Horrible News Am Leaving ; Sam Pittman accepted a deal of $98.7m to depart from Arkansas Razorbacks after…..
Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino is the headliner of Arkansas football’s new assistant coaches, but three other offensive assistants are also new to the Razorbacks. Coach Sam Pittman spoke highly of two in particular Thursday: wide receivers coach Ronnie Fouch and running backs coach Kolby Smith.
Smith is the newest of the bunch. His contract was finalized Monday, and Tuesday was his first practice with the Razorbacks. He succeeded Jimmy Smith, who departed for the same role at TCU last week.
Kolby Smith had spent the past four seasons as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins, but he has plenty of connections to Petrino. He played for Petrino at Louisville from 2003-06 before working under him as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 2012 and later a running backs coach at Western Kentucky and Louisville.
“[Petrino] gave me Kolby’s name and didn’t say a whole lot,” Pittman said. “When he gave me the name, I didn’t know they had worked together or anything like that. He just said, ‘Hey, here’s a guy I’d like for you to talk to.’ And [Smith] was the best guy for the job.
Pittman said Smith’s familiarity with Petrino’s offense has been a big advantage for the new coach. Knowing Petrino’s terminology and system has helped him quickly join a staff that is already in the middle of spring practices.
There’s still the matter of the players adjusting to a new position coach so suddenly, but Pittman said the transition has gone well.
“When I talked to them about it, they said, ‘Coach, I trust you,’” Pittman said. “Jimmy was here for four years, but he wasn’t here four years with all of them. … He’s energetic, knowledgeable. And I think they ran extremely hard today.
Fouch is another Petrino protégé who joined the staff in January. He had worked for Petrino at Missouri State as co-special teams coordinator and running backs coach, and prior to that had been a quality control analyst under Petrino at Louisville.
