In an effort to gauge the temperature of the fan base, Best of Arkansas Sports conducted a 10-question survey that asked about various topics surrounding the Arkansas football program.
The poll was shared across various social media sites — Twitter, Reddit and multiple Facebook groups — and on a couple of message boards. We left it open for more than a week and received 2,100 votes.
It was far from scientific and not as in-depth as political polls in election years, but the relatively large sample size at least gives us an idea of how fans feel.
The places we shared our poll may seem to skew more “negative,” but that’s because the angry fans are typically much louder than those who have nothing to gripe about. It is our experience that polls like these can find the so-called “silent majority” because they can provide feedback without being vocal.
For example, we used a similar method to conduct our preseason survey asking fans to rate their confidence level for each game on the 2024 schedule and received very reasonable results. That BoAS poll, which elicited 1,000 fans responses, had fans were projecting 6.3 wins — and the Razorbacks ended up going 6-6.
Our tentative plan is to conduct another survey following the bowl game and once the transfer portal calms down to see if what unfolds over the next month or so changes how fans feel at the point about the Arkansas football program.
Without further ado, here are the results…
Approval Ratings
1. Do you approve of the job Sam Pittman is doing as the Arkansas football coach?
- Yes — 554 (26.4%)
- No — 1,546 (73.6%)
It was a little jarring to see Sam Pittman’s approval rating so low, as nearly three-quarters of respondents voted “no” on this question. However, it’s worth noting that the results are probably skewed due to the timing of the survey. Many people who voted did so while the world was falling apart with numerous starters hitting the transfer portal.
It wasn’t until nearly a week into the survey that Sam Pittman finally had a chance to deliver a message to the public and explain his side of things. They were just words and he’ll need to back them up with actions, but his comments may have calmed at least some fans.
“Loved his answers and comments,” wrote one fan, @Zeltardoug, on Twitter. “It showed me he’s very aware of what’s happening and has a plan to get better. I went from worry to relief while listening to him.”
Another fan wrote on Twitter than they were taking a wait-and-see approach and would assess the new roster he puts together. That’s why we’ll run this exact question in our next poll when Arkansas wraps up its initial portal haul.
2. Do you approve of the job Bobby Petrino is doing as the Arkansas offensive coordinator?
- Yes — 1,616 (77.0%)
- No — 484 (23.0%)
3. Do you approve of the job Travis Williams is doing as the Arkansas defensive coordinator?
- Yes — 1,692 (80.6%)
- No — 408 (19.4%)
Perhaps the most surprising results from the survey were just how much higher the coordinators’ approval ratings were than Sam Pittman.
In his first season leading the Razorbacks’ offense, Bobby Petrino helped Arkansas improve from 107th to 13th in yards per game. Such a significant jump might be worthy of more than a 77.0% approval rating, but there were a couple of factors working against him.
First of all, there are probably fans still sour about how his tenure as head coach ended more than a decade ago and nothing could change that. Then there’s the fact that Arkansas’ scoring didn’t improve as much as its yardage output, going from 69th to 47th — with turnovers being the biggest issue.
It’s also fascinating to see Travis Williams’ approval rating even higher than Petrino’s because the defense was statistically middle-of-the-road. The Razorbacks are 67th in total defense (down from 47th last year) and 69th in scoring (up from 80th). Going viral in a couple of preseason clips likely helped the charismatic Williams’ here:
4. Do you approve of the job Hunter Yurachek is doing as the Arkansas AD?
- Yes — 1,049 (49.95%)
- No — 1,051 (50.05%)
At least based on this poll, Hunter Yurachek’s approval rating is as close to 50/50 as it can be. Of course, the timing of the survey likely has something to do with that.
Many of the same fans who were singing his praises in April for pulling off the shocking hire of John Calipari are now upset with him because of how the football season unfolded. This percentage will be interesting to monitor as the school year progresses.
Other Big-Picture Questions for Arkansas Football
5. Do you agree with Hunter Yurachek’s decision to retain Sam Pittman for 2025?
- Yes, he earned another year — 420 (20%)
- Yes, but only because of the looming financial situation with revenue sharing — 514 (24.5%)
- No, he should be fired/retire — 1,164 (55.5%)
Regardless of which side you came down on, the decision to retain Sam Pittman for the 2025 season was not cut-and-dry. Despite that, more than half of the fans who responded to our survey believe he should have retired or been fired — and only 1 of 5 believe he actually did enough this year to earn another season.
6. What is the minimum number of regular-season wins (not including the bowl) Arkansas needs next year to convince you Sam Pittman should return in 2026?*
- 5 or fewer — 16 (0.8%)
- 6 — 129 (6.1%)
- 7 — 582 (27.7%)
- 8 — 1,030 (49.0%)
- 9 or more — 343 (16.3%)
One thing seems clear: missing a bowl next season would almost certainly turn everyone against Pittman. On top of that, 93.1% of survey responders believe he can’t just scrape by with a 6-6 record like he did this year.
In fact, nearly two-thirds of fans who responded — 65.3%, to be exact — need to see the Razorbacks match or exceed their 8-4 record of 2021 to be convinced Pittman should be brought back for Year 7.
7. On a scale from 1-10, what is your excitement level for the upcoming Liberty Bowl? (1 being the least, 10 being the most)
- 1 — 791 (37.7%)
- 2 — 279 (13.3%)
- 3 — 299 (14.2%)
- 4 — 134 (6.4%)
- 5 — 228 (10.9%)
- 6 — 133 (6.3%)
- 7 — 101 (4.8%)
- 8 — 71 (3.4%)
- 9 — 17 (0.8%)
- 10 — 47 (2.2%)
Some of the responses to our survey were submitted before it was announced Arkansas was facing Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl. However, it’s unlikely that would have changed much. The biggest factor in the lack of excitement for the game is the fact that the Razorbacks will be without half of their starters for the game because they’ve either opted out to focus on the NFL Draft or entered the transfer portal.
The average answer was 3.15, with 65.2% of the fans voting for 3 or below.
8. On a scale from 1-10, what is your excitement level for the 2025 football season? (1 being the least, 10 being the most)
- 1 — 611 (29.1%)
- 2 — 289 (13.8%)
- 3 — 315 (15%)
- 4 — 146 (7.0%)
- 5 — 233 (11.1%)
- 6 — 119 (5.7%)
- 7 — 142 (6.8%)
- 8 — 111 (5.3%)
- 9 — 42 (2%)
- 10 — 92 (4.4%)
The excitement for next season is slightly higher than that of the Liberty Bowl, with an average response of 3.70 and only 57.9% of fans voting 3 or below.
This number could very likely change depending on how the Razorbacks do in the transfer portal* or how they do in the bowl game. If they manage to beat the Red Raiders while primarily playing backups, that may move the needle.
9. Do you donate to Arkansas’ NIL efforts?*
- Yes — 334 (15.9%)
- No, but I used to — 391 (18.6%)
- No, I never have — 1,372 (65.4%)
Nearly two-thirds of fans who responded to the survey have never donated to Arkansas’ NIL efforts and just under 16% still do.
10. What is the biggest issue facing the Arkansas football program?*
- NIL — 597 (28.5%)
- Coaching — 865 (41.2%)
- Lack of talent — 366 (17.5%)
- Challenge of the SEC — 269 (12.8%)
The most common response to the survey had to do with question No. 10, as many fans wanted an “all of the above” option. However, the key word in the question is “biggest” and requires you to choose one above the others.
Some of the options are closely intertwined, such as NIL and lack of talent. “Coaching,” though, took the cake at more than 41%.
***
*As of Tuesday, Arkansas sits at No. 26 nationally in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings and at No. 67 in On3. On3’s formula factors in the players teams have gained and lost, while 247’s formula only considers incoming transfers.
NB: Three of the questions received slightly less than 2,100 responses because we briefly allowed the survey to be submitted without answers to all 10 questions. No. 5 got 1,098 responses, while No. 9 and No. 10 got 2,097 responses apiece.
More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS…
