FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas head football coach Sam Pittman made clear Thursday the main reason there are four new assistants on his staff for the 2021 season.
While wide receivers coach Justin Stepp decided to return to his home state and coach at the University of South Carolina, Pittman replaced three assistants in a bid to improve recruiting.
The new hires, who average 31 years of age, are wide receiver coach Kenny Guiton, tight ends coach Cody Kennedy, defensive line coach Jermial Ashley and linebackers coach Michael Scherer. Pittman elevated Scherer from a quality control position last season for the Razorbacks.
“That's really how it played out,” Pittman said of the youthfulness of the new additions. “I was trying to bring in recruiters. Most of the time if you're a good recruiter, you're a good coach. Because recruiting is work, and coaching is work.
“To get Arkansas where we all believe that it should be and where it's going to be, we have to continue to improve our recruiting. So that was a big part of all these hires, along with their coaching ability.”
While Arkansas’ 2020 class was ranked 21st in the country by ESPN and eighth in the 14-team SEC, Pittman wants an elevation in recruiting results.
“If you want to change your (position) room, you've got to go get the players to do that,” Pittman said. “We can't just go, ‘Arkansas strength and conditioning coach) Jamil Walker, you get these guys bigger and nastier and stronger and all those things.' We've got to help him, as well, and I think these guys will."
Guiton is a Houston native, a graduate of Aldine Eisenhower.
‘Kendal jumped up on the table for him,” Pittman said. “That kind of got him in the door. I love the guy. He’s really mature. He’s a recruiter. He’s already won our players over. Just a very charismatic, exciting guy to be around. I felt that way on the telephone with him when I was interviewing him. What a wonderful family.
“I just think he fit. I think he’s an Arkansas fit and I know he’s a great recruiter and we need some more recruiters in the state of Texas.”
Pittman, who plans to have all 10 of his assistants recruit Arkansas, coached with Kennedy at Georgia.
“Well, I love him, “ Pittman said. “I love the guy. When I was at Georgia I got a lot of credit for recruiting some of the offensive linemen that he recruited. So I knew what type of person he was and what type of recruiter he is and what type of coach he was. So that was the easiest one of all of them to be honest with you.”
Kennedy has recruiting experience in several southern states.
“If you look through my resume, you know I’ve got Louisiana ties, Alabama ties,” Kennedy said. “ I’m originally from Alabama. I coached Division II ball in Alabama. Also Georgia. Outside of being there with Coach Pittman, I was at the University of West Georgia, a Division II school and we were back to back semifinalists.
“I’m really comfortable in all those southeast states. I’ve got connections all over at this point from the multiple places I’ve coached and multiple recruiting areas that I’ve had, that I really feel comfortable in all those locations.”
Ashley, a former Kansas player, was at Tulsa the last six years.
“Honestly, wherever Coach Pittman asks me to be,” Ashley said of his recruiting territory. “Recruiting at Tulsa and also when I was at the junior college I was obviously all over Texas. At Tulsa I had parts of Louisiana. I've had the junior colleges all over the country and a heavy emphasis in Texas. So Houston, San Antonio, the Metroplex, central Texas. I've kind of been all over.”
Scherer, who coached on the field for the Florida game last season, played and coached at Missouri for Odom.
“I'm definitely going to be in the Missouri area,” Scherer said. “That's what I'm comfortable with, but then again I'm going to go find the best linebackers I possibly can in the country. I don't care where they're at. If you look at Coach Odom and his defenses and the success of the linebackers throughout these defenses, there's no reason why anyone in the country wouldn't want to come play linebacker here. Just look at last year, and you can go back to Missouri. Look at the guys we had here.
“I'm comfortable in Missouri and I know a lot of people there. I'm definitely going to touch parts of Dallas, but I'm going to go all over and find the best players I can.”
Arkansas is in the process of hiring a new director of recruiting to replace Joshua Thompson, who left for Auburn.
“We’re going to go to work on that,” Pittman said. "I’ve got about six guys, probably, right now, five to six, that I’m going to start Zooming with starting Monday. Recruiting, it always goes on, but if I was going to lose somebody as a recruiting director, this would probably be about the time to do it. We didn’t sign anybody yesterday.
“So I’m not as concerned about that because we do have folks still in that department that are working. But I do need to get… And I don’t really know what I’m going to do with it yet. I need to talk to some different guys about how they’re running their recruiting department for me to make sure I have a couple of guys that I can hire - or ladies or what have you - and I’m going to make sure I do it right.
“This one may be by the end of next week, maybe even 10 days before I really decide who we’re going to go with in that position.”