Two years ago, Arkansas hired a widely unknown position coach named Sam Pittman to be the head coach of its floundering program, and let’s be honest, we all had a big laugh over it.
Not to single Mandel out (ok, maybe a little bit), but this reaction was a pretty standard take at the time:
The SEC West is now six highly established head coaches (Saban, Malzahn, Orgeron, Jimbo, Kiffin, Leach) and Sam Pittman.
Best of luck Arkansas.— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 9, 2020That take has not aged well.