Grading the hire: Arkansas picking Ryan Silverfield not a splashy choice

Arkansas football announced the hiring of Memphis' Ryan Silverfield for its coaching vacancy on Sunday, Nov. 30. Silverfield led the Tigers to an 8-4 record this season, including a 32-31 win over Arkansas on Sept. 20.

Silverfield has a 50-25 record at Memphis, leading the program to back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2023 and 2024. The Tigers went 4-0 in bowl games under the 45-year-old coach.

Silverfield replaces Sam Pittman, who was fired after going a 32-34 record in six seasons at the helm.

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Here's how we grade the Razorbacks' hire:

Blake Toppmeyer: C

Three SEC schools hired coaches from the American Conference. This one earned the least fanfare. Silverfield won enough the past three seasons to move up the food chain in a coaches’ market. Go back to the 2023 preseason, and he faced a win-or-be-fired season.

Silverfield will shift from coaching at one of the biggest fishes in a smaller pond to being at one of the smaller fishes in the biggest pond, filled with sharks. It’s a tall order for someone with no SEC experience.

Memphis enjoys advantages to thrive in the American Conference in this NIL era. To Silverfield’s credit, he went 29-9 the past three seasons, the best stretch of his tenure.

He never made the conference championship game, though, and his overall winning percentage trailed predecessor Mike Norvell, who’s failing at Florida State. Justin Fuente also fizzled in his power-conference call-up after coming from the Memphis pipeline.

Silverfield delivered key wins this season against Arkansas and South Florida, but Memphis fizzled in the back half of its schedule, including a loss to a sunken UAB team playing under an interim coach.

Arkansas went the longtime veteran assistant route with its last hire, Sam Pittman, so of course it would try something different here with a 45-year-old sitting coach.

Silverfield’s prolonged stay at Memphis makes him a familiar face in terrain important to Arkansas. He must galvanize donors at a school where men’s basketball demands dollars under John Calipari and baseball is a priority, too.

He’s not a splashy choice. The Razorbacks must hope the lackluster manner in which Silverfield finished his final season at Memphis isn’t a caution flag it missed.

Matt Hayes: C

Former players love Silverfield's coaching style, and his ability to develop quarterbacks and passing game concepts. If that sounds familiar, let me reintroduce Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell.

The two coaches before Silverfield at Memphis, Fuente and Norvell were considered elite young offensive minds who knew how to score points and put fans in the seats. Both left for Power conference jobs and had uneven results.

Fuente had two good season at Virginia Tech, and was fired after five, and Norvell has had two good seasons at Florida State ― and if FSU had the money, would've been fired after his fifth or sixth season.

But at this point at Arkansas, you'd take two good seasons in five. You'd take a 10-win season, a flirtation with the CFP, or a spot in the national spotlight once or twice, if it meant it all unraveled after five years and you were looking for another coach.

In other words, another Sam Pittman-type run. Only now, with Texas and Oklahoma further strengthening the SEC, the odds of that happening aren't good.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arkansas hires Ryan Silverfield. Expert grades for coaching hire