HawgBeat - Yurachek on Arkansas football: 'I don’t think this is a make or break year'
Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek doesn't think Arkansas football has a make or break year in 2024.
arkansas.rivals.com
Arkansas Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek has been under a glaring lens recently for his statements regarding the basketball program on the 1 Star Recruits Podcast, but he also spoke about the football team, offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino and the direction of the program under head coach Sam Pittman.
Following a 4-8 (1-7 SEC) overall season that saw the Razorbacks field one of the worst offenses in the country, it's no secret that residents of the Natural State are expecting a drastic turnaround for the 2024-25 campaign.
Fifth-year head coach Pittman — who is daringly close to falling below .500 since the conclusion of the 2020 season (20-18 overall), which would result in a buyout drop to roughly $10.7 million for the Head Hog — has some work to do to get back in the good graces of the fanbase. Despite that, Yurachek said he doesn't think the upcoming season is make-or-break for the coaching staff.
"I don't know that it is a make-or-break year," Yurachek told the 1 Star Recruits Podcast. "But we definitively have to show some improvement from the 2023 season, which was a disappointment from a record standpoint, to the 2024 season.
"I don’t think this is a make or break year, but it’s a year that we definitely have to show some improvement heading back in the direction away from 4-8 to 7-5, 8-4.”
Those words don't exactly inspire confidence for a fanbase that has been on the receiving end of some not-so-pleasant football and basketball seasons lately. But to be fair to Yurachek and Pittman, the Razorbacks were dangerously close to a more fruitful season last year had some close games gone the other way.
"We had games on the road against Alabama, against Ole Miss and against LSU that were one-possession games," Yurachek said. "We had an opportunity to win all three of those games late in the fourth quarter. Think about that, if you beat an Ole Miss, you beat an Alabama, you beat an LSU — if you win two of those three games on the road, our season looks dramatically different with those wins. We were on the cusp"
The question is, how does the Arkansas football team flip things around? Fixing the offense is the No. 1 issue — especially after ranking 105th in the country in total offense a year ago (326.5 yards per game) — but that doesn't solve everything. Time and time again, Pittman made questionable in-game decisions during the 2023 season in his first year at the helm without Barry Odom on staff, as Odom took the UNLV head coach job.
So, why not kill two birds with one stone and hire an offensive mind with great success as a play-caller and a head coach in Petrino? That's exactly what Pittman did over the offseason, and Yurachek said he believes Petrino's experience will help play a vital role in the Razorbacks' reemergence in 2024.
"One of the things our program, I think, was really missing last year was strong leadership both on the offense and defensive side of the ball," Yurachek said. "We had some talent, I'm not sure we had some great leadership. We had an offensive coordinator that may not have been the best fit at the best time for our program and that’s where Coach Petrino has filled in that gap.
"One of the things I believe Sam Pittman missed last year was having a head coach like he had in Barry Odom as a former head coach as a member of his staff. Coach Petrino has been a head coach in the NFL and many stops along the college space, so I think he offers a different perspective and point of a view for a coach that he did not have."
Pittman, Petrino and the Hogs will practice again Thursday, so be sure to follow along at HawgBeat and our premium message board — The Trough — for coverage of every Arkansas spring practice.
