Sam Pittman hiring Bobby Petrino among hot topics on Thursday

Though Sam Pittman hired Bobby Petrino several months ago it was still among the hottest topics at the SEC Media Days on Thursday.

Petrino spent last season at Texas A&M, but Jimbo Fisher left following the year so Petrino was available to be hired. Pittman fired Dan Enos following a 7-3 loss to Mississippi State and then promoted Kenny Guiton to offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season. Pittman talked about the hiring of Petrino.

“We needed some help offensively,” Pittman said. “We needed some players, but we also needed some X’s and O help. I didn’t know if Bobby had any interest in coming back to Arkansas. I got a text from his agent saying he was. I immediately called him. I talked to several different guys. Bobby is a brilliant offensive mind. That all played a factor.

“Then it became a no brainer if we can get him let’s go get him. I went to the Athletic Director and said I would like to hire Bobby. what do you think? He made it happen.”

Petrino was very successful as head coach at Arkansas from 2008-2011. Petrino’s record was 34-17 including 11-2 and a No. 3 ranking in final poll of 2011. Reports out of College Station indicated Petrino didn’t mesh well with Fisher last season. Pittman was asked how he will mesh with Petrino better than the A&M situation last season?

“Man, that’s hard to say, because I’m not positive what happened over at A&M,” Pittman said. “Here is what I know: I hire people. I give my opinion. He’s the offensive coordinator, Travis (Williams) is the defensive coordinator, and that’s, his responsibility. Eric Mateos is the O-line coach. I am the oldest GA in the country. I’m helping him.

“I would want to work for me. I would want to work with me if I was an offensive coordinator because I’m going to let you go get them. Now, I’ve got any ideas and I’m going to come in and have my tape up there and go, okay, I see this, I see this, I see this.

“But I would think if you ask Bobby and Travis and Scott (Fountain), they say he gives me the freedom to run what I think is best, and I don’t know about A&M. I don’t know that. I just know we’ve given him the freedom to go score points.”

Pittman then went on to talk about how it has been having Petrino back in Fayetteville.

“It’s been great,” Pittman said. “I mean, he’s passionate. He likes to win, likes to win and score points. So it’s been great. Again, I mentioned it before. I had Barry (Odom) before that I could bump some head coaching questions off. As I get older the questions aren’t as many, but — or as I get more years of being a head coach.

“But it’s like a security blanket. I got Bobby there. I had Barry there. I had Bobby there that I can run off things. Both of those guys are not, hey, we need to do this, this, this. I’ll ask them a question and I want their opinion and they know it. We’ll agree on it or won’t, but we’re both grown men. If we do, we do. If we don’t, we don’t. We move on down the road. That’s been very beneficial to me, and I really like him and I have a lot of the respect for him. It’s just — he spends more time in my office than anybody, and I apologize to him. I don’t know if he likes it or not. I do make him talk to me a lot.”

Petrino is one of four new assistant coaches on offense.