Offensive Line Coach Sam Pittman Leaving Arkansas for Georgia

It's always fun to wake up to disappointing news.

With so many new head coaches throughout college football this season, the coaching carousel was bound to affect Arkansas at some point.

After Kirby Smart took the Georgia job recently, he inquired about hiring Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos, but his no-compete clause prevented that from going very far. However, Smart apparently has decided now to hire former Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, and unfortunately for the Razorbacks, Chaney's bringing his longtime colleague, Hogs' offensive line coach Sam Pittman, with him to Athens.

FootballScoop.com is reporting the move as well as Arkansas' recruiting pay sites. The rumors began when several Arkansas offensive lineman tweeted messages of disappointment late Friday night.

There's no way to positively spin this for Arkansas. Pittman's offensive lines have been very successful and he's considered a top recruiter. The Hogs only have one offensive lineman committed in the 2016 class as of right now, and the team was hoping Pittman could close on a few more top linemen to finish off the class.

While most of Arkansas' coaching staff does have a no-compete clause with SEC schools, Bielema's original staff, of which Pittman is a member, do not.

Also, I don't know how Jim Chaney keeps getting good jobs. Against Smart's defenses, Chaney never scored more than 13 points in five tries while at Tennessee and Arkansas, and was shut out in 2013. I'm not sure what Smart sees in that, but here we are.

Anyway, Pittman has been a prized assistant since arriving in Fayetteville. Nick Saban tried to hire him at Alabama shortly after Bielema hired him. Arkansas had to pay Pittman nearly a coordinator's salary to keep him. His salary last year of $525,000 was the 62nd-highest salary of any assistant coach in the country last year, according to USA Today's just-released database.

UPDATE: Georgia has officially announced Pittman's hiring. He's gone.