In his second year atop the Arkansas Razorbacks’ football program, Sam Pittman snapped a significant, decade-long drought from the year-end rankings and likewise turned in the first-ever trifecta arguably most important to Hogs’ fans: defeating Texas, Texas A&M and LSU in the same season.
So a new deal for Pittman was inevitable, and Arkansas officials revealed a new, long-term contract extension for Pittman Thursday, as chronicled here by Zach Barnett.
Now, FootballScoop has learned the full sum of that new pact for Pittman, and it’s a doozy.
Per multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Pittman, who switched representation to college football power-broker Jimmy Sexton and CAA last year, stands now with a revamped five-year deal worth more than $30 million.
In fact, Pittman’s new contract carries a $31 million price tag for the first five years, based on its average adjusted value.
Through deferred compensation and retention bonuses, Pittman actually is in line to average more than $6 million per year. He’ll open the new deal with an even $6 million earning sheet, with retention bonuses added at the end of each year and paid out on a bi-annual basis.
With these bonuses and escalators, the fifth year of Pittman’s deal is worth $6.4 million – bringing this pact to its $31 million value.
Additionally, per terms outlined by Arkansas, if Pittman gets the automatic rollover year for a seven-win season generated at any point during the lifetime of this deal, Pittman’s salary for the rollover year begins at $6.5 million.
And here’s the thing: those retention bonuses aren’t contingent on Pittman being employed by Arkansas for the duration of his deal. Per sources, if Arkansas for whatever reason decided to part with Pittman in January 2025, it still would owe him the retention bonuses from the 2022-23-24 seasons.