman to win in 2025. That unstable pressure cooker isn’t an ideal environment when you’re trying to get a hypothetical coordinator on board.
But Barrett also acknowledged that such changes are inevitable, and especially stressful when you have a head coach as reliant on his coordinators as Pittman.
“I mean, the coaching staff’s going to look different too and this is going to be an annual rite of passage whether we like it or not,” Barrett said.
The other side of the coin is the question of what’s in it for Petrino?
Why Petrino Might Leave Arkansas for Another Head Coaching Job
Bobby Petrino is seemingly happy with his current digs. He’s getting paid a handsome salary of $1.5 million for a job with a lot less responsibility than he’s used to. He doesn’t have to deal with the pressure of leading a program, and is instead free to teach his scheme, develop players and recruit.
“Calling a game is a lot easier nowadays than being a head coach, so I’m certainly enjoying it,” he said last year. He described his time at Texas A&M in 2023 as “one of the funnest years I’ve ever had just being in the classroom with the players and teaching again.”
But maybe after two years in the backseat as a coordinator, he’s ready to take charge of a program again. At 63 years old, he’s not young by any means, but he still has some gas left in the tank. He’s clearly still got the brains to run an offense at the highest level, so perhaps he now feels like he’s still got what it takes to be a head coach.
He might have withdrawn his name from the Charlotte talks, but there are some other Group of Five jobs out there that could try and entice him in the future depending on how their own searches play out.
Utah State: Petrino served as an OC here back in the 1990s, and it would be much closer to his home state of Montana. But the Aggies just fired their previous coach, Blake Anderson, for Title IX violations, which might make them hesitant to go after a candidate with baggage like Petrino. On the other hand, that program sure seems comfortable with former head coaches of Division I schools in the Natural State, considering Anderson jump there from Arkansas State.
Tulsa: Just a couple hours away from where he’s currently parked, Tulsa has been crying out for a good football team. Armed with powerful boosters relative to the rest of the American conference, the Golden Hurricanes could be a powerful force with the right head coach leading the charge. They also play Arkansas in November 2026, which would add some spice given how close Petrino got to beating the Hogs with Missouri State.
East Carolina: The Pirates have been a solid mid-major for years, with solid resources and access to talent. Their last coach’s salary was $2.46 million, so anything in that ballpark would present a healthy raise for Petrino.
Of course, these jobs have all been open for a few days without any rumors concerning Petrino. The Charlotte news should come as a relief for Arkansas fans, as they will now most likely have their offensive coordinator back for year two. But as we all know, things can change quickly on the coaching carousel.
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The Inside Arkansas crew breaks down whether Pittman can keep his staff and roster together this offseason:
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More coverage of Arkansas football and Bobby Petrino from BoAS…
