Pittman finishes staff with naming three assistant coaches Monday
FAYETTEVILLE — New Arkansas coach Sam Pittman has completed his on-field coaching staff with the hire of four new assistants — Jon Cooper, Scott Fountain, Derrick LeBlanc and Jimmy Smith.
There had been unconfirmed reports of all four coaches at various media outlets for the past few days.
Cooper will coach tight ends for the Razorbacks after serving in the same capacity at Central Florida for the last two years.
The Knights’ 2019 offense finished the regular season in the top 10 nationally in total offense (4th, 536.6 ypg), scoring (6th, 43.0 ppg) and passing yards (8th, 320.0 ypg).
The Knights’ total offense set a school record and marked the second straight year under head coach Josh Heupel the UCF offense gained more than 500 yards per game.
Prior to UCF, Cooper spent two seasons as an offensive analyst for then-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel at Missouri.
The Tigers’ offense exploded to lead the Southeastern Conference in yards per game in 2017 (502.2 ypg) and points per game (37.5 ppg), while ranking second in passing yards (308.6 ypg).
Cooper began his coaching career at his alma mater, Oklahoma, as a graduate assistant coach. He spent two seasons with the Sooners while the program went 19-7, including a 45-31 victory over Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl.
Cooper spent four seasons in the NFL, playing 13 games during his first three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and made his first career start against the Dallas Cowboys at center. He originally joined the Vikings in 2009 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma before signing with the Tennessee Titans in 2012.
Fountain comes to Arkansas as the special teams coach after spending 2019 at Georgia in the same role. The Bulldogs saw immediate success with Fountain at the controls, led by kicker and Lou Groza Award winner Rodrigo Blankenship.
The first-team All-SEC kicker capped an impressive career at UGA going 27-for-33 (81.8%) on field goals and making all 46 extra points as the Bulldogs won the 2020 Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Blankenship was also a weapon on kickoffs allowing just 14 returns all season. Punter Jake Camarda improved in 2019 as well, upping his average to 46.8 yards per punt to rank sixth nationally.
Before joining Georgia’s staff, Fountain had spent the previous eight years as a member of the football program at Auburn, the first four as the Tigers’ player personnel director and the latter four coaching tight ends and special teams.
From 2014-16, Fountain coached kicker Daniel Carlson, a three-time Lou Groza Award finalist.
Fountain, a part of three SEC championship teams, led Auburn’s administrative and recruiting efforts from 2009-12. He followed Gene Chizik to Auburn after spending two seasons (2007-08) on Chizik’s staff at Iowa State as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Fountain has coached in four national championship games (1997, 2010, 2013, 2017) since beginning his collegiate coaching career at Florida State (1994-96) as an offensive graduate assistant.
He then spent seven seasons as an offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Florida. Before his eight-year stint at Auburn, Fountain also included coaching stops at Middle Tennessee State (2004-05), Georgia Southern (2006) and Iowa State (2007-08).
He began his coaching career in high school, making four stops in Alabama, including Flomaton HS (1988) and W.S. Neal HS (1989), his alma mater.
He became a head coach for the first time at Frisco City (1990-92) and made his final high school stop at Monroe County (1993).
LeBlanc (pronounced “luh-blon” the “c” is silent) brings SEC experience from LSU and Kentucky and ties to the state of Arkansas having coached at Henderson State (2001-04) and Arkansas Tech (2005).
He will coach the defensive line at Arkansas.
At Kentucky over the last three seasons, he helped build the Wildcats into a solid program going to three straight bowl games, including a win over Penn State in the 2019 VRBO Citrus Bowl to cap a 10-win campaign.
Kentucky went 25-14 overall in his three seasons in the Bluegrass State.
His 2019 defensive line led the way for the Wildcats into opposing backfields, contributing 18 of Kentucky’s 33 sacks that ranked fourth in the SEC. Senior Calvin Taylor Jr. paced the Cats with 8.5 to finish second in the league.
LeBlanc’s line also added 37 tackles for loss with Taylor Jr. and Josh Paschal each totaling 9.5 – second-most on the team. The group also forced eight fumbles.
He began his coaching career in 1997 at Breaux Bridge High School in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, where he was the offensive and defensive line coach for three seasons from 1997-99.
LeBlanc broke into the college ranks in 2000 when he accepted a graduate assistant position at LSU. There he assisted then-defensive line coach Pete Jenkins in coaching the defensive line, as well as assisting the strength and conditioning staff.
LeBlanc, a native of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, was a four-year football letterman at Northwestern State University (1992-96).
He played both defensive and offensive line during his playing career and earned Southland Conference All-Academic honors as both a junior and senior.
He graduated from Northwestern State with a degree in business administration and earned a master’s degree in sports administration from LSU.
He and his wife, Niema, have two sons, Dayton and Derrick, and one daughter, Kennedy.
Smith will coach the Hogs’ running backs after spending last season as the running backs coach at Georgia State.
The Panthers featured one of the best running attacks in the Sun Belt led by first-team All-Sun Belt running back Tra Barnett, who led the league and ranked 11th nationally with 111.8 yards per game.
Barnett and the Panthers ranked 13th nationally with 241.6 yards per game on the ground as a team.
Smith was a part of Georgia State’s historic upset at Tennessee when the Panthers outrushed the Volunteers 213-93 to win 38-30 on opening weekend in the Panthers’ first-ever win over a Power 5 program.
Prior to jumping to college football, Smith coached for 12 years at Cedar Grove High School in Metro Atlanta, including his last six years as athletic director, head football coach and head track coach.
In his six seasons at the helm of the football program, he led the Saints to a 67-14-1 record.
From 2015-18, Smith led Cedar Grove to two Class AAA state championships in 2016 and 2018 — the first two state titles in school history — as well as berths in the state final four in 2015 and 2017, all while winning 51 games.
He earned numerous coaching accolades, including a pair of Georgia Coach of the Year awards in Class AAA (2016 and 2018) as well as multiple region and county Coach of the Year honors.
Smith was a quarterback at Tennessee State, helping the Tigers to back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships in 1998 and 1999.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fayetteville State in 2002 and added a master’s of education from Georgia State in 2009.
Smith, a native of Darlington, S.C., and his wife Quanisha have a son, Jermaine II, and a daughter, Joss.
Pittman’s on-field coaching staff is now complete with the four joining defensive coordinator Barry Odom, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, offensive line coach Brad Davis, wide receivers coach Justin Stepp, linebackers coach Rion Rhoades and cornerbacks coach Sam Carter.
???? Halftime Pod — Hogs beat A&M, new assistant coaches, plus Kevin McPherson
Phil & Tye on the win over Texas A&M, the new football assistant coaches, plus Kevin McPherson!
Musselman showing little interest in waiting to develop winning habit
Maybe the biggest thing in basketball that can’t be taught is height and Eric Mussleman showed Saturday night that Arkansas can figure out ways around it.
He played five guards at times in the 69-59 win over the Texas Aggies before a raucous sold-out crowd at Bud Walton.
“It was a little risky,” he said later.
He knew that coming in. In life, height is a product of either genetics or luck. For college basketball teams you either recruit it or figure out ways around it which was — more or less — what Musselman did against A&M.
“They’re comfortable, no matter who the five are,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams said later. “They’re interchangeable.”
The Razorbacks saw a 42-33 halftime lead disappear fairly quickly in the second half, primarily because the odds would have been long they could hit water falling out of a boat in the middle of a lake.
“What I didn’t think would happen is that we would struggle to score,” Musselman said in the postgame.
The Hogs were 2-of-6 from the field, 1-of-2 at the free-throw line and found themselves clinging to a 50-48 lead with 13:11 to play in the game.
About a minute later Musselman brought in Jalen Harris for the only player that gets into games with some height, Adrio Bailey, and the offense found some life. Arkansas shot nearly 50 percent (7-of-13) from the field.
The Hogs, behind Mason Jones and Isaiah Joe, opened a 66-56 lead with 3:52 left, but A&M got a final score from Andre Gordon with 3:36 to play and Musselman basically took the air out of things on offense.
“That small group was really good at getting stops when we really needed it,” he said. “There was a little bit of clock management, we were playing a little bit of a gamble running the clock down, but we thought it was the best way to handle the last four and-a-half minutes of the game.”
What doesn’t get the attention is how well this team plays defense, mostly just scrambling and disrupting things for the other team on offense.
“If you study their defensive numbers, they’re through the roof,” Williams said.
Desi Sills got his attention. Not with his quiet 13 points, four rebounds and two steals, but the disruption he caused in the Aggies’ offense.
“[Sills] is very, very pesky,” Williams said. “Really, really good on-the-ball defender.”
He was just part of the problem for A&M.
“The pressure is contested on every dribble, contested on every pass,” he said. “They own the elbow. That’s probably one of their defensive principles. They make it every hard to get it to the elbow.”
The Hogs committed just nine turnovers in the game, compared to the Aggies’ 17.
“That was a cushion we just couldn’t overcome,” Williams said.
On top of all that, the crowd of 19,200 was a factor in the game, too.
“We handled an incredible college basketball environment in many respects about as well as we could,” Williams said.
Musselman, playing like a chessmaster at times with some calculated gambles, got his first taste of how loud it can get.
“The crowd’s energy was insanely awesome,” he said later. “Had a buddy in from the Bay Area who said he’s never seen an arena as loud as that in his life.”
He might want to get used to it.
While the odds are every gamble he takes won’t work out as well as Saturday night, he’s shown through this team getting to a 12-1 record nobody predicted he’s moved the chess pieces around the board a couple of times before.
Let’s face it, did you think they would be here? Most people were willing to give Musselman a pass and just wanted to see a direction headed up and some fairly decent recruiting.
It’s apparent he wasn’t waiting around on anything … particularly wins.
Razorbacks rebound with 86-70 road win over Auburn on Sunday
AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas got back into the win column on Sunday afternoon, beating Auburn, 86-70, in the SEC road opener behind Amber Ramirez’ 25 points.
The Razorbacks were again deadly from beyond the arc, nailing 12 triples for the second straight game and also out-rebounded the Tigers, 36-35.
The Hogs are 8-0 this season when they outrebound their opponent. Defensively, the Hogs held Auburn’s star forward Unique Thompson to just six points, snapping her 13-game double-double streak.
Ramirez delivered her best game as a Razorback against Auburn, making seven of her 14 3-pointers, tying her season-high in triples made. Redshirt junior guard Chelsea Dungee had 19 points on an efficient 6-of-10 from the field.
Turning point
Arkansas got off to a slow start, falling behind 9-2 in the first period before one of their patented runs to take over the game, generating a monster 21-2 spurt in just under five minutes of clock time.
Ramirez was simply dominant in the quarter, outscoring Auburn by herself in the period, scoring 14 points to the Tigers’ 12. She scored 11 of those points straight during the spurt, nailing back-to-back-to-back triples after hitting a shot from the midrange.
Hog highlights
• Ramirez’s seven triples matched her own mark for the most by a Razorback this season. She also had seven against Northwestern State.
• Redshirt junior guard A’Tyanna Gaulden ran the show effectively again on Sunday, dishing a team-high five assists.
• Freshman guard Makayla Daniels stuffed the stat sheet against Auburn, going for 13 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal.
• Senior guard Alexis Tolefree nearly registered her first-career double-double, going for 11 points and eight rebounds. Those eight boards matched her career high and led the team against Auburn.
Next time out
The Razorbacks stay on the road, heading to Columbia, S.C. for a showdown with No. 4 South Carolina.
That game is set to tipoff at 6 p.m. and will be streamable on SECN+.
Razorbacks pull away at end of second half to get past Texas A&M
FAYETTEVILLE — Isaiah Joe scored 11 of his 17 points over the final 8:18 of the second half to help Arkansas pull away for a 69-59 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday night before a sold-out at Bud Walton Arena.
The game was the SEC opener for both teams. Arkansas improved to 12-1, the program’s best start since 2008-09.
Joe was 4-of-5 from the field (3-of-4 from 3-point range) over the final 8:18. Mason Jones, who had four rebounds over the final 8:18, scored 17 for the game as well, while adding a team-high six rebounds with three assists and three steals.
After Adrio Bailey picked up his fourth foul with 12:12 left in the game, Arkansas went to a five-guard lineup. Including Joe’s 11 points over the span 8:18, Arkansas out-scored the Aggies 19-11 and out-rebounded A&M 10-9.
Arkansas also forced eight turnovers, while committing just two.
Arkansas was clinging to a two-point lead (50-48) after a near six-minute drought, missing nine straight shots and making just 1-of-12 over six-and-a-half minutes.
Jimmy Whitt, Jr., ended the dry spell with a jumper at the free throw line. Texas A&M’s Andre Gordon followed with a layup to get the Aggies back to within two, 52-50.
From that point, Joe drained a 3-pointer as part of a 14-6 run to put the Razorbacks up 10 (66-56) with 3:52 left.
The teams traded 3-pointers over the next two minutes, including one by Joe at 1:41 to provide the 69-59 final as neither team scored the rest of the game.
Joe finished with five 3-pointers, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Desi Sills added 13 and Whitt 12. Jalen Harris had five assists and zero turnovers in 31 minutes off the bench.
Arkansas hits the road for two straight, playing at LSU on Wednesday (Jan. 8) and at Ole Miss next Saturday. The LSU game is set for 8 pm and the game will be telecast on ESPNU.
FIRST HALF: Arkansas 42–Texas A&M 33
• Isaiah Joe took his team-leading ninth charge at 12:44 in the first half and the game was tied 11-11 at the first media timeout.
• Arkansas took its first lead, 13-11, after two free throws by Jalen Harris. The Hogs led 15-14 at the under 12-minute timeout. Arkansas kept its one-point lead (21-20) at the 8-minute timeout.
• The game was tied, 30-30, with 2:46 to play in the first half, but the Hogs went on a 12-3 run to take a 42-33 lead into the locker room. During the run, Mason Jones made a 3-pointer, Jimmy Whitt hit a jumper in the lane, Jones made a 4-pioint play and Desi Sills hit a triple at time expired in the first half.
• Desi Sills and Mason Jones led the Razorbacks, each with 11 points.
• Isaiah Joe led the team with four rebounds and Jalen Harris had four assists.
SECOND HALF: Arkansas’ five-guard lineup propels team to win.
• Arkansas withstood a 0-for-9 spell (and 1-of-12) but never surrendered the lead. The Aggies got to within two before Jimmy Whitt ended the dry spell with a jumper at the free throw line at 9:52 for a 52-48 lead.
• The teams only combined to go 0-of-1 from the free throw line over the final 8:18. Josh Nebo took the only free throw attempt.
• Joe scored 11 points over the final 8:18. The Aggies scored 11 points over the final 8:18.
Game notes
• Arkansas’ starting lineup was Jimmy Whitt (G) – Isaiah Joe (G) – Desi Sills (G) – Mason Jones (G) – Adrio Bailey (F) for the 12th time this season.
• Texas A&M won the tip. It was the seventh time in 13 games the opponent won the tip. Arkansas is 7-0 in such games.
• Texas A&M’s Savion Flagg scored the first points of the game, a banked 3-pointer as the shot clock expired at 19:39. Mason Jones scored Arkansas’ first points, a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He has scored the Razorbacks’ first points five times this season.
• The sellout crowd of 19,200 was the largest at Bud Walton Arena since Dec. 3, 2016 versus Austin Peay with a crowd of 19,483.
• Arkansas snapped a streak of two games when it trailed at the half (Valpo and Indiana). Arkansas is 9-0 when leading at the half this season.
• Isaiah Joe now has 163 career 3-pointers made. He moves to eighth on the school’s all-time list.
• This was Jalen Harris’ 23rd game as a Razorback with at least five assists and his 11th without a turnover.
• Desi Sills scored in double figures for the second straight game and this sixth of the season. He was 1-of-4 from 3-point range and is shooting 35.5% (11-of-31) from 3-point range over his last six games. He started the season 2-of-20 (6.7%).
• Jimmy Whitt Jr., scored in double figures for the 10th time this season.
• Arkansas is the only team in the SEC to feature three players ranked among the top 20 in scoring, including Mason Jones, Isaiah Joe and Jimmy Whitt.
• This was just the second time this season four Razorbacks scored in double figures.
Musselman on team’s play, Hog-wild atmosphere in 69-59 win over Aggies
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman talked after the win Saturday night at Bud Walton Arena about the crowd and his team’s play to open conference play.
Williams on Hogs using five guards at times a ‘tough matchup’ for A&M
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams talked after the 69-59 loss to Arkansas on Saturday night about how matching up against five guards at time was a problem for his team.
Whitt on Hogs pulling away from Aggies late for double-digit win
Arkansas’ Jimmy Whitt, Jr. (12 points, 4 rebounds) talked after the 69-59 win over Texas A&M that tight games are what you expect when you get to conference play.
Razorbacks open SEC play at Bud Walton against Texas A&M
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (11-1) host Texas A&M (6-5)
What: Arkansas’ SEC Opener – GAME IS SOLD OUT
When: Saturday, Jan. 4, 6 p.m.
Where: Fayetteville, Nolan Richardson Court at Bud Walton Arena
How (to follow):
• TV: SEC Network (Kevin Fitzgerald and Dane Bradshaw)
• Watch SEC Network Online
• Radio: ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
• Online: HitThatLine.com
• Sirius/XM: XM Channel 374 and streaming online, channel 374
• Live Stats: www.Arkansas.StatBroadcast.com
Pregame information
• The first 5,000 fans through the gates of Bud Walton Arena will receive a free poster. WATCH
• As we welcome back our men’s basketball lettermen, there will be an autograph session featuring former Razorbacks from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the northwest concourse of Bud Walton Arena.
Some of the former players scheduled to participate in the autograph session include: Kikko Haydar, Kareem Reid, Joe Kleine, Charles Balentine, Sunday Adebayo, Darrell Hawkins, Ken Biley, Corey Beck, Ron Brewer, Sr., Clyde Fletcher and others.
Did you know?
• Arkansas is one of five teams in Division I basketball without a loss in regulation. The other four include Duke, Dayton, Auburn and San Diego State.
Best scoring trio in SEC
Arkansas is the only team in the SEC to feature:
• Two players in the league’s top 5 for scoring — Mason Jones (2nd / 19.7) • Isaiah Joe (4th / 17.4)
• Three players in the league’s top 20 for scoring — Jimmy Whitt Jr. (18th / 13.5)
Versus Texas A&M
• This will be the 159th meeting between Arkansas and Texas A&M. The Razorbacks own a 102-56 advantage in the series, including a 57-15 advantage in games played in Fayetteville.
• Arkansas is 7-5 versus the Aggies since A&M joined the SEC for the 2012-13 season.
• The teams split the series last season, each winning on the road. Texas A&M defeated Arkansas in the last meeting, 87-80 last February in Bud Walton Arena. The Hogs had won 10 straight in Fayetteville over the Aggies prior to the loss dating back to Jan. 25, 1987.
Oldest, most common rival
• Texas A&M is one of three teams on this year’s schedule that Arkansas played in its inaugural season in 1923-24. Rice (144 meetings) and TCU (142 meetings) are the others.
• The Aggies won each of the first two meetings in that 1923-24 season – back-to-back games in College Station, 35-27 and 32-17.
• The Aggies are the Razorbacks’ most common opponent with 158 games played in the series.
SEC play begins
• Arkansas will open conference play versus Texas A&M for the fifth time in the eight years since A&M joined the league (2012-13) but this is the first time the meeting has been in Fayetteville. With a win to open SEC play last season at A&M, the Razorbacks are 1-3 versus the Aggies when opening league play.
• Beginning its 29th season in the Southeastern Conference, Arkansas is 16-12 all-time in SEC openers.
• Arkansas is 11-4 when its first SEC game is at home and are 17-11 overall when playing its first SEC home game.
Razorbacks are 11-1
• Arkansas is off to an 11-1 start for the first time since 2016-17. The 2016-17 Hogs lost their 13th game, an SEC opener at #25 Florida.
• Arkansas’ .917 winning percentage is 8th-T in the NCAA.
• Arkansas is 1 of 11 teams in the NCAA with one or fewer losses.
• Arkansas is 1 of 11 teams in the NCAA with one or fewer losses.
No. 26 in NCAA NET, No. 10 in RPI
Arkansas’ NCAA NET jumped seven spots to 26th after a 71-64 road win at Indiana.
• Arkansas’ NET is 2nd-best among SEC schools behind Auburn (5).
• The rest of the SEC: LSU (41); Kentucky (44); Ole Miss (54); Florida (55); Missouri (57); Alabama (62); Georgia (68); Tennessee (75); Miss. State (82); South Carolina (121); Vanderbilt (143) and Texas A&M (188).
Arkansas has an RPI of 10.
• Arkansas’ RPI of 10 is better than 16 teams ranked in the in the AP top 25, including top-ranked Gonzaga (#1 AP/#50 RPI); Oregon (#4 AP/#15 RPI); Baylor (#6 AP/#23 RPI); Louisville (#7 AP/#12 RPI); Memphis (#9 AP/#24 RPI); Butler (#11 AP/#11 RPI); Michigan (#12 AP/#31 RPI); Michigan State (#14 AP/#17 RPI); Kentucky (#17 AP/#87 RPI); Virginia (#19 AP/#28 RPI); Dayton (#20 AP/#13 RPI); Penn State (#21 AP/#37 RPI); TX Tech (#22 AP/#104 RPI); Iowa (#23 AP/#48 RPI); Wichita St (#24 AP/#21 RPI); Arizona (#25 AP/#26 RPI)
Isaiah Joe on Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List
• Arkansas sophomore Isaiah Joe was named to the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award watch list, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today.
• Fans can vote for their favorite player HERE
