Arkansas hires Memphis’ Silverfield as new HC

Arkansas has hired Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield as its new football coach, the school announced Sunday.

Silverfield, 46, is 50-25 at Memphis, including a win over Arkansas in September and four consecutive wins against Power 4 opponents, including West Virginia and Iowa State in bowl games the past two seasons.

Memphis named Reggie Howard, an alum of the school and a former NFL player, as interim coach for the school’s upcoming bowl game and said a national search for the next head coach is underway.

Silverfield replaces Sam Pittman, who Arkansas fired Sept. 28 following a 2-3 start, which included the loss to Memphis. Bobby Petrino replaced Pittman on an interim basis, and Arkansas lost its final seven games after Pittman’s firing.

“It became clear during our conversations that Coach Silverfield shares our vision of making the College Football Playoffs and competing for a national championship,” Vice chancellor and athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “With our new and significant financial investment in the football program, we are confident we now have the coach and resources to make that happen. Throughout the search process, Coach Silverfield’s proven ability to win games over a sustained period separated him from the pack and make him the right choice to be our next head football coach. His teams at Memphis have been consistent winners since he took over the program in 2019. The knowledge of our state and region he brings along with the ability to build and maintain a program will provide a great foundation for our program moving forward.”

Silverfield has been at Memphis since 2016 and was promoted to the head coach role in December 2019 after Mike Norvell’s departure to Florida State. He coached Memphis in the Cotton Bowl that year and won eight or more games in four of his six full seasons with the Tigers. Silverfield coached Memphis’ offensive line from 2016 to 2019, after stops with the NFL’s Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, Arizona State and elsewhere.

He won all four bowl games he led Memphis to as the team’s permanent coach. Memphis went 6-2 in conference play in each of the past two seasons before finishing 4-4 this fall.

South Florida’s Alex Golesh had emerged last week as a potential target for Arkansas but instead was named the head coach at Auburn on Sunday.