Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman's complete press conference Thursday afternoon on process involved in bringing former coach Bobby Petrino back as offensive coordinator.
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00:00 Sam, I was wondering if you could maybe walk us through maybe the timeline of how
00:03 Coach Petrino when he first popped up on your radar and just kind of how this
00:07 all unfolded over the last week or so.
00:08 Yeah, I mean I went to interview him and I wanted to talk to him and I think one of the things that
00:21 I said in one of my criteria is that I wanted was a man that loved the University of Arkansas
00:29 and it'd be hard to find someone that felt stronger towards Arkansas than Coach Petrino
00:37 and so obviously the next step is to talk to the athletic director about that. I interviewed
00:46 several guys, five guys for the job and Coach was very excited about coming back to Arkansas
00:56 and then once I knew his interest back in us it was really a no-brainer at that point in time
01:05 and then it was just all about making the contract and the timeline and all those things work.
01:10 You were hired and required special approval and everything like that. I know that the
01:17 Chancellor said y'all did your due diligence and everything like that. I'm wondering if you could
01:20 provide some insight on what that process looked like, the due diligence and everything like that.
01:23 That part of it I think that's up you know with Hunter and those guys. I wanted to hire him. I
01:30 know he's a good man. We all make a mistake and I wanted to hire him. He was the best candidate.
01:42 He's a wonderful person and I was adamant I wanted to hire him and he was adamant he wanted to come
01:48 so the university went to work on all that kind of stuff. I'm curious Coach, I'm sure we all are
01:56 on timeline when it popped in your head that you know maybe I'll give Bobby Petrino a call or see
02:00 if that's a possibility. To be honest with you I got a text from his agent that he would have
02:09 interest and then that was where you know the timing was correct or right because of the Texas
02:20 A&M and all that kind of stuff. I think it was probably a 10-day process something like that
02:29 was before the time we first started talking to guys until Coach was able to get here.
02:35 Back in Missouri game you talked about momentum with NIL, a big splash OC hire and stuff. Did you
02:41 have in your head then that this was a possibility and was it kind of by design to have the NIL
02:48 Arkansas edge and now at the same day? I think you're always thinking of ways to
02:57 get the fan base. I think you're always thinking and obviously when you
03:04 lose a lot of close games and you don't finish the season like you'd like to I think
03:08 your mind goes back to okay how can we continue to have to get the fans involved and things. So
03:18 I think there's always an order of how you do things and all that and we're probably not done
03:26 yet. I want to ask what you thought of in terms of hiring Bobby like how much you might lean on
03:32 him in situations, timeouts, things like that because of his vast experience doing the same
03:38 thing. I think anytime that you have somebody on your staff that's been a head coach and a
03:45 successful head coach you always go over situations and you go back and forth and talk about okay
03:53 you're watching tape okay what will we do here what will we do here what do you think in this
03:57 setting. I did that with Barry a lot as well because he had had SEC experience and obviously
04:06 congratulations to him you know to play in the championship game just really happy for him.
04:12 But it's not just that it's a daily basis of having somebody in there that's been through it
04:18 you know and you just run things by and talk visit about it and then try to do what you think's the
04:26 best decision for the team. Aside from the success he's had here at Arkansas what have you seen at
04:33 some of his more recent stops that you made him kind of a desirable candidate for you? Well I
04:39 mean they about beat us out here at Missouri State fourth and one he throws a touchdown pass on us
04:45 you know or third and one I can't remember I think it was fourth and one you have to ask him I try to
04:50 put it out of my mind but I mean he's Bobby Petrino man and he's a wonderful mind and he
05:04 loves the state of Arkansas he's a wonderful play caller great guy and I want to win here as bad as
05:13 anybody in any of y'all and that was what I thought would be the best for us to win.
05:19 You heard the student section chanting his name you knew maybe what type of popularity
05:28 he'd be walking back into here? I was hoping so I mean it was wonderful I mean you had the BMFP
05:38 shirts you know made and I think coach asked one of the guys is what's that stand for you know if
05:43 we were having trouble figuring that out but no I hell I it's my suggestion to go over to Duke game
05:54 I won't show him off too now I mean I'm proud that he came here and we got a lot of work to do
06:04 but yeah we wanted we want to get over there and support the basketball team and man what a heck
06:11 of a game they played congratulations to them I text Moss and it was a great great it's been
06:16 a great few days for you for the state of Arkansas in my opinion. And coach of course you know there's
06:21 fans who maybe are concerned or do not agree with the second chance opportunity what's your message
06:27 to them? Well you're gonna have people don't agree with a lot of things in life and my my message is
06:36 that we're doing the best we possibly can do for the state of Arkansas the University of Arkansas
06:41 but if every decision I make or every thing that I've done I'm worried about
06:46 how it's going to be received then I'm not being true to myself and to me this was the best hire
06:53 for our university our program and our state and so I'm gonna stand very firm behind that and if
07:01 people don't like it I'm sorry. Do you anticipate any other staff changes on your coaching staff?
07:08 Yeah I do I think there'll be some you know and but I'm not ready to talk about it but I don't
07:15 think we'll be intact totally next season. Will Bobby have full control of the offense? I know
07:22 it ain't him but kind of a mix of what he did or whatever. I don't know that but he's offensive
07:28 coordinator and and just like KB was just like Dan Enos was he's he he's got a job to do and he
07:37 I don't know how I can allow him to do a job if he's not it ain't his offense so we hired him
07:47 because he's a brilliant offensive mind and it's his offense that's just what it is just like it
07:54 was KB just like it was Dan's. I'm always going to have input on what my feelings are of things
07:59 but he's offensive coordinator and that's what he's hired to do.
08:03 Same way trying to let the recruits know he was going to be your guy did you did you reach out
08:08 to them did you have Bobby call in himself just how did that process go what's been the reception
08:13 on the recruiting trail? Well I mean we was trying to keep it quiet but you know I was in on
08:22 all these player evals and leaving and all that and we was trying to keep it quiet so y'all let
08:30 him know you know that he was coming back which always happens by the way I'm not being negative
08:37 there it just happens so I was getting a lot of calls I didn't have to call them I was getting
08:44 a lot of calls and and there was a lot of excitement about it but I we didn't have to
08:49 worry about calling the kids they were they were calling us. The roster is still pretty fluid at
08:54 this moment KJ specifically do you think does this maybe hold some weight with him and would you like
09:00 to have him come back and have the opportunity to play? You know I'd rather not really answer that
09:06 out of respect for KJ and things of that nature but you know KJ's given to the university you
09:12 know good years and set a lot of records and things of that nature whatever he wants to do
09:18 we'll be supportive of it.
09:20 Pick up the phone to talk to I'm just curious like what's the what's the emotion you feel
09:34 I don't know you got like a heat in your back of your neck or you just calm and collected like what
09:38 is like your internal on feeling when you're calling Bobby about the job?
09:42 You get a pebby stomach I don't know. I don't know no well. Is it just cool?
09:48 Hey brother what's up? No no no no no no first time or two I didn't FaceTime him and
09:58 after that I did you know but I was trying to be honest with you I just trying to find the best man
10:07 for the job and in my opinion I did and so that's all I was trying to do. You also you know I don't
10:18 know if this day and age because it's the same with Kendall and Dan as you said in terms of
10:23 them handling the offense but your job has changed so much just in terms of I mean you're almost like
10:28 a GM yeah in a lot of ways you obviously feel that. Yeah I think so I mean I think I think
10:34 Arkansas Edge is you know whatever the name is it for everybody else I think that's changed
10:41 a lot of your head coaching responsibilities and more than that time whether it's raising
10:49 the money or trying to figure out you know where where different guys you know are going to be able
10:55 to sit in an NIL and all that kind of stuff. Yeah I think I think just a lot more time and obviously
11:03 you know we have guys that you know come in going into the portal and you're not going to talk them
11:09 out of it but simply because they've already been poached by somebody else and told the finances
11:15 and everything else we do not do that here we don't but it happens all the time and and NCAA
11:23 at some point has to put some some type of penalties on people that are poaching players
11:29 because it's going around the country all everywhere we're not and and but so that puts a
11:37 lot more time into you know the portal you got to go v2 portal junior college portal the one double
11:44 a portal bcs boards and then and then you've got to go with obviously the portal in division one so
11:52 there's just a lot of time that happens in recruiting and you can imagine this Trey that
11:58 the portal opens up in December it opens up in April so you have two opportunities for someone to
12:08 poach financially your players and so that's why it was so important for us to get to Arkansas edge
12:16 I know I've heard 80s and coaches talk before like they've always kind of got a list of coaches in
12:22 mind that if the position ever came open that they might be interested in them I wondered if
12:26 having faced him at Missouri State and having the scheme against them did I ever cross your
12:31 mind like hey if I ever had the opportunity I might want to have him work for me I'll be honest
12:36 it really didn't I think the first time that it really did was when I got a text you know
12:42 from his agent and I was assuming that if I got a text from his agent that there was some interest
12:49 there you know as well and so I just picked up the phone and I don't know if I had hair raised on the
12:56 back of my neck or not but I think I just picked up the phone we visited you know so but once I
13:05 figured figured we could do the deal then the the closer I thought we could get to doing it the more
13:11 excited I have about you know more excitement I had about it and the bottom line is we need to
13:18 win games and I thought that was the best possible way we could do it. As far as the interview goes
13:27 how far along would you say you are percentage-wise and that's got to be like each guy got I mean
13:33 a great meeting a bad meeting it's got to be very up and down for you. I was done at
13:40 I was through it we had a recruiting meeting at two o'clock this afternoon I was done about 1 55
13:46 and I completed so we went Monday, Tuesday, no Tuesday, Wednesday and today and got through all
13:54 however many it was maybe 100 guys or whatever it was a little bit more and
14:01 so we're through and you talked about the portal and all this kind of stuff I feel really good
14:08 about where we're at on the football team but obviously things can change simply because
14:16 the fluidity with phone calls to talking to coaches and all this kind of stuff so
14:22 we got a great university a great situation here Arkansas Edge is helping us tremendously
14:29 and we want to keep the guys obviously on the team that we want to keep and but we can't
14:37 if they don't want to but that's why the portal is open and we'll go out and replace them.
14:42 Coach take us back to the brief conversation y'all had right after that game out here and if
14:50 there's ever been conversations like at conventions with you and Coach Petrino
14:55 and if there's any relationship that kind of goes back through the years.
15:00 I'll be honest with there's a hell of a lot of respect from me for him and the
15:07 communication I don't know Coach may remember something different but I think the first time
15:13 I really spoke to him was when Missouri State was out here and at that time I told him that
15:23 we I was grateful for him and thankful for him because we had used everything that he had done
15:29 here in recruiting and it was helping us and I told him that I appreciate him for that and
15:37 I don't I can't recall what was said after the game to be honest with you but
15:42 I believe unless he remembers a different time I believe that that was a really the time we had
15:50 edge point.