Former Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman has been named as the best college football head coaching hire of the past five years. Pittman has helped turn around the Arkansas Razorbacks football program. He brought back much needed physicality to Fayetteville.
Additionally, Mike Farrell considers former Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker to be the second best hire of the past five years. Tucker and Michigan State were one of college football’s most surprising teams last season.
Kirby Smart’s coaching tree has grown significantly over the past several seasons. Most recently, former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning accepted the Oregon Ducks’ head coaching job.
Why are former Smart assistants Pittman and Tucker two of the best coaching hires over the past five seasons?
Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks went 9-4 and won the Outback Bowl during the 2021-2022 season. Arkansas is no longer the laughingstock of the SEC (Arkansas had one SEC win from 2017-2019). The Razorbacks have a bright future and have been recruiting at a high level despite playing in the toughest division in college football, the SEC West.
Michigan State went 11-2 and won the Peach Bowl after going just 2-5 during Mel Tucker’s first season with the program in 2020. The Spartans still have a long way to go before they can compete with Ohio State, but it appears that Michigan State found another stable head coach following the Mark Dantonio era. Michigan State averaged under seven wins per season during Dantonio’s last four seasons with the Spartans.
It will be fun to watch how former Georgia coaches perform at their new programs. Bulldog fans will not cheer for Lanning or Shane Beamer every week in 2022 because the Dawgs face both Oregon and South Carolina in September. At this rate, Smart will have a very large coaching tree in the next few years.
