Sam Pittman had put together a few winning campaigns at Arkansas. Since becoming the Razorbacks’ head coach in 2020, they enjoyed three seasons where they were above .500 and made bowl games.
But it wasn’t enough. Arkansas started 2025 with a 2-3 overall record, dropping its last three contests. That included a one-point loss at Memphis and a 56-13 defeat against Notre Dame.
That was enough for Arkansas to fire Pittman. The Razorbacks promoted Bobby Petrino to interim head coach, and some believe he may be a candidate for the role (again) in the long term.
But if they don’t go in that direction, here are some Group of Five head coaches who are rising stars in the profession and could be considered for Arkansas’ head coaching vacancy.
Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall
Jon Sumrall was previously the head coach at Troy for two years, and he led the Trojans to Sun Belt Championships in both of those seasons.
Then he kept winning with another Group of Five powerhouse in 2024. After he replaced Willie Fritz as Tulane’s head coach, Sumrall led the Green Wave to a 9-5 overall record and an AAC Championship appearance. And now Tulane is 3-1 after two Power Four wins over Northwestern and Duke this year.
Sumrall certainly has the resume to be worthy of a Power Four head coaching job.
Sumrall, who played football at Kentucky and is from Huntsville, Alabama, led Troy to a 23-4 overall record in two seasons.
He had prior experience at Tulane. He was the team’s co-defensive coordinator from 2012-14.
Sumrall also has experience in the SEC. He was Kentucky’s co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach before becoming the head coach at Troy. He was also a linebackers coach at Ole Miss (2018), an assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Troy (2015-17), and an assistant at San Diego (2007-11).
Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield
If you can’t beat them, ask them to join you?
Since Ryan Silverfield became the head coach at Memphis going into 2020, the Tigers haven’t suffered a losing season. They went 11-2 overall and 6-2 in AAC play in 2024, concluding the season with a win over West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl.
Silverfield is 47-20 in the FBS as a head coach, as Memphis is also 4-0 in bowl games since 2020.
Silverfield has coached at five Division I schools and with three NFL teams.
He began his coaching career at the high school level with his alma mater, The Bolles School, in 1999 as an assistant. He then went to another alma mater of his, Hampden-Sydney College, and worked with players on both sides of the ball.
He returned to the high school level to be Memorial Day’s head coach in Savannah, Georgia, before going to Jacksonville University to be a quarterbacks coach in 2005. He was a graduate assistant on offense and defense at UCF after that.
In 2008, he went to the pro level, becoming an offensive quality control staff member and defensive line staff assistant for the Minnesota Vikings. In 2011, he was a Vikings assistant offensive line coach.
In 2014, he went back to the collegiate ranks to become an offensive consultant at Toledo. He was a senior offensive analyst for Arizona State and assistant offensive line coach for the Detroit Lions in 2015.
He’s been at Memphis since 2016, where he’s been an offensive line coach, a run game coordinator, an assistant head coach, and a deputy head coach.
UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor
Jeff Traylor’s name keeps coming up for Power Four job openings. And this one especially makes sense considering he has experience at Arkansas.
After all, Traylor is 48-22 in the FBS as a head coach. He went 7-6 with the Roadrunners in 2024 after winning the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
After taking over a program that went 7-17 from 2018-19, UTSA hasn’t suffered a losing record and has made a bowl game in each of the last five years. The Roadrunners were even ranked in the AP Top 25 in 2021 and 2022, years in which they won CUSA Championships.
Those are also the years Traylor won CUSA Coach of the Year accolades. He’s been an Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year finalist as well.
Traylor has spent most of his collegiate coaching career in the state of Texas. He was at Texas in 2015 and 2016. His first year with the Longhorns, he was the team’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. In 2016, he was an associate head coach and wide receivers coach.
In 2017, he was an associate head coach and running backs coach at SMU. He held the same positions when he went to Arkansas from 2018-19.
Texas State Head Coach GJ Kinne
GJ Kinne is another up-and-coming Group of Five head coach who has experience at Arkansas.
Kinne hasn’t been coaching for very long compared to many other head coaches. He was Incarnate Word’s head coach for one season in 2022 before going to Texas State. The Cardinals won a Southland Conference Championship and reached the FCS semifinals as they ended the year 12-2 overall.
Before that, Kinne was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UCF in 2021 and an OC and QBs coach at Hawaii in 2020. He briefly coached at the pro level as an offensive assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019.
Kinne started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at SMU in 2017. He then was an offensive analyst at Arkansas in 2018.
Kinne is 19-11 in the FBS as a head coach.
Southern Miss Head Coach Charles Huff
Huff only got to Southern Miss a few months ago. But maybe an opportunity like this in the SEC would be too great to pass up.
Huff is 35-22 in the FBS as a head coach. That’s mostly from the past four years at Marshall.
The Thundering Herd went 9-3 during the 2024 regular season before defeating Louisiana in the Sun Belt title game. Huff also led Marshall to four consecutive bowl appearances.
Huff was a well-respected assistant coach and recruiter before taking over at Marshall.
During his career, he has mostly coached running backs. And within the past decade, he’s mentored some great ones like Saquon Barkley of Penn State and Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. of Alabama.
Huff was an assistant head coach and running backs coach at Alabama from 2019-20. The year before, he was an assistant head coach, running backs coach, and run game coordinator at Mississippi State.
He was a running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Penn State from 2014-17. He also worked with RBs at Western Michigan in 2013, and he was an assistant running backs coach at the pro level for the Buffalo Bills in 2012.
He was an offensive quality control coach for Vanderbilt in 2011 after coaching offensive linemen for a year at Hampton, which is where he played and started 12 games at center as a senior.
He was an assistant O-line coach at Maryland in 2009. He began his coaching career at Tennessee State, first working with offensive linemen in 2006 and then becoming a tight ends coach and special teams coordinator from 2007-08.
