Ahead of the spring transfer portal window opening in mid-April, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said Thursday that the Razorbacks are well on their way to hiring a general manager soon.
It's a move long coming for Arkansas, which has already been beaten to the punch nationally and in the SEC, to many fans' unrest. Some notable general manager hirings include Oklahoma's Jim Nagy, North Carolina's Michael Lombardi, Notre Dame's Mike Martin, USC's Chad Bowden, Nebraska's Patrick Stewart and Stanford's Andrew Luck.
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The expectation, according to Pittman during an appearance on the Chuck and Bo Show, is that Arkansas will have its new general manager by late March or early April.
"Maybe even sooner, because the portal is going to open back up again in April," Pittman said Thursday. "You need another set of eyes, not one, you need several sets of eyes. I can't be the bad guy all the time, where the money and the finances are coming, basically the questions and all that, I'm answering them. I don't want to. I know that's my responsibility, but I need a buffer."
What exactly does a general manager's role encompass, however, and how will that help Arkansas? Early reporting around college football's vast landscape indicates a varying list of responsibilities, but most center around a front-office approach to roster construction.
"You have to understand your roster," Pittman said. "You have to have a list. In other words, you can't have, 'Well, we'll take these five guys,' you got to have a 'Him first, him second, what's his value, how much money do you have in revenue sharing left,' all these things that have nothing to do with a deuce block or a double-team block, that somebody else has much more perspective, awareness than what we would, and it's another voice.
"I think that's why everybody is paying them a tremendous amount of money around the SEC, these general managers and I think it's a good thing and certainly we're not here to say, 'Okay, tell me who to go out and get and that's what we're going to do, but tell me your opinion about who's one, who's two, who's three,' and then it's another way to be righter than wronger, if that makes sense...It's time for us to add that extra position and I'm very confident we will."
Arkansas fared fairly well in the winter transfer portal window, as it rallied up a group ranked 11th nationally, but clear needs remain on the roster ahead of the spring and Pittman said the Razorbacks need a top-dog type to assist.
"Well, I want somebody that's done it," Pittman said. "So you may have to go to the NFL, NBA, whatever, to find somebody like that. You want someone who's kind of done that before, whether it be the top dog or the second, you know, somebody that understands that. Because that's something that I've never dealt with. Well, I have for three years, and I want some help. You would want a recruiter. If somebody comes in and says, 'Well, I need $500,000,' you don't want to just — Hell, any of us can say, 'Oh, okay.’
“I mean, we need a negotiator. To be honest with you, I need someone that takes the, ‘Well, Coach Pittman won't give it to me. Coach Pittman won't give it to me.’ I need that taken off my plate. I need somebody to be ahead of what the market is...But that's what I'm looking for. And I'm looking for someone to talk to these kids’ agents, besides me. I want somebody else to talk to them and then give me the information.”
Though Pittman was reluctant to give any names away, he said Arkansas has talked to general manager candidates and that while he has "some say so" in who gets hired, so do others.
"I think we can find somebody that has those traits that I've spoke of," Pittman said. "I believe we have found guys like that. But before the portal opens up, we've better get somebody in here that understands our football team first and then our needs, like we spoke of, our needs and then let's get some ranking going on and then, coming soon I'll go in the portal and get those guys evaluated.
Arkansas football will begin spring practice March 10, with the annual Red-White game scheduled for April 19. Be sure to follow along at The Trough premium message board for video, coverage and more for the Razorbacks.
