3 Sam Pittman replacements Arkansas football should have on speed dial

1. Gus Malzahn is the native son who needs to save Arkansas football

In my opinion, Arkansas does not fire Sam Pittman without assurances of if the Razorbacks can get their top choice. It goes without saying that top candidate would be UCF head coach Gus Malzahn. Although he has not been as good in Orlando as he was previously at Auburn, and briefly at Arkansas State before that, Arkansas is Malzahn's alma mater. He played wide receiver there in the mid-1980s.

I don't know if this hire would have guys like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart shaking in their boots, but I can name at least three teams that would absolutely hate this: Missouri, Texas A&M and in some capacities, maybe even Texas? Auburn has already moved on Malzahn years ago. They may have stupidly gotten off the Gus Bus, but hiring Hugh Freeze after the Bryan Harsin disaster seems good.

To me, Malzahn is the clear and obvious choice. We have seen him coach at a remarkably high level at Auburn before. In the last few weeks, UCF has played considerably better since making the leap up to the Power Five during its first season in the Big 12. Arkansas has big-pocketed boosters and honestly, the only real serious candidate for the job should they decide that Pittman is overcooked.

Getting Malzahn back in the Power Five feels right, but that man belongs coaching an SEC program.