LSU Football: Wildcard head coach option for the Tigers

A few of LSU football‘s head coaching options are officially off the board.

Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley is heading to USC, while Louisiana’s Billy Napier is going to Florida.

Riley was the dream hire for the Tigers, while Napier was the safe “fallback option”.

With both of those names off the board, where does LSU turn?

An under-the-radar option for LSU football

There are still plenty of names that LSU could pursue to replace Ed Orgeron. Maybe they give Mark Stoops at Kentucky a call. Or maybe they try to pry Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss.

Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M is still a possibility, too.

One name the Tigers should consider is Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, someone who hasn’t really been mentioned during this search.

Pittman is a long-time offensive line coach who finally got a shot to lead a program when Arkansas hired him to replace Chad Morris after the 2019 season.

The Razorbacks’ roster wasn’t in a great place when Pittman took over before the 2020 season. Combine that with a pandemic season, and Arkansas went 3-7 in Pittman’s first year.

Despite the 3-7 record, there were signs of progress for the Razorbacks in 2020.

Arkansas was in every game (except the Alabama game). They just weren’t able to finish.

Things have gone much better in 2021. The Razorbacks are 8-4 this season. Not bad for a team in the SEC West with a second-year head coach and not as much talent as the rest of the league.

Speaking of talent, Pittman would be an incredible recruiter at LSU. He’s already known as one of the best recruiters in the country.

Pittman knows how to delegate. He knows how to motivate. And he knows how to recruit.

All of that adds up to winning big at a place like LSU.

I’m not saying he should be the guy, but he should at least be an option.