Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman's complete press conference Monday afternoon on his job status and looking ahead to Saturday's game with Florida International at Razorback Stadium.
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00:00 What do you-- what did you say about the game the other day?
00:02 Probably exactly like it looked, you know.
00:06 We were running some stunts, we weren't handling the edge,
00:10 we weren't getting out to turn the ball back.
00:12 So we lost the edge a lot.
00:14 Tackling wasn't very good.
00:16 But we emphasized that we got to do something different
00:20 so we can wrap up.
00:21 We're not wrapping up well.
00:22 Certainly, I couldn't get off the field
00:25 with their rushing attack.
00:27 They, you know, out-physicaled us there offensively.
00:30 Not a whole lot in there, you know,
00:35 good things to say as far as the blocking,
00:38 breaking tackles,
00:42 protecting the quarterback in all phases, getting open.
00:46 Basically, I guess probably just about what it looked like
00:49 during the game.
00:50 I thought Jacoby came in and gave us a spark, though,
00:55 you know, and played extremely hard.
00:59 Even on the last throw, I thought it was on a dime.
01:03 We just didn't catch it.
01:05 But I thought he did a really good job there.
01:07 Special teams, obviously, we've got to cover better.
01:11 That's twice that we've given up punts for touchdowns,
01:14 kicked it out of the zone.
01:16 But at the same time, we've got to get a guy on the ground.
01:19 And we had opportunities to do it again.
01:21 We missed tackles on that one as well, too.
01:23 So probably about what you thought from--
01:29 or I thought from watching the game.
01:32 You said up here a few weeks ago that it was your butt on the line.
01:36 I wonder if these next two games, it feels like
01:38 you're coaching for next year.
01:40 Well, you're always trying to win, you know, so
01:46 it honestly doesn't feel a whole lot different
01:50 than what it does every week.
01:51 We want to win and coach for our players to be
01:55 the best they possibly can be.
02:00 And, you know, in coaching, I think a lot of times you get
02:04 concerned when you felt like you've had a really good practice week
02:10 and it doesn't go well on a Saturday.
02:13 So we went back and tried to figure out if we can change something out.
02:18 Obviously, it was the same thing we did against Florida format wise.
02:22 But no, I mean, we're trying to win games and trying to do the best we can
02:28 to put the kids in the best spot to have success.
02:32 Coach, I don't know if you felt like the players' energy was right
02:37 for the Auburn game, but with FIU coming to town,
02:41 how do you make sure that they're right and mentally focused
02:43 when it's not, you know, a logo to move us up?
02:46 Well, we have to be right, because, I mean, I would think that we would
02:51 really want to play after what happened Saturday.
02:53 Of course, you can go back another Saturday and say you'd really want to play
02:57 from what happened at Florida as well.
02:59 But, you know, we got embarrassed Saturday, so
03:04 I like our kids in the locker room.
03:09 I would be shocked if we don't come out ready to play.
03:12 I'm sure we'll practice well and we've got accountability
03:17 for them, for us, for me.
03:19 But the past has said that we haven't played real well against teams like this.
03:31 And so there is obviously a concern there.
03:34 We've got to try to coach the way out of that during the week.
03:38 Obviously, you know, the fans came out last night.
03:42 I think they had 72,000 of us.
03:43 Just your message to them.
03:46 So, you know, it's been a couple disappointing couple of laughs on them.
03:49 Yeah.
03:50 Well, first of all, we thank you for coming out and supporting us.
03:57 And obviously we're disappointed we didn't have
04:00 even a good showing for them on Saturday.
04:05 But we believe that we can get this thing turned around
04:11 and that's what we're going to do.
04:14 Yes, Sam McIntyre, and people usually know him from Colorado,
04:21 but he's got a bit of an SEC background, a SEC coach.
04:25 Do you know him at all?
04:25 Just kind of what do you think of him?
04:27 I know him because he's on the AFCA Board of Trustees with me.
04:30 And so I know him there.
04:33 I know some people who work with him at Colorado.
04:36 Really energetic guy, great guy.
04:40 I think he was a GA at Georgia maybe at some some point in his time.
04:46 But he's doing a really good job there.
04:50 The kids play extremely hard and he's got a he's got a nice athletic quarterback
04:55 and some skilled players and defense where they run and they'll hit you.
04:59 So he's doing a really good job there at FIU.
05:03 Two SEC coaches fired.
05:06 I think it's been about 24 hours.
05:08 And that probably just increases the noise about what you're hearing.
05:12 How do you deal with that?
05:13 You block, you ignore it.
05:14 Do you address it?
05:16 How do you deal with that?
05:17 That's a good question.
05:18 You know, I think it's hard, you know, obviously to block out all noise.
05:23 You know what I mean?
05:24 We've got a job to do.
05:25 And that is to get prepared each and every week.
05:30 And but, you know, Jamie and I, when we got here,
05:35 we were planning on coaching here until
05:38 whatever that date was that we were going to go down to Hot Springs
05:43 and call it a day.
05:44 I'm not close to that year right now.
05:46 And the plan is to get this program back to where it deserves to be
05:51 and stay here as long as we possibly can.
05:55 And so it's hard.
05:57 It's obviously that's a really good question, by the way.
06:00 But to block out noise.
06:04 You know, it's more like for the kids, for the recruits.
06:07 You know, once it starts a lot of negative stuff, it's it's
06:12 it's about recruiting.
06:13 And I know what's going on a hundred years ago.
06:17 It's what's going on.
06:17 But really, nobody else really.
06:19 It's opinion.
06:20 They don't really know what's going on, but it affects our recruits.
06:23 So we spent a lot of time yesterday with that as well.
06:26 But my job is to get ready for FIU.
06:29 I'm not worried about my job security at all.
06:33 And I think I'm the guy for for the university
06:36 and I will stay here for a long time.
06:38 Coach, kind of going off of saying it affects the recruits,
06:42 you know, around the country, starting to see some players at the transfer portal.
06:45 You know, how difficult is it to during this time period
06:49 to just keep your guys from entering the transfer portal?
06:51 Well, so far, it hasn't been difficult at all.
06:54 Obviously, we talk to our kids on a daily basis.
06:58 And and I know the defensive staff yesterday
07:02 talked to every kid on the team,
07:05 also with the recruits, because of all the noise that was going on.
07:08 But I don't know why you'd leave the University of Arkansas.
07:14 We treat our kids like they're supposed to be treated.
07:17 We expect them to get an education.
07:20 And it's a great place to live and a great place to get a degree.
07:23 I wouldn't have any idea why they'd want to leave.
07:26 And those conversations with the recruits yesterday, just overall,
07:31 how did you feel like all that went?
07:34 I think it went well.
07:35 You know, I haven't heard anything different, you know.
07:37 We can't do anything about what people write.
07:43 I just wish they would write truth, you know, but we can't we can't
07:47 we can't do not opinion.
07:49 Well, you know, you're saying a man's fired and he should be fired.
07:53 So we can't deal with with untruth things.
07:59 And that's that's probably the most difficult thing,
08:01 because the kids believe it and the parents believe it.
08:03 So but look, we put ourself in this situation
08:07 and we got to find a way out of it.
08:10 And from an offensive standpoint, how do you
08:12 maybe get that group back up again to where it resembles
08:17 maybe what you look like at Florida?
08:20 Well, I mean, there's a lot of things, you know.
08:23 We've got to play better out on the edge.
08:26 You got to play better at tactics.
08:28 I mean, we have to. So
08:30 we have to we have to make people miss.
08:34 We obviously have to protect better all those type things.
08:37 We've got to change something up.
08:40 Obviously, we had a change there in Florida, which worked for us.
08:43 We did a lot of similar things, some changes on Saturday.
08:47 They had a week to prepare for it, which was different because Florida did not.
08:51 And so we have to continue.
08:54 We're not a team that can just turn around and hand a ball off right now
08:57 and just smash smash like Auburn did to us.
09:00 We're not there right now, like we've been
09:03 really for the most part all the other three years, especially the last two.
09:09 So we've got to continue to try to steal some yards and things of that nature
09:13 and and get some what I might call easy yards or space yards.
09:17 But once we get out of space, we got to make somebody miss, too.
09:20 And because other people are making us miss and we've got to
09:25 we've got to do something a little bit different so we can get some explosive
09:28 plays. Defensively, that group of like so well for so many weeks in a row.
09:34 I wonder what their mindset is or what you've seen from that group.
09:37 You think they've been?
09:38 I really don't know.
09:40 I know they were fine in the locker room.
09:41 Everybody was quiet.
09:42 Everybody was listening in the locker room.
09:46 I don't know a little bit more to answer that question today,
09:49 but they're a resilient group.
09:52 I think they love their coaches.
09:53 I think they respect their coaches.
09:55 And and we've got a lot we got to clean up.
09:57 And but I think they will.
09:59 I know they will because they want to win, too, and that
10:02 they're a really good group of kids.
10:04 And the tackling issues that have kind of popped up here over the last two weeks,
10:09 is that something that's maybe more difficult to fix this late in the season
10:13 when it pops up?
10:14 Well, it wasn't a problem earlier, you know what I mean?
10:18 So we're just not wrapping.
10:21 I mean, we're trying to body tackle everybody.
10:23 And. You know, our linebackers have to work
10:28 right in the hole a lot of times, and we're not making the play
10:31 consistently like we do.
10:34 Obviously, we we've talked about what we can do differently.
10:37 You know, we had a tackling circuit.
10:39 We've had, you know, all those things.
10:41 And I don't want to go live, you know, at practice.
10:45 But you can you can fix anything if you emphasize it or you can.
10:50 I don't know if fix is the word you can get better at it.
10:52 And so we're going to continue to do that and see if we can get better this week.
10:56 I know this might be a frustrating question for you,
10:59 but there was a video shared on social media about players
11:03 watching a movie during halftime wondering, you know,
11:05 what were your thoughts on the video?
11:06 Did you see it?
11:07 And kind of what were your thoughts on kind of the reaction from people?
11:10 And what was the show?
11:11 Yeah, I haven't seen Polar Express, but so I don't really know
11:17 my thoughts on the movie, but.
11:20 You know, in our locker room, I want to reward our kids
11:25 by letting them run through the A if they practice well.
11:28 And so we don't have enough lockers in our main locker to house all the kids.
11:36 So some of them have to go in a separate locker
11:39 and it's separate and a separate door to the locker.
11:43 And. And so.
11:48 Young man, I've already addressed it with him, he made a mistake.
11:51 That's why we don't you know, you don't want cameras in a locker room
11:55 for several reasons, you know, because of the showering, you're there.
11:59 But it's hard because the music's on it as well.
12:03 You know what I'm saying?
12:03 So that's a team rule.
12:05 You can't have your.
12:05 But there also is a team where you don't post anything,
12:09 you know, after Friday night, you know, after we leave on Friday.
12:14 And so the young man made a mistake, sent it to a friend,
12:19 friend, sent it to his brother, brother, put it out on what have you.
12:22 And I've already addressed it.
12:25 And I think we're fine there.
12:27 But it was just a mistake that the young man made.
12:30 And I wish he wouldn't have.
12:31 But he came in, he was sorry for it.
12:34 He was very remorseful for it.
12:36 And so we're going to move on.
12:37 Yeah, I think it's an injury update from you, Patrick.
12:41 Could you think you might be able to return this week?
12:43 Well, I hope so.
12:44 He's going to do a little bit today,
12:47 which Dave said that today.
12:49 And he's talking about, well,
12:50 you know, he can do a little bit in Indy, you know.
12:53 Well, he couldn't.
12:54 He's in a booth last week.
12:55 So he has progressed.
12:57 We're going to be smart with him because a beat up him
13:01 is not better than what we had.
13:04 But he has an opportunity.
13:06 Braxton's got a spring, a shoulder spring.
13:09 We're going to keep him out of contact all week.
13:12 And we'll just see where that goes.
13:14 But those are probably the only two that I can think of right now,
13:18 unless you have somebody else on your mind.
13:20 Yeah, I know he was shaking at the moment.
13:22 He's fine. He'll be fine.
13:24 And Greer, I think, also came out.
13:25 He's fine as well.
13:27 Yeah. Terry didn't dress out, you know, for his statue.
13:29 Singletary.
13:31 He had an ankle that happened.
13:36 It looked bad in practice and stepped on a receiver's foot.
13:43 He he also is going to move around a little bit today in Indy.
13:48 I think him and Curtis will be very, very questionable for the game.
13:53 Well, along with Braxton, I think those three guys will be very questionable.
13:57 But I think there is a chance.
14:00 Hey, coach, going off of Bob's question a little bit earlier,
14:03 you talked about your personal approach to kind of blocking out the noise.
14:07 What's your method in terms of being the leader of the football team
14:10 and communicating with the football team?
14:12 What's your approach this week?
14:13 Do you address all the rumors flying around
14:16 or is it the same kind of block out the noise approach with them?
14:18 Well, we got a lot of tricks, you know, so I'm going to go
14:23 today about what we did wrong and how we can fix it.
14:28 And, you know, our kids probably hear and read the same thing
14:33 as that to recruits do.
14:35 I'm not going to address it because I don't think it's as severe as you all do.
14:39 But if they ask me about it, then I'm going to explain,
14:44 you know, about about that.
14:46 But I don't have time really to explain about my job security,
14:50 to be honest with you.
14:51 We've got to be the FIU and and
14:54 and that's an honest answer.
14:57 And and so if I was worried about me personally,
15:02 I think it would take away from what we're trying to get done here.
15:06 I got a job to do. I get paid to do it.
15:08 I need to do a better job.
15:10 And so I can't really sit around worried about
15:12 my job security or me or anything like that.
15:16 I just think it's a much bigger issue with the media than it is with myself.
15:21 Well, you said you know what's going on and Hunter knows what's going on.
15:25 So what's going on? Did you talk to him after the game?
15:28 I talked to Hunter every week.
15:31 You know, I talked to him after every single game.
15:36 Talk to him some on Sundays, not not often, but some.
15:40 Well, yeah, on Sundays, I talk to him on Mondays and and.
15:44 You'd have to ask him the conversation,
15:48 but I haven't really expressed to you what our conversation was
15:50 been over the four years, so I don't think today's a good time
15:54 to talk about that either.
15:58 We're good.
16:04 And I think that's a good point.
16:06 And I think we're going to have to change our.
16:10 Well, you as a coordinator, you can only call certain plays now
16:16 and the people got it, people got to block and execute it, and they say,
16:20 no, obviously we thought it went well in practice and things of that nature.
16:24 So, Kenny, we're still evaluating Kenny and those down the hole at one
16:28 one game that we didn't have any, you know, any success in reality.
16:34 I don't think we need to change any of that, but.
16:36 It's not time to make that decision to me, but
16:41 but I'm not disappointed in him by any stretch of the imagination.
16:46 He worked his tail off and came in here.
16:49 He's done a really good job.
16:52 And I get there's no quarterback controversy, but with what you
16:55 totally did the other day, do you think about maybe giving him a series
16:58 Saturday night or, you know, we we have, you know, I hate it.
17:02 I hate this hate.
17:03 It's not a good word, but to come in here on a Monday and answer questions
17:08 and be truthful to you is hard because we haven't had any conversations
17:15 with anybody on the team, you know what I mean?
17:18 Like if if we were going to do something and we're not, by the way,
17:22 but to Colby, I think has earned the right to play, you know, some.
17:26 But to answer a question truthfully, when I haven't had the opportunity
17:30 to tell a kid before I tell the media, it's that's why Mondays a lot of times
17:36 if we ever start practicing in the morning, I think these would be a lot better,
17:39 you know, interviews, you know what I mean?
17:42 But I like I said before, Bob, I think he really gave us a spark
17:47 and then he looked fast and he's played two games,
17:50 so two touchdowns, you know, in both games.
17:53 And and I'm really excited about him and our future.
18:00 But I think he's earned the right to get on the field.
18:02 I'm asking now, and Vax, you know, I think he had a couple of catches.
18:08 I know it's not Hunter Henry, but you've obviously had injuries there.
18:11 What do you think of what he gave you?
18:12 And maybe can he give you a little bit more than people might think?
18:14 Well, I hope so.
18:17 You know, I think Vax is reliable.
18:19 You know exactly what he's going to give you.
18:22 And and he's been wonderful to have on the football team
18:27 and made a couple of ran up side.
18:29 I made a nice run on one of his catches.
18:31 And and so we just, you know, we only have the two more games.
18:37 So we we got to we got to rev him up a little bit and see what he can do.
18:41 But I was proud of his effort on Saturday.
18:45 Coach, I'm sorry to ask another question about the Polar Express thing,
18:49 but is it normal for them to be watching something on the TV during games?
18:56 Well, it was halftime, so the game wasn't it wasn't during the game, but no.
19:03 You probably made the answer.
19:05 Well, I figured so.
19:08 I'm going to ask you, do you think it's normal for them to?
19:10 No, not at all.
19:12 Look, I'll be honest with you.
19:13 I didn't know there was a TV in there and somehow the TV got turned on.
19:19 I don't think.
19:21 I'll be perfectly honest with you, I don't think that him being in the
19:26 red shirt locker room watching a movie
19:28 at halftime had anything to do with us getting our butt kicked.
19:32 And then I'd say it's a pain.
19:35 It seems like it was one of the first times we've seen him catch a ball
19:38 down the field like it like he did on Saturday.
19:40 That's something maybe we could see more moving forward from him.
19:43 I hope so.
19:45 You know, we obviously have run running routes where he
19:47 he was running deep over the middle of the field and and
19:51 he happened to get open that time and he threw it to him.
19:55 But we always have somebody down the middle of the field to throw it to.
19:59 We also have some other guys that are fast on the team,
20:03 but he made a nice catch on that one.
20:06 And obviously, if we can get it more often, we sure would like to do that.
20:10 Developing players in the age of NIL and modern football,
20:16 is it harder to feel like you're developing the younger guys
20:21 because there's so much out there?
20:24 How do you think I know what you say?
20:26 I know what you're saying.
20:27 You're saying, where's your mind go?
20:28 Where's your mind go?
20:29 OK, we're going to stay with this is what you're asking.
20:31 Are we going to stay with this kid or are we going to go try to out recruit him?
20:36 Are we going to develop on him?
20:37 Wait, wait for him in the spring. Right.
20:40 I mean, those are questions you ask all every all the time, you know.
20:44 And that's a good question.
20:47 You know, I think it's on the individual base, you know, who it may be and all that.
20:52 And then it depends on the group, to be honest with you, Tom.
20:54 I mean, if you've got to rehaul a group.
20:57 Then you probably are thinking,
21:01 JC, portal, you know what I mean, something to immediately.
21:05 And then what you're doing when you do that, you're just saying, hey.
21:09 You can develop and maybe you'll be ready after spring ball.
21:14 If you're not, we can win some games and then give you another, give you a fall,
21:18 give you another six months, wait room, all that stuff to develop.
21:23 So I think you you ask that question individually.
21:27 And then I think you ask it as a group.
21:29 And those are hard, hard because you want to be as low
21:34 as you possibly can to the guys on your team.
21:37 But obviously, we're in the wind business and we and we need to win as well.
21:41 You mentioned you go there.
21:46 I'm wondering, have you noticed a trickle down effect with with more talented
21:51 like kids that don't have the opportunity to go sign with their D1 school?
21:54 Let's go to the portal and everything where there's more talent
21:57 at the junior college level now, maybe.
21:59 Or have you noticed any kind of difference there with the.
22:01 Well, what I've noticed in junior college is they're not
22:05 being as highly recruited as what they used to be.
22:09 And it's simply not Norris High School.
22:13 It's simply because you saw a guy play against Syracuse on tape
22:18 and he looked really good or you saw a guy play against Ole Miss on tape
22:22 and he looked good and you're going, OK, I want that guy
22:25 because of what you see of who his competition is.
22:28 I think that's probably where, you know, I'm familiar with the
22:31 with the Kansas Junior College just because I was a head coach over there.
22:35 So I know I know a little bit more about who they're playing
22:39 and the competition than maybe somebody who is not quite as familiar.
22:43 But I think it's it's trickled down to junior college as well.
22:47 I just don't think it's as highly recruited as what it had been in the past.
22:51 I know I know we spoke about maybe the surprise of how poorly
22:57 the first quarter went on Auburn when we spoke Saturday.
22:59 And I'm just wondering if maybe it was a little extra sting
23:02 because of the optimism coming out of the Florida game.
23:05 Did you sense like maybe like in the good week of practice and everything
23:08 like it caught you guys off guard and that stung a little bit more?
23:11 I don't know. I mean, momentum is a wild thing.
23:14 I mean, when you lose it, it's hard to get back.
23:17 And you guys asked me a lot of questions about that on fourth and ones
23:22 or faking kicks or whatever, you know what I mean, whatever it may be.
23:25 And you're always thinking about what if you lose a moment?
23:28 We just never had.
23:29 They took the opening kickoff.
23:31 They went and scored.
23:32 We got as part of got back score.
23:34 And we kept talking about, hey, we can get back in there, get back in this.
23:38 Nudie gave we're down 21, nothing but nudie gave us a chance
23:42 to maybe get some of them, get us, maybe not get momentum, but get it stopped.
23:47 And we go three plays, two yards and kick field goal.
23:50 So you're constantly trying to do that.
23:54 I don't know if if.
23:57 The Florida game went negative towards this one, or, you know, I don't know.
24:02 You always want your team to feel good if you're holding them accountable,
24:06 you want them to feel good, you know, which they did, you know, last week.
24:10 So if I had to answer that and probably any coach had to answer that,
24:16 you know, that would never happen.
24:19 But I don't know. That's a good question.
24:21 I really don't have a great answer for you to that question.