One of Texas A&M's chief rivals and upcoming opponents, the Arkansas Razorbacks, have made a leadership change by letting go of Sam Pittman and promoting offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to interim. This change seemed as though it was incoming for quite some time, but the resounding home loss to Notre Dame this past weekend seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Pittman is now unattached as a coach but still being paid by the Arkansas athletic department. Despite the fact that, had the Hogs waited for three more losses (likely, given their upcoming gauntlet) they would have owed him quite a bit less, the Razorbacks apparently felt that it was high time to move on from Pittman.
Since includes 2021. He's 29-26 in that span, set to drop to 29-27.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) September 27, 2025
With such an arrangement, there's a clear move that Mike Elko needs to make: hire Sam Pittman as a special assistant to the staff as soon as he possibly can. Here's why.
Why Mike Elko needs to hire Sam Pittman onto Texas A&M's staff as soon as possible
One practice that Nick Saban had at Alabama was to bring on fired head coaches as assistants with regularity. You can't get enough of that kind of experience in the room, especially when they've coached in the SEC as long as a guy like Pittman has.
In that vein, it's a good idea to make a move like this. But it goes further than that: Pittman is an elite offensive line coach, having been the man at Georgia that helped take that unit in Athens to the next level, and also bringing the Arkansas line to a high level when he operated in that capacity under Bret Bielema.
While Adam Cushing has done an amazing job for the Aggies, adding Sam Pittman would only be a plus there. I'm not in any way suggesting he replace Cushing, just add to the room— his recruiting ability there would be a help as well.
This would also likely aid the Aggies in the event that they wish to go after any Arkansas players in the portal. If they have the former head Hog on staff in College Station, it would bring a lot of attention from potential Arkansas players who are heading out.
This wouldn't be an easy pull, though. There are plenty of teams in the conference that need an offensive line coach like Pittman, but the Aggies obviously have a lot of resources at their disposal. A move like this would be a master stroke, so hopefully Elko can get this done.