FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Much like the previous five coaches who came before him, Ryan Silverfield said all the right things when he was introduced as Arkansas football coach in November.
Unfortunately for him, none of those previous five made it even six full seasons without being shown the exit. The Razorbacks have won double-digit games just three times this century and have finished above .500 in Southeastern Conference play just once since 2011.
Silverfield has never finished with a losing record at the collegiate level. Incidentally, he spent six full seasons coaching Memphis and led the Tigers to two 10-plus-win seasons and a bowl every try. Last year, his Memphis team even beat Arkansas in Week 4. Then-Arkansas coach Sam Pittman was fired just eight days later after the Razorbacks lost by 43 points at home to Notre Dame. Arkansas lost its final 10 games of the season, resulting in the third winless SEC slate in the last eight years.
For what it’s worth, Silverfield ignores his new team’s recent history.
“You’re going to see a winning program. I think that can happen immediately,” he declared last fall. “It’s not one of those things we’re sitting here saying, ‘Hey, I need three years to rebuild this.’ We can start rebuilding culture the moment we step down and how we’re going to do this together.”
The SEC is a bit different than the American Conference. Seven of Arkansas’ 12 games come against teams ranked in the Top 25. Three more are against teams who picked up votes in the poll. A second consecutive 2-10 season wouldn’t be a surprise.
A segment of the Arkansas fan base and donor class has grown frustrated with football’s lack of success and calls for athletic director Hunter Yurachek’s job are not uncommon. Yurachek told the Little Rock Touchdown Club in September that Arkansas wasn’t financially in a position to win a national championship in football, countering the school’s success in men’s college basketball and baseball.
While the honesty may have been refreshing, the remarks didn’t sit well. Arkansas limped through the rest of the season and Yurachek made a point to recognize the large injection of donations that immediately arrived upon Silverfield’s hire, though his wording was careful.
“The university, through the direction of the board, is going to make a commitment to our football program,” he said. “I don’t want to tie a specific dollar amount to any of that because I don’t want to limit what we can do and I also want to make sure we have a competitive advantage.”
On the field, Arkansas doesn’t appear to have much of an advantage. The Razorbacks did rank 13th in the FBS in total offense last year, but lost starting quarterback Taylen Green, 1,000-yard rusher Mike Washington Jr., four starters on the offensive line and six of their top eight receivers. New defensive coordinator Ron Roberts arrived from Florida and takes over a bunch that ranked 122nd out of 136 FBS teams in total defense. He does have All-SEC defensive end Quincy Rhodes Jr.
“He’s an impact player in the SEC. He’s going to be somewhere in the first two days of the draft,” Roberts said. “Those types of players are good to inherit. Nice when you walk in the door and you’ve got one.”
After Rhodes, few players appear to be all-conference caliber. Silverfield’s 2026 so far has been spent attempting to develop them and rectify that as a starting point.
“I don’t want anybody to like me. That’s OK. I’m not here for people to like me,” Silverfield said. “I hope the fans, when the season’s all done, say, ‘Yeah, we like that guy.’ But other than that, man, we’re out there to truly grind.”
With road trips to No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 21 Utah and a Week 3 home game against No. 3 Georgia — all in the first five weeks of the season — the grinding will begin quickly.
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