Sources: Arkansas hiring Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield as new coach

Arkansas is set to hire Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield as its new head coach, sources confirmed to ESPN on Sunday.

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

He replaced Sam Pittman, who was fired by Arkansas on September 28 after a 2–3 start, including a loss to Memphis. Bobby Petrino replaced Pittman on an interim basis as Arkansas lost its final seven games following Pittman’s dismissal.

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

He led Memphis to win all four bowl games as the team’s permanent head coach. Memphis went 6-2 in conference play each of the last two seasons and finished 4-4 this fall.

South Florida’s Alex Golesh emerged as a potential target for Arkansas last week, but he was named head coach at Auburn on Sunday, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.