Arkansas hires Ryan Silverfield from Memphis as new coach after 2-10 season

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas hired Ryan Silverfield away from Memphis as the Razorbacks' new coach Sunday after a miserable 2-10 season filled with near misses.

Silverfield is 50-25 in six seasons at Memphis, and he was at his best going 10-3 in 2023 and 11-2 in 2024. The Tigers were ranked as high as No. 22 this season before finishing 8-4. He also went 4-0 in bowl games, not counting the Cotton Bowl in December 2019 that Silverfield coached after Mike Norvell left for Florida State. He will be the 35th head coach in Arkansas history.

“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,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement.

Silverfield's worst season at Memphis was 6-6 in 2021. Silverfield has won 29 games over the last three seasons, putting Memphis among the top 15 programs nationally, and he led the Tigers to 12 straight bowl berths, the longest streak among non-Power Four programs.

Yurachek said Silverfield shares Arkansas' vision of making the College Football Playoff and competing for national championships.

“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," Yurachek said.

Memphis athletic director Ed Scott thanked Silverfield and wished him the best in his next chapter. The Tigers named Reggie Howard as interim coach with a national search for Silverfield's replacement underway.

The Tigers ranked 19th nationally averaging 34.6 points a game, the fourth straight season Memphis has ranked in the Top 25 nationally in that category at the end of the regular season. Silverfield's teams averaged at least 30 points in each of his seasons.

Memphis also gave up only 22.5 points a game this season, the Tigers' best under Silverfield.

Arkansas lost at home 31-17 to Missouri on Saturday to cap a season that included an 0-8 record against Southeastern Conference opponents for the third time since 2018. Bobby Petrino, a former Razorbacks head coach from 2008-11, went 0-7 as interim coach after Sam Pittman was fired Sept. 28, though the Hogs lost four of those games by 3 points or less behind a defense that struggled all season..

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