“Accountability” is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as an obligation or a willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions.
Some people have no problem taking accountability. Others struggle with it for whatever reason. Maybe they’d rather blame others, feel sorry for themselves or simply lack self-awareness.
When it comes to athletic departments, especially in major college sports, it’s easy to take accountability when things go well. It’s not hard to toot your own horn when wins are rolling in, revenue is up and fans are happy with the product being presented on the field or court.
On the flip side, it’s a little harder to puff out your chest when wins are hard to come by. Boosters are less willing to pony up the funds needed to be competitive as the most jaded fans moan about how bad things are and how they’re never going to improve.
Many fans, however, simply want answers. And, when it comes to the highest revenue sports, that means answers from the football and basketball coaches.
It’s certainly that way at Arkansas where, in 2025, Sam Pittman and John Calipari are the mouthpieces for their respective programs.
Irwin Calls Out Sam Pittman
Lately, though, these coaches have seemed unwilling to divulge or share much of what’s going on with regards to said programs.
Pig Trail Nation sportscaster Mike Irwin has been around long enough to know when it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
For instance, earlier this week, Irwin and co-host Courtney Mims talk about the Razorbacks bringing back AJ Green from Oklahoma State, but no one knows if he’s actually moving to defensive back or if he’s going to rejoin the running back room.
That, plus questions about other transfers and an apparent new assistant coach, could be easily resolved. But Pittman has no press conference scheduled.
“Hey Sam, wake up,” Irwin said. “There are people in the media that are kind of trying to help you and you seem to be asleep on some of this stuff. If you’re going to convince people this program is turning itself around, then give people a reason to be excited about this portal class and about your signing class. And he needs to do some of that.”
Sam Pittman has said exactly zero words in a press conference setting since the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 27, nor has he posted anything on social media – not that the latter is surprising. He isn’t Lane Kiffin, after all. His last post on X/Twitter was a message thanking fans for wishing him a happy 63rd birthday on Nov. 28.
In fact, on the first day of the early signing period, which was Dec. 4, Pittman didn’t hold a press conference to discuss or talk about the signees, which had always been done previously. Granted, he did have surgery to replace his hip the day before, so it’s understandable he probably wasn’t in the best condition to do a presser that day, so it’s fair to give him a pass.
Okay cool, move it to later in the week, or the following Monday. What did Pittman do? He just didn’t do one at all. By the time he talked to reporters, attention had completely shifted away from the incoming freshmen and he didn’t get the chance to brag on his recruiting class, which was highlighted by an unexpected four-star quarterback signee and holding off bluebloods to keep a top-100 linebacker.
Normally Pittman is usually pretty silent this time of the year anyway, but when you’re needing to inspire confidence in the program after a 4-8 season and then a 6-6 season that ended with a bang but could’ve been much better in hindsight, avoiding the media and not sharing with the public your own confidence in what you’re doing just seems obtuse.
It’s worth noting that when he did finally meet with reporters on Dec. 13, Pittman did a fine job of at least somewhat settling down the growing mob by explaining his strategy with NIL and the transfer portal, which led to a mass exodus of significant contributors.
Throw in a bowl win and some fans are cautiously getting back on board. When the portal does finally slow down, it might behoove Pittman to speak to the media and hype up his new transfers to drum up excitement long before the start of spring ball.
Switching Gears to John Calipari
Now let’s talk about the much acclaimed Hall of Fame basketball coach, who became the highest paid employee in University of Arkansas athletics history on April 10 last year and is the second-highest paid in college basketball.
He’s also in dead last in the Southeastern Conference at the time of this writing, the morning after the LSU loss, and if the season ended today, his team would not be in the NCAA Tournament.
During a recent episode of Ruscin and Zach on ESPN Arkansas, co-host Zach Arns brought up the fact that John Calipari’s press conferences after home games are increasingly getting shorter and shorter.
After the Ole Miss game last Wednesday, it was 10 minutes and then curtains. Same thing Saturday. He answered a grand total of 13 questions across the two interviews. Even Arkansas Razorbacks on SI’s Andy Hodges brought it up in his postmortem of the 71-63 loss to Florida.
Not to mention that he won’t even do the press briefings previewing each game. He sends one of his assistants – Kenny Payne, Chin Coleman or Chuck Martin – to do those.
For a guy many accuse of loving the sound of his own voice, it seems odd that he turns down opportunities or limits what the media can ask him.
He certainly wasn’t turning down the opportunity to go on with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after Arkansas’ nail-biting 89-87 win over Michigan at Madison Square Garden in early December. That was a contest in which Michigan had been slightly favored to win, according to live casino online real money, and remains the last time Arkansas won such a game. Obviously if they had lost, Van Pelt probably wouldn’t have requested him, but the point remains.
Fans probably don’t care that Calipari isn’t the media’s best friend or is curtailing the length of his pressers. They should, however, because they’re the same fans that will complain about the Arkansas media not asking the “tough questions” on Facebook or X after a loss. The media wants to ask questions. They don’t have an agenda. They just want to inform their readers and write stories that the readership would be interested in, or maybe learn something they didn’t know.
These readers, of course, are overwhelmingly fans.
The issues are different with Sam Pittman and John Calipari, but the result is the same – a lack of availability to the public and questions that the public would want answered. Neither man is making millions of dollars a year without those people. It’s easy to relish the attention when you’re winning. Don’t run and hide when things aren’t going so well, though.
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More from Irwin on the AJ Green confusion and Pittman critique starting at 32:20 here:
Who’s Really To Blame for Arkansas’ Struggles?
Arkansas has recently looked dejected and uninspired for much of their games, which left the fans watching on TV at home frustrated at the Hogs’ performance and lack of energy. Arkansas has plenty of issues – free throws, interior finishing, defensive errors and rebounding among them. Many teams have issues with these aspects of the game at various points, but Arkansas has proven unable to right the ship through the SEC slate so far.
Here’s an interesting theory regarding the root of this problems as provided by Razorback reporter Richard Davenport:
More coverage of John Calipari and Arkansas basketball + Sam Pittman and Arkansas football from BoAS…