In the aftermath of Dan Enos' firing, Sam Pittman -- in his honest, straight-forward way -- admitted a couple of things that led to the termination.
Pittman had asked Enos, Arkansas' former offensive coordinator, to not to call so many drop-back passes, which led to 31 sacks this season.
Enos ignored him.
Pittman had asked Enos to run a more up-tempo offense, something quarterback KJ Jefferson was more comfortable doing.
Enos ignored him.
Those frustrations -- combined with those of the Arkansas Razorbacks fan base and a dismal performance against Mississippi State -- was too much and Pittman pulled the trigger, apparently after weeks of considering it.
Perhaps it would have happened earlier if Barry Odom had not left to be the head coach at UNLV, which is 6-1 by the way.
Odom was Pittman's first hire and he made it clear he wanted a former head coach to help him learn some of the nuances of being a head coach.
Pittman had been an assistant -- a top shelf offensive line coach who could recruit --‚ for 35 years and Odom had been the head coach at Missouri for four seasons and his record his deceptive. It was officially 21-25, but the Tigers had to vacate every win from 2016 for NCAA infractions that happened before Odom was hired.
Odom, who was the defensive coordinator, was Pittman's sounding board for those first three seasons.
Of course, Odom wanted another shot at being a head coach.
For whatever reason, Kenda Briles made the lateral move to be TCU's offensive coordinator -- which was announced after Enos was hired -- which was the biggest mistake Pittman has made in his career.
There was a huge red flag in hiring Enos. During his 29 years in college football, he had 15 jobs.
His return to Arkansas was his seventh job since he left the Razorbacks after the 2017 season, when head coach Bret Bielema was fired.
Before the Alabama game, Nick Saban said nice things about Enos, who he coached at Michigan State and employed for one season as quarterbacks coach for the Crimson Tide.
Coaches, especially old-school coaches like Saban, wouldn't say spit with a mouthful of it when it comes to talking about other coaches.
Truth is, Enos was at Michigan for six weeks before he was lured away by Saban and he made it one season before he reportedly left for Miami without notice. The story is a few days after losing the national championship game 44-16 to Clemson, the Bama coaches were meeting and Enos, who was supposed to move up to offensive coordinator, was absent.
Someone went to look for him and his office had been cleaned out. Enos denied in a Tweet he had ghosted Saban and the Tide.
He was on his way to Miami to work for Manny Diaz. After losing 14-0 to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl, Enos was terminated after one season. But he landed in Maryland.
Enos worked with Tua Tagovailoa at Bama and brother Taulia Tagovailoa at Maryland.
After two seasons with the Terrapins, word got out Enos was looking to move on and that's when Pittman hired him.
There is a false narrative out there about Enos family not moving with him and he wanted to be fired, but that's just not true. He and his wife are divorced and their two children are adults.
His $2.8 million buyout at Arkansas is negotiable, but don't expect any concessions from his side and if history holds true, he'll land another job. But don't expect it to be in the SEC -- maybe in. the Big Ten, where he has ties.
The bottom line was he was the coordinator not the head coach and all assistants take orders, or they get fired.