FAYETTEVILLE — New Arkansas head football coach Sam Pittman did not waste anytime getting on the recruiting trail.
After an introductory press conference and a question-and-answer session with media, Pittman was scheduled to head straight to see recruits Monday night.
He had plans to see Jonesboro defensive end and Razorbacks pledge Jashaud Stewart (6-2, 220) and Bryant linebacker and commit Catrell Wallace (6-6, 212) on Monday evening.
Pittman also has an in-home visit slated for Tuesday with Hazen defensive end and Arkansas commit Blayne Toll (6-6, 244) and has also made contact with Morrilton quarterback and North Carolina pledge Jacolby Criswell (6-2, 220), who is scheduled to take his official visit to the Tar Heels this weekend.
“The only way I know how to fix something is to go to work,” Pittman said, “and I believe that in recruiting your team that you have now and recruit them to believe in what you are trying to get accomplished, you have to recruit the people that are going to come in and be a part of the next team and you have to recruit coaches to come in.”
Pittman was reaching out to prospects and coaches quickly.
"I was on the phone with kids today," Pittman said. "This morning we got up and visited with some and coaches in state of Arkansas"
Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek stated that he believes recruiting is a big factor in rebuilding a program that had successive 2-10 seasons under former head coach Chad Morris.
Pittman, who was the offensive line coach for the Razorbacks from 2013-2015, has recruited for Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia in the SEC.
“It was my goal to find somebody that was a relentless recruiter and I think, if you do your research, you will find that Sam Pittman is known across the SEC and across this country as a relentless recruiter,” Yurachek said. “That is one of the things that is going to help us turn this thing around.
“I think not only is he a relentless recruiter, but he knows how to recruit in the Southeastern Conference and that is not an easy task. It is something where you really have to get in the trenches, understand what you are doing and understand the type of student-athletes that you need to pursue that are going to turn this around.”
The early signing period is Dec. 18-20, so Pittman only has this week to do in-homes and bring in any official visitors before a two-day dead period begins on Monday.
Pittman, who first fell in love with Arkansas while attending a Lou Holtz football camp in Fayetteville in 1979, will then move toward putting together the rest of the class on Feb. 5, the national signing date.
“If we can keep the guys we have, then we are going to have get full-fledged ready to go for the second signing date,” Pittman said. “That is just reality. So let’s go get it, let’s get the best ones left. That is what we are going to try and do.”
He is also working to put together a staff, which Yurachek said $5 million has been allotted for Pittman to make hires - a pool the new head coach says he is very comfortable with having to use.
“I talked to Hunter about some of those things and I think we can get in homes tonight,” Pittman said. “…The staff, I don’t know how many, a few, before the end of the week. It is important to me that we try and get kids that are committed to us and make sure we are right on who we hire here.
“We can get people right now, but how do you know if they are the best if you are not talking to two or three of them to figure out who you really want to hire. It is not a deal where are saying, ‘Oh, I’d like to have this old boy,’ and he turns you down and you go to panic city. We just go to plan 1AAA.
“We have got a good list of coaches, but right now I have been pretty busy in having time to talk to the and we were busy before the University of Arkansas gave me the job. Very busy. While people were off, we weren’t. We were getting ready for the SEC Championship game.
“I am not going to tell you I am behind by any stretch on hiring of the staff, but I am pretty cautious because after Saturday I know it (recruiting) goes dead again.”
Pittman says that coaches have reached out to him via text with interest in coming to Arkansas.
“I’ve had 500-plus messages from coaches you would be shocked, or you might not be, who want to come to the University of Arkansas,” Pittman said. “It would be very hard for me to believe that if the coaching world wants to come to the University of Arkansas, how come we can’t get the players in our state and across the nation to feel the same way about playing here?”
Pittman was asked about how relationship building had been a big factor in his recruiting success.
“I think it is the only way you are going to get somebody to believe in you,” Pittman said. “…It has to be constant, it has to be sincere and you have to recruit everybody in that family. And you have to do it a lot."
He wants to be a tough and disciplined team with size in the trenches.
“I think this, that getting these big people, getting size, getting talent, getting all these things, you have to have it,” Pittman said.
Pittman believes he is a better recruiter because of his time working for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.
“I thought I knew how to recruit, but I went to Georgia and working with Kirby Smart was recruiting on steroids,” Pittman said. “That is what it is. It is relentless, it is all the time. I really learned a lot from Kirby about the passion of recruiting.
“I have done well recruiting in my life, but he prepared me more for this head coaching job and I appreciate that.”
He wants to make sure former players are involved in the Arkansas program.
“I’m going to work hard,” Pittman said. “In recruiting, guys, there is a lot about recruiting. I mean, we have to recruit our own (current players) and I think that is the first thing we need to do. We have to recruit our future players and we have to recruit our future coaches and we have to recruit our alumni and our past players.
“We need them all back to be Arkansas strong once again.”