Saturday's 56-13 drubbing at the hands of No. 22 Notre Dame felt like the end of the Sam Pittman era at Arkansas. As of this writing, however, Pittman remains the head coach at Arkansas. There may be financial reasons for that.
As part of an extension Pittman signed before the 2022 season, his contract dictates the buyout is dictated by Pittman's winning percentage from the 2021 campaign forward. "If the Program's overall winning percentage beginning with the 2021 football season, while under Coach's direction as Head Coach, is below 50 percent (50%) on the effective date of termination, the UA agrees to pay Coach fifty percent (50%) of Coach's annual remaining Annual Salary and Other Compensation," the contract reads.
Pittman is 32-34 overall at Arkansas, but that mark includes his 3-7, all-SEC debut season of 2020. Beginning in 2021, he's 29-27. The 2021 campaign remains Pittman's high-water mark, where the Hogs went 9-4 (4-4 in SEC play) and finished No. 21 in the AP poll. Arkansas has not won more than three SEC games in a season since then.
"If I was a fan, I'd be mad at me, too," Pittman said yesterday. "I'd be frustrated as hell with me. But, here's what I'll say, as long as I'm the head coach at Arkansas, I'm going to fight my butt off to get the guys out there and how long that is ... it is partly up to me because of what we put on the field.
"But, that's not my call. And if I'm worried about that all the time, I won't be able to do as good of a job as I possibly can. But, I will say this, if I was the fans I'd be mad at me, too. Hell, I'm mad at me, to be perfectly honest."
Under contract through 2027, Arkansas would owe Pittman approximately $9.3 million if he were fired today, and around $5.7 million if he slipped below .500 since 2021. The Hogs will almost certainly be underdogs in all seven remaining games, which include five current AP Top 25 opponent plus Auburn, who's only losses came by one score apiece to top-10 Oklahoma and Texas A&M on the road, and Mississippi State, who was undefeated before falling in overtime to No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday night.
CBS Sports's Brandon Marcello reported last week that "money was not really too much of an issue if things get out of hand" in regards to Pittman's buyout. That was before the 42-point loss to the Fighting Irish. So, perhaps the Arkansas brass decides it's worth the roughly $3.5 million to make a change now. But if Pittman remains employed in the near-term future, it's likely because Arkansas is simply playing the waiting game.
Stay tuned.