Fayette Villains…In Depth Analysis

[animal]

The longer the Pittman era goes the less likely they'll be movers and shakers with moving and shaking abilities to make a Gus hire happen who hasn't been relevant in 10+ years. Really some of that talk is just us girls giving boogy man talk.

As has been talked about already...Arkansas hasn't had a serious football coaching hiring/search in decades. We literally go to committees, pay outside consultants that offer the same shit message board people come up with, listen to Quinn Grovy or a ex-razorback golfer chick that knows a guy who knows a guy. That's been our search and hiring process. Pittman was hired at the urging of former players who wanted their guy to get his shot. 

I'm going to be talking out of my ass here but I'm betting the last coaching search came down to Kiffin as the top option, the Tulane coach as a 2nd option, and Pittman might have been a backup plan...the trial balloons were floated and nobody liked and/or was willing to pay Kiffin, never heard of Fritz. 

Whenever we move on from Pittman I think NIL has shown us a roster can be flipped rapidly. I think Pittman has done a reasonably good job of bringing talent into the program so I'm not ready to necessarily throw in the towel but I think you come to a point where you are who you are and Pittman is probably going to be a max 8 or 9 win coach. This season is looking like 6 or 7 will be a stretch. You look at the roster and we look pretty damn decent everywhere but offensive line. It's maddening.

[Lurk]

Do I like Malzahn, no. Is he a better coach than anyone we've had since Petrino, yes. Hire him if we get a chance.

[DirkPiggler]

people said the same thing the last two times his name up.
his wife talked long shit about arkansas. but hey, i guess she was spotted looking at houses, lol.

We never came up with enough money for anything other than to get him a raise elsewhere.  Gus would take our job now that he's at a lesser program.  He wasn't leaving Auburn for Arkansas or any similar job.

Hiring Gus would piss me off almost as much as if they decided to bring Nutt back.  No thanks. 

[DRYANKNPULL]

I think the worst thing you could do is to hire somebody staring at retirement. It's going to be interesting to see how Pittman handles the adversity he's about to see. Certainly going to be a lot of aw shucks, it's on me, I have to do better. I think there's going to be opportunity to lash out to our terrorist fans. Could see pulling a Bert and just mail it in on cold beers.

If he's serious about his job and winning, he'll fire Kennedy Sunday morning and step in to coach.

[animal]

I think the worst thing you could do is to hire somebody staring at retirement. It's going to be interesting to see how Pittman handles the adversity he's about to see. Certainly going to be a lot of aw shucks, it's on me, I have to do better. I think there's going to be opportunity to lash out to our terrorist fans. Could see pulling a Bert and just mail it in on cold beers.

If he's serious about his job and winning, he'll fire Kennedy Sunday morning and step in to coach.

Think it depends on the coach and situation there are some of examples of older coaches doing semi well in there retirement gigs.

mack brown is a current example

Spurrier and Holtz at South Carolina were moderate successes.

[bigpig]

I think the worst thing you could do is to hire somebody staring at retirement.

Especially since that's literally what we have right now.

[bigpig]

Think it depends on the coach and situation there are some of examples of older coaches doing semi well in there retirement gigs.

mack brown is a current example

Spurrier and Holtz at South Carolina were moderate successes.

Spurrier was more like Bama hiring Saban (not comparing the success of the two). He still had a lot left in the tank.

Holtz is more to your point, and he deserves a ton of credit for turning South Carolina from doormat to middle of the pack, despite being as old as he was. Mack Brown is another. Good coaches (who still have the drive) are good coaches, no matter their age, but it doesn't matter how old you get, if you suck at your job, it's not going to get any better. Dale hasn't gotten any wiser over the years.

[BleedinRed]

Jesus.  The only people who talk about Gus are those found on Sports Boards.

Can anyone name one "mover and shaker" that would push for Gus?

The "Good Ole Boy" talk is really tiring.  I don't think HY makes his moves based on some imaginary GOB network.  Frank didn't, nor did Jeff Long.  It is silly talk to keep bringing it up as if it is facts.

[animal]

What's really interesting in message board lore is there has always been one or two coaches that are unicorns that Arkansas has never landed and never will or in some cases could have taken later in their careers but didn't. Then we have the GOBN that's absolutely real or at least it was. I don't know that I buy it now but certainly while Paw Paw was still upright and running things and then after with Jeff Long I felt like we had a number of pencil dick assistant ADs pulling down salaries and doing nothing. A few have went on to run their own schools.

During the infancy of message boards it was Jimmy Johnson. Then it was Tommy Tuberville. Then it was Butch Davis. Then it was Jon Gruden. Then it was Gus Malzahn. Then it was Cornrows which maybe doesn't count because supposedly "we" never really truly wanted him "they" would have us believe. Toss in a few other favorites like Mike Leach and I'm probably forgetting a few but those are the ones that come to mind.

Gus has left us at the alter at least twice and didn't lose a nights sleep over it. That should tell you all you need to know about that motherfucker.

Are we blowing this out of proportion? Maybe. Pittman in my estimation does have a good team...except for one fatal flaw. Can he work some magic to over come those flaws remains to be seen. I doubt we've ever had a coaching staff in recent memory that didn't have to figure things out for one particular position group. It sucks but we are always short somewhere. This season it seems hubris has stricken us where it's going to hurt the most. 

There were times last season where the sky was falling. We were never winning again EVER. We were done...DONE with this shit. Etc etc...but like some of Nutt's finest seasons we managed to get to that shitty bowl and win it. How soon we forget the 2-10 years and prayed to baby jesus to give us some 6 & 6.

[bigpig]

How soon we forget the 2-10 years and prayed to baby jesus to give us some 6 & 6.

I get what you're saying but  I think, after four years, a coach has to stand on his own merits. It's no longer enough to be "not Chad Morris." That was fine in year one, when we looked like an actual team of footballers in the first half vs Georgia, before getting spanked in the second half. It was fine in year two when we looked like we had finally turned the corner only to drop a game to Auburn that we had no business losing. It was no longer fine in year three losing to Liberty. It is absolutely not fine in year four losing to BYU, especially in that fashion.

Pittman is no longer "Not Chad Morris." He is now his own man, standing on his own two feet.

He's not the guy.

This is Houston Nutt's year 2000, when it was suddenly clear to a lot of the fanbase that we hired a clown who coasted off the recruits of his predecessor. He's a nicer guy than Dale, a better recruiter, and has a hundred and one additional qualities that make him preferrable to Nutt, but in terms of wins and loses, Pittman isn't the guy to get us over the hump. He's going to keep us competitive, win a couple he shouldn't, lose a few he shouldn't, and just limp us along to 5-7 wins a year, with the occasional stars aligning to get us to 8-9 wins and yet another contract extension.

[egregious]

I looked it up and Frank Broyles and Houston Nutt are our only 2 coaches who ever got to 10 wins in any year after not getting there in their first 4 here.  Broyles was 9-2, 9-3, & 8-3 in years 2,3, & 4, so he was going good.  Nutt was, well, Nutt.

Mostly nobody has ever gotten much of a chance to stay longer than 4 years without some significant winning.

I am opposite prognostication guy so get ready to celebrate our 9 or 10 win season!

[animal]

There are dynamics which make it more difficult to fairly grade Pittman in his fourth year or perhaps any 2020/covid year hires.

Namely he inherited a bunch of lineman that were more or less talented enough to not run off...often times at the expense of a roster position that would have been good for development. The ugly part now is if it weren't for the two redshirt seniors Limmer and Latham (Chad era recruits) I shutter to think what this line would consist of. Well it could be argued we would be better off having moved on from at least Latham who didn't impress last season either.

Since our problems seem to be squarely on strength & conditioning and offensive line. We addressed the S&C coach in the off-season which thus far doesn't seem to have resolved the issue. 


Lets look at the Pittman era lineman that are currently on the team. (this ignores anyone that's already portaled out)

Sr-Crawford (transferred from Charlotte) and has failed to earn a starting role
So-Chamblee (starter, too soon to grade)
Fr-Harris (too soon to grade but evidently has fallen down the depth chart)
So-Manuel (too soon to grade but not looking too good)
So-Kutas (starting, but I wouldn't say he's overly impressive to date)
Jr-Braun (portal guy from Florida, starting but really hasn't done anything to make anyone mistake him for legit SEC starter)
So-Wiggins (portal guy that's apparently the backup center)

Several others on the roster aren't really cracking the 2 deep

So-Wells (rated 4 star...not cracking the 2-deep)
So-Street (playing special teams)
So-Varhall (portal guy from Maryland)
Fr-Brown (freshman 4 star)
Fr-Patterson (east st. louis 4 star)
Fr-Su'a
Fr-Henderson (rated 3 star, recruited by a bunch of P5s)


Conclusion...we failed to develop any depth behind the Chad recruits, failed at bringing in starting quality replacements via the portal, and are legit paying for it now.

[vegashog]

wells is likely out for the season with a pec injury.

[Feral]

Pittman was hired at the urging of former players who wanted their guy to get his shot.

Given that former players gave us Nutt, Chad, and Pittman, I say we tell them collectively to shut the fuck up and sit this next coaching search out while the adults handle things.

[DirkPiggler]

Given that former players gave us Nutt, Chad, and Pittman, I say we tell them collectively to shut the fuck up and sit this next coaching search out while the adults handle things.

Thank you. 

[animal]

https://x.com/AdamFord92/status/1703898183179387025?s=20
I don't know what EPA is but we suck at it.

[Thin Red Swine]

https://twitter.com/AdamFord92/status/1703898183179387025?s=20
I don't know what EPA is but we suck at it.

It's a measure of how starting field position and successive plays are expected to translate to points on a drive.

[Pumpkin Escobar]

Hiring Gus would piss me off almost as much as if they decided to bring Nutt back.  No thanks. 

It's the most Arkansas thing we could do, so it's going to fucking happen. Just remember, the Shiloh Mafia won't put up with any of your back sass, cause St Gustav the Hurried was anointed by the Baby Jesus himself. Figure it out, bud. 

[Guardrail]

What, y'all wouldn't like a fumblerooski every now and then? A few flag football rope-a-dope offensive plays sprinkled in? Like the play where you have a receiver act like he's running off the field but stops and turns up field wide ass open.

[Feral]

What, y'all wouldn't like a fumblerooski every now and then? A few flag football rope-a-dope offensive plays sprinkled in? Like the play where you have a receiver act like he's running off the field but stops and turns up field wide ass open.

Whirly bird on 2