Arkansas football had seemingly put a happy ending on an up-and-down season with a convincing win over Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl on Friday. Head coach Sam Pittman limbered up to the stage for the postgame celebration, cane in hand, and led his shorthanded team in a new rallying cry: “All we have is all we need.”
But, as is customary with the Razorbacks, we can’t have nice things. On Sunday night, former Arkansas defensive back Dwight McGlothern posted a series of tweets in a threat about Dazmin James that criticizing Pittman’s leadership, calling the Head Hog a liar and accusing him of benching the star corner in retaliation for an injury situation.
The national backlash from Fernando Carmona Jr.’s dirty extracurricular activities was already raining on the Hogs’ bowl season parade, and McGlothern’s Twitter fingers only worsen that storm. In addition to that, his allegations against Pittman are very serious, with pretty far-reaching implications. Of course, it’s hard to draw any conclusions without hearing the Head Hog’s perspective on the matter.
McGlothern transferred to Arkansas ahead of the 2022 season after starting his career at LSU. He played two seasons for the Hogs, earning All-SEC honors and posting 72 total tackles and seven interceptions for defensive coordinators Barry Odom and Travis Williams. McGlothern finished his senior season with a blazing 91.8 PFF coverage grade, the highest mark in the nation.
As you can guess from his tweets, however, his time at Arkansas was far from smooth sailing – with a clear rift between the Head Hog and his star corner.
In 2022, McGlothern started out fall camp as a third-stringer. In 2023, the senior spent part of fall camp relegated to the second team despite being named to the Preseason All-SEC first team. In the first half of the season, McGlothern suffered a couple of injuries that kept him out of multiple games, but his limited reps continued even when he was back healthy, with Pittman saying he needed to become a better practice player despite his stellar in-game grades.
“He’s still working his way back into playing time, but he was full-go,” Pittman said after McGlothern played limited snaps against Mississippi State. “He was able to play last week, it’s just right now he’s not starting for us.”
The exclusion of the stud corner nicknamed “Nudie” frustrated many Hog fans, as they couldn’t understand why one of the team’s standout performers wasn’t seeing the field while Arkansas continued to lose games during a miserable 2023 campaign. Despite McGlothern’s inconsistent playing time, the Razorback secondary still finished a respectable fourth in the SEC in passing defense.
Another one of Dwight’s depositions was that Pittman had talked down on him behind his back to teammates and NFL scouts. It’s certainly possible that the Head Hog not having glowing reviews of McGlothern played a role in him going undrafted despite his stellar performances. It’s also likely the pair’s less-than-stellar relationship was a reason why McGlothern didn’t return for a “super senior” season, which he had the option to do.
Arkansas certainly could have used him this season, as Williams’ defense finished dead last in the SEC in passing defense, allowing 246.9 yards per game through the air.
But while players have the freedom to express their thoughts candidly on Twitter, coaches are held to a bit higher of a standard in how they address things like this. The public is unlikely to ever get Pittman’s side of these altercations, so that one-sidedness makes it easier to dogpile on the Head Hog. But, in full fairness to Pittman, it’s worth playing devil’s advocate before casting stones on this matter.
Why Pittman Might Have Been Just in His Handling of McGlothern
McGlothern was not only Arkansas’ best defensive back whenever he was on the field, but he was one of the best in the nation. For that reason, it was a head-scratcher for many fans when he was spending long stints of game time on the sideline. But for Pittman, his job as a head coach is not only to put the best players on the field – it’s also to uphold the standards and culture of the program he’s running.
If he felt like McGlothern wasn’t practicing well, then you can’t fault the Head Hog for deciding to bench him. Just because a player is excelling in games doesn’t mean he can take his foot off the gas in practice. If Pittman let poor behavior or lackadaisical behavior slide just because McGlothern was an elite player, then that sets a dangerous precedent for other stars in the future.
We don’t know the details of McGlothern’s accusation that Pittman was talking bad about him behind his back. However, it seems likely to me that it came from how he spoke about McGlothern to other coaches, players and NFL scouts. If that’s the case, then Pittman wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary by being critical of his own player – just ask Nick Saban.
The legendary coach was talking to fellow coaching royalty Bill Belichick in an HBO documentary, and Saban recalled how Belichick and the New England Patriots always made sure to call and ask him about Alabama players before they drafted them – something pretty much nobody else did.
“There’s another 30 teams that I never hear from, and then they pick somebody and I’m saying, ‘They picked that guy?’ or whatever, and then they say, ‘Well, we didn’t know this,’” Saban said. “Well, all you had to do is call and I would have told you the good stuff and I would’ve told you any issues.”
If NFL team reps were to call Pittman and ask him about his players, he’d be honest just like Saban and tell them both the good and the bad parts. In McGlothern’s case, he surely would’ve said he was a fantastic coverage corner – but he also would have been candid about any sort of problems they had. In that regard, it’s not as much a backstab as it is standard practice in the industry.
McGlothern levying the charge of Pittman mismanaging his injury is particularly concerning in light of fellow former Razorback corner Jaylon Braxton’s recent allegations of a misdiagnosed knee injury by the team’s medical staff. McGlothern alleges that he told Pittman that he had a concussion, but the Head Hog did not disclose that to the training staff and had the cornerback dress out and warm up against Alabama – and then retaliated by benching him for the next game against Mississippi State when he refused to play. He returned to a normal number of snaps against Florida after the ensuing bye week.
Since then, he’s landed with the Minnesota Vikings, where’s he’s getting a little playing time:
While you can certainly sympathize with a player who feels like he’s been done wrong or hasn’t been treated right, it’s pretty hard to believe that a concussion of all injuries could have flown under the noses of the medical staff. As BoAS contributor Jim Harris pointed out in a Twitter reply, the NCAA has very specific player safety protocols in place for how to treat and handle concussions. So of all ailments, a head injury seems like the least likely to be swept under the rug.
This is definitely a case where Pittman’s side of the story is needed before drawing a conclusion.
Pittman Not Alone in Facing Criticism From Former Players
McGlothern’s testimony puts him in a group with linebackers Brooks Ellis, Andrew Parker and De’Jon Harris, wide receiver Jarius Wright and a number of other former Razorback players who have been critical of the way Pittman is running the program. While it’s understandable to feel like this is a damning indictment of the Head Hog or a “sky is falling” moment for the program, Arkansas is far from the only program where the head coach has faced heat from alumni.
Former Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace has repeatedly lashed out at former Rebels and current Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze for being selfish and treating his players poorly with social media tirades that have divided both of those fanbases. Former LSU offensive lineman Charles Turner has also been critical of the culture that Tiger head coach Brian Kelly has built down in Baton Rouge.
“When I was playing for Kelly the last two years, I didn’t talk to him,” Turner said. “We never talked Xs and Os. I never sat in his office and got personal with him. He never really got to know me.”
Florida head coach Billy Napier has also been on the receiving end of quite a bit of backlash from a number of former Gators, some of whom openly called for him to be fired and put all of the blame for the team’s struggles on his shoulders. In the end, UF retained the embattled head coach for the 2025 season.
All of those examples just go to show that it’s completely normal for coaches to have disagreements with players and end relationships with them on bad terms. There’s usually over 100 players on a roster each year – it’s not going to be all sunshine and daisies with every single one of them. College football is a cutthroat industry with extremely high stakes, and it’s also an incredibly draining and intense sport where adrenaline often runs high.
That’s a perfect storm for rows to happen between players and coaches. So yes, it’s unfortunate that things ended poorly between Pittman and one of the program’s best cornerbacks in recent memory. But that rocky relationship and apparent bad blood also doesn’t nail down Pittman as a bad guy or anything like that – especially when we have not (and likely will not) hear his side of the story.
For now, Pittman will enjoy the time off to recover from hip replacement surgery and stay true to his mantra – all we have is all we need. Only time will tell if that change in motto will translate into a significant change in results next season.
***
More on the situations with Dwight McGlothern and Fernando Carmona here:
Where Specific Razorbacks Need to Improve the Most
According to Pro Football Focus, Taylen Green was pressured on nearly 37% of his dropbacks in 2024. That was the second-highest rate among SEC starting quarterbacks. After taking just 14 sacks in two seasons at Boise, he took 32 this year alone.
Obviously, buying him more time is a huge part of where things can get better for Green going in 2025. But where else an he improve on his own accord?
Dive into that below, along with points of improvement for Braylon Russell, Xavian Sorey, Quincey Rhodes and more:
Inside Arkansas discusses whether the 2024 season was a success for the Razorbacks or not:
***
More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS:
