May 2, 2024 at 4:48 p.m.
by Ethan Westerman
FAYETTEVILLE — On the same day the Arkansas Razorbacks announced the 2024 “ONE Razorback Roadshow” bus tour across the state, head football coach Sam Pittman said this month will involve raising money for his team’s Name, Image and Likeness funds.
Pittman said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” that he will be part of the tour, which will have stops in El Dorado, Forrest City, Fort Smith, Heber Springs, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Texarkana. He also mentioned there will be a private event at his home at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs.
The four-day roadshow begins May 13 with a lunch event in Heber Springs and concludes May 16 with dinner in Fort Smith.
“I’m going be out in May trying to talk to the state of Arkansas about why we need the money and how it would benefit us, how it will benefit our kids, the state and obviously our record,” Pittman said. “That would be probably the biggest thing going on, and I would assume all the coaches in the SEC are very similar going out and trying to maze raise money for the NIL program.
“We’re going to have a get-together at my house in Hot Springs for some folks down there and then some different sit-down dinners and things like that.”
Pittman mentioned in the past few years May has changed for coaches due to the importance of NIL fundraising and transfer portal recruiting.
“Before, it was a little bit different in May,” he said. “Certainly, since the portal has closed down and most of that recruiting has stopped, we’ll have more time to go out and meet the folks of Arkansas and try to raise some money for our program.”
Pittman said the addition of Bobby Petrino to his staff as offensive coordinator has helped make connections to donors.
“Having Bobby come in here, he knew a lot of our big donors,” Pittman said. “He has helped me with that. But it takes kind of a village of people. I have had several conversations with different prominent folks of our state after practice. We practiced in the morning in spring and had lunch with several of them several different times.”
The fifth-year Arkansas coach said asking for NIL funds has at times been challenging because it is still relatively new territory for donors.
“It’s difficult because I think we all, when we go ask for something, you want something in return,” Pittman said. “And I think that’s fair. Whether it be self-gratification or whatever it is — a name on a stadium, a name on a building, a name on a wall — and a lot of times this does not necessarily happen.
“And so that to me makes it more difficult, along with certainly if you’re going to go raise millions of dollars, the outcome on the field has to certainly be good as well. I do think that puts a little bit more pressure on coaches, even though the most pressure…we do it ourselves.”
Pittman said the more donors can see NIL funds translating to on-field results, the easier asking for donations will become.
“It has been difficult for me to ask, but I know it’s a necessity for our kids to continue to maintain a good football team,” he said. “And so I’m certainly willing to do that…. I do think that if you can see the results on the field of us getting a [quarterback] Taylen Green or getting a [running back] Ja’Quinden Jackson, or whoever it may be, that the team gets better. And then once that happens, I think it’ll be a little bit easier to continue to ask.”
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