FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Everyone knows if current interim Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino goes out and slays enough dragons over the next nine weeks that there will be no choice but to hire him as permanent head coach.
However, if there isn’t enough winning or things fall apart down the stretch after a quick start, Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek will have a much longer list of possible candidates than before from which to decide. Pittman did just enough to give Arkansas options once again, but who among the popular names would the Hogs consider, much less have a chance to legitimately hire?
The following coaches are listed by their current position as it pertains to coaching.
Jon Gruden, unemployed
The indications coming directly from the John Gruden camp is he really, really wants the job and there is great effort to paint the picture there is mutual interest.
There is little doubt at this point in time that Yurachek is making every possible candidate feel like he is wanted because he knows what it’s like to shop this job and not have anyone willing to take it. No need in burning options early on.
It’s even possible there’s a booster or board member pushing for Gruden behind the scenes as a splash hire. However, as North Carolina has proven quite well, winning a press conference isn’t the same as winning games.
There’s no evidence Gruden can guide a college team through the current environment. The one thing that is for sure is he will be a lightning yard of polarization.
There will be boosters who will automatically close their checkbooks and fans who refuse to attend games. That’s primarily because of a series of emails that surfaced when he was in the NFL.
Gruden will do what he can to explain them away, but they’re available in cold print and there’s a segment of American society who have no room in their lives for a coach representing them who puts that type of thinking into the ethos.
What will tip a few other needed supporters against Gruden is those emails will be used heavily against him in recruiting. Even recruits who think and talk like that behind closed doors will understand the argument that they don’t want their Name, Image and Likeness tied to Gruden and his emails because it immediately devalues them a great deal as companies don’t want to turn off a large portion of their potential customer pool.
Arkansas, regardless of personal and political leanings, can’t afford to be more hamstrung than they already are in recruiting. Especially when there are proven coaches out there who can do it in the 2025 college football world without the unshakable baggage
Chances: He’s there if they want him, but it’s likely a hard no.
Rhett Lashlee, SMU
The comments from Lashlee about the Razorbacks job Tuesday probably didn’t sit well with the boosters at SMU. He left a wide open door with his non-denial denial.
This is quite the gamble because the people who raised record money in record time to make the Mustangs’ move to the ACC and their run to the playoffs last year possible don’t take well to anything but perfect loyalty. Having worked around and for a lot of the big money people in the bubble that is Highland Park/University Park, their view is clearly that they own the SMU coach, not that he necessarily works for them.
These are not the people to trifle with while attempting to use Houston Nutt style tactics of attempting to generate a raise. If they want Lashlee still around at the end of the season with their money stretching from the richest section of Texas to the Middle East, there is nothing Arkansas can do about it.
However, if he ruffled a lot of feathers, they will shove him out into the cold. It’s also possible he made them so mad they make sure he doesn’t get the Arkansas job and then move on from Lashlee in a power move.
The bottom line is it’s hard to picture these boosters as willing to live in a world where the impression is little old Arkansas came in and poached their coach while they are in serious mode when it comes to building a legitimate annual national championship contender down in Dallas.
Chances: Unlikely. SMU will make sure Arkansas doesn’t get him one way or another.
Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
Silverfield has credentials similar to Mike Norvell, the current Florida State head coach who was on the table as a fan favorite to get the job in 2019 when the baton was passed from Bret Bielema to the infamous Chad Morris. Silverfield has never had a losing season at Memphis, where he has coached since 2020, and has posted double-digit win totals each of the past two years with a 5-0 start and the inside track for a slot in the College Football Playoffs.
He has been a nightmare for Power Four teams willing to face his Tigers. Silverfield has beaten all but one Power Four team during his tenure there with wins over Arkansas, Florida State, West Virginia, Iowa State and Mississippi State.
Only No. 8 Missouri and a crafty Eli Drinkwitz narrowly escaped defeat in 2023, 34-27, which makes him a hot, yet affordable commodity. However, the biggest barrier for Arkansas is his agent.
The advice he is going to get is to hold off on the Razorbacks while exploring other options that have better NIL. He will need to hold out for a school where fans actually contribute to NIL in a regular and effective way and also seek a better path to winning seasons and the playoffs than Arkansas presents.
Chances: Unlikely. Until Arkansas isn’t viewed as a career killer and fans are no longer known for refusing to put their money where their mouth is, it will be hard to convince his agent to recommend the Hogs.
Jon Sumrall, Tulane
Sumrall has a background as a defensive coach, which is something Arkansas could use. However, he only has four years of head coaching experience split between two schools.
Yes, he has won a lot in those four years, but the biggest red flag is those records were accrued in two-year increments. Much like Pittman, who pulled out three SEC wins in his first season, ending an 0-20 drought, followed by a nine-win season, the success came largely with the recruits of his predecessor.
At Tulane, that means players collected by Green Wave legend Willie Fritz who won 23 games in his final two seasons in New Orleans. Right now, there’s just no evidence Sumrall can build a program with his own troops.
At Arkansas with the schedule the Hogs face isn’t the place to experiment and see him try for the first time ever. It should also be noted that Sumrall has never even been an outright coordinator prior to becoming head coach at Troy and then Tulane.
Chances: Arkansas can probably land him now, but it’s a huge risk. There’s so much unproven here and so little leadership experience.
Eric Morris, North Texas
Morris comes as a possibility from the Mike Leach coaching tree. If Arkansas fans were upset they missed out on the Pirate back when the Hogs had to hire Pittman, then here is their chance at somewhat of a do-over.
The one thing that has clearly been proven is the air-raid offense works anywhere regardless of finances. It dominated at Texas Tech when no one wanted to go there.
It blew the doors off at Washington State when it was the abandoned outpost it has since returned to being. It was highly effective at Mississippi State before fans there got behind NIL and the athletics office got a proper staff in place to oversee it.
Now it’s effective at North Texas where opportunity and NIL budget don’t necessarily meet. At 39 years old, Morris is the more youthful voice Arkansas has hinted it might seek out.
He was baptized in the Air Raid as a receiver at Texas Tech under Leach and began his career as receivers coach for Leach at Washington State. He then moved on to become the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury where he guided Patrick Mahommes to a dismantling of Bret Bielema’s Razorbacks in Fayetteville.
He eventually took over as head coach of Incarnate World, a never was program that he led to the FCS playoffs while racking up Coach of the Year awards and becoming a finalist for Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year.
In his second season at North Texas, he led the Mean Green to the First Responders Bowl and currently has them sitting at 5-0. However, if he knocks off South Florida at home next weekend, it will be his first significant win as a head coach there.
There are hints he could be great in the future as the Razorbacks coach, but it might be too early to take a risk on Morris despite falling under the coaching tree of two of the greatest offensive minds in the history of college football. The Air Raid is custom built for a place like Arkansas, so a master of it like Morris is tempting, but there’s a lot of risk involved here.
Chances: Likely. Arkansas can probably get him if they want him. It’s just up to Yurachek’s gut as to whether he can handle the giant step up and the pressure as to whether the Hogs risk it.
GJ Kinne, Texas State
Kinne has lived in the spotlight as an elite quarterback in both high school and college while navigating every possible road block life could throw at him, including his father being shot in the coach’s office by an out of control football parent while Kinne was in class down the street at Canton High School in Texas.
Kinne went part of that day having been told his father was dead. Fortunately for him, his dad survived and Kinne thrived afterward. Now he has evolved into a hot up and coming prospect who has ties to the most coveted Arkansas recruiting grounds.
Kinne started as a record-breaking quarterback at Tulsa where he destroyed records under Gus Malzahn and was ingrained in the surrounding area. He then went on to bounce back and forth for seven seasons between the NFL and the Canadian Football League.
Considering himself a Malzahn disciple, Kinne is heavily connected to Oklahoma and Texas when it comes to recruiting. Having been the son of a well-known high school football coach in the Lone Star State has provided him an inside connection with coaches and athletics directors there that few college head coaches have.
Kinne served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Central Florida where, after star Dillon Gabriel went out with a devastating leg injury that ended his season, he mentored back-up Mikey Keene into a star who salvaged the season with nine wins, including a Gasparilla Bowl victory over Florida.
He took over Incarnate World in 2022 and led them to a 12-2 record where they reached the FCS semifinals. His quarterback, Lindsey Scott, Jr., racked up 71 touchdowns along the way and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award (the FCS Heisman) with 4,686 yards passing an 712 rushing yards.
After taking over at Texas State, he led the Bobcats to their first ever bowl game and win, and hasn’t missed a bowl game yet in San Marcos. He currently averages eight wins per season at Texas State and has begun this season at 3-1.
His Bobcats have averaged 43 points per game in their three wins. Right now there is a big push to get Kinne to Stillwater to take over for long-time Cowboys coach Mike Gundy.
Key moments including taking down Baylor on the road in his debut, crushing Deion Sanders’ Jackson State team and falling to a College Football Playoff bound Arizona State last year, 31-28, after a Cam Skatebo touchdown in the third and a field goal in the fourth completed the comeback.
Chances: Medium. His recruiting connections and youthful offensive mind could impress Yurachek, but there could be a looming fight with Oklahoma State that might drive up the price.
Barry Odom
Odom took over as head coach at Missouri after having a good stint as defensive coordinator in Memphis as his lone asset. Then, he proved to be better than someone that inexperienced would be expected in the SEC.
His first season was his only losing one, followed by a pair of .500 records in the SEC with seven and eight wins respectively. Then a .500 overall season that still included three SEC wins ultimately did him in before he moved on to Arkansas to mentor Pittman as if he were a 20-year veteran head coach.
Odom spent a lot of his time at Arkansas reflecting and preparing for his next opportunity. When he had the chance to take over a run down UNLV program, he jumped at it, not shying away from the challenge.
It didn’t take long for his reputation as a head coach to evolve. He cranked out a nine-win season in his first year, followed by 10 wins that put him a loss to Boise State away from the College Football Playoffs after his quarterback walked out to start the season.
Then the Big Ten came calling and he took on an even more daunting challenge at Purdue. There it took him exactly two games to double the number of wins the Boilermakers had the previous season.
He also improved Purdue’s showing against Notre Dame from a 66-7 blasting to a more respectable 56-30 loss. Everything else is gravy from this point forward, although Odom will not likely see it that way.
There is little doubt he would be willing to return to Arkansas as the head coach. The biggest question is timing.
It’s hard for coaches to bail on a team after a single season unless they’re Lane Kiffin and that led to mattresses burning in the streets of Knoxville. While it’s unlikely the students of Purdue care enough about football to burn their bedding, it’s a big ask.
Odom’s buyout is a rather modest $6 million, which makes it feasible. He was also willing to take on Petrino as offensive coordinator before the current Hogs interim coach stopped by UNLV long enough to start a cup of coffee and then took much more money to become OC at Texas A&M.
It’s possible, if Petrino is willing to humble himself, that Odom would take the job with Petrino still in as offensive coordinator. That would give Arkansas one of the great offensive minds in the game with one of the more sound defensive minds heading the show.
It’s a strong recipe and Odom has always been a good fit in Fayetteville regardless of whether Petrino sticks around. If Yurachek is just looking for the right guy for the job who will make Arkansas fans have that warm fuzzy feeling Pittman gave them with quite a bit more fire in his belly as a head coach, then Odom is the obvious choice.
Plus, he has a strong understanding of the recruiting grounds for Arkansas along with a better appreciation for home grown talent than his precessor.