It can be an advantage when people have low expectations of you, especially when you’re Ryan Silverfield.

The new Arkansas Razorbacks head football coach leads a program of which few expect much this year, to his benefit. The Razorbacks are coming off a season where they finished 2-10 overall and 0-8 in the Southeastern Conference. It was the fourth 0-8 conference record since 2013. The Hogs have won one SEC home game in three years.

Things aren’t expected to get much better. ESPN says the Razorbacks have the nation’s toughest schedule this year. Media types who cover the SEC picked the Hogs to finish last among 16 teams.

Silverfield, 46, wisely didn’t make pie-in-the-sky predictions as he prepared for the season opener against North Alabama Sept. 5. Instead, he promised the Little Rock Touchdown Club Aug. 24 only a “special, special year” and a bright future. 

Obviously, much needed to change for the Razorbacks to be competitive. This year’s roster features almost 80 new faces compared to the team he beat last year when he was head coach of the University of Memphis. 

Still, that roster probably will be less talented than many of its opponents this year. Silverfield told the Little Rock Touchdown Club that players will have to be mentally tough and disciplined, and they must avoid the mistakes that plagued last year’s team. He said the team will be prepared, will “control the controllable,” and will outwork its opponents.

The players this past spring semester had the highest grade point average and most community service hours in program history. He said those numbers demonstrate the players’ commitment.

“I’m a long believer in how you do anything is how you do everything, and our guys have bought in,” he said. “And I promise you, day in and day out, they’re going to go out there and not only represent the name on the back of their jersey but the name on the front of their jersey.”

Asked by Club co-founder David Bazzel about the football world’s low expectations, he said the team doesn’t worry about what others think but also has a chip on its shoulder. The nation’s toughest schedule ranking “put a smile on my face.”

Nevertheless, those low expectations will give him a year or maybe two (or maybe not) before the fans become restless. He must win a minimum of three games to beat last year’s dismal record. If he can win a couple more, and be competitive in others, it will give fans hope and help keep the money coming, which is what it’s all about these days. A little early success – but not too much – will give him a chance to establish himself before the pressure grows. 

Silverfield is the program’s seventh head coach since the end of the 2007 season, counting Bobby Petrino’s interim tenure last season.

The coach in 2007 was Houston Nutt, whose big first season in 1998 created high expectations that the program couldn’t maintain. He resigned following a joyless 8-4 final season that culminated in an upset victory over number one-ranked LSU. In a nice moment, Silverfield told the club that Nutt had made his first appearance on campus since leaving the program when he visited a practice recently.

Coaching is a different ballgame than when Silverfield first became a head coach at Memphis in 2019. It’s now about paying players, juggling rosters annually, and keeping up with an ever-changing legal landscape. The latest example: A judge issued a temporary restraining order Aug. 26 making two players eligible to compete for a fifth year, which would be one more than traditionally allowed but consistent with the previous two COVID years. A hearing was scheduled for Sept. 3. Silverfield joked in an appearance at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club that, in the past, a coach didn’t want to hear about temporary restraining orders and players. In this case, it was good news.

One thing that hasn’t changed: A coach is ultimately judged by his won-loss record, not grade point averages or community service hours. Silverfield will need to win, and he’ll have to do that amidst college football’s shifting landscape.

“You’ve got to be able to evolve,” he said on ESPN’s “The Rich Eisen Show.” “I think any head coach that takes over a program or any head coach nowadays, you’re going to get run over if you’re not evolving or staying ahead of this thing.”

© 2026 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 24 news outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.