On Sunday morning, Memphis Tigers head coach Ryan Silverfield accepted the same position with the Arkansas Razorbacks. He was one of three AFC head coaches to move to the SEC on Sunday morning after the regular season ended.
“During our conversations it became clear that Coach Silverfield shares our vision of reaching the College Football Playoffs and competing for a national championship,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “With our significant new financial investment in the football program, we are confident that we now have the coach and the 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 rest and made him the right choice to be our next head coach. His teams in Memphis have been consistent winners since he took over the program in 2019. The knowledge of our state and region that he brings, along with the ability to build and maintain a program, “He will provide a great foundation for our program moving forward. We are excited to welcome his wife, Katie, and two daughters, Adeline and Celicia, to Arkansas.”
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Silverfield finished his 6-year career in Memphis, where he produced a 50-25 record and went 4-1 in bowl games. He originally joined as offensive line coach in 2016, and during the Tigers’ 2019 campaign, the most successful season in program history, Silverfield was named interim head coach after Mike Norvell departed for Florida State. Shedding interim status before the game, Silverfield made his coaching debut against Penn State in the 2019 Cotton Bowl. An internal hire, he kept Memphis’ winning tradition alive: He was never below .500 and produced the best two-year streak the program had ever seen, going 21-5 in 2023-24. Memphis earned its second-highest year-end ranking in school history in 2024, ranking 24th in the final AP Poll.
Silverfield was known for his impressive non-conference success at Memphis, producing a 23-4 record against non-Conference USA opponents. They won their last 11 non-conference matchups with the Tigers (including bowl games), defeating teams such as Iowa State, Boise State, West Virginia, Florida State and Arkansas during that span. Silverfield However, Memphis never qualified for the AFC Championship Game in his 6-year tenure, and the Tigers are hoping for their first conference title since 2019.
Another notable statistic from Silverfield’s tenure includes a streak of 51 games in which he scored 20-plus points, an FBS-best streak that ultimately ended in the Tigers’ 28-17 loss to Navy on Thanksgiving Night. Additionally, his team was consistently competitive and never lost by more than 12 points in his last 50 games at the helm.
Prior to leading Memphis, the 45-year-old coach held previous positions in the NFL, serving on the Minnesota Vikings staff from 2008 to 2013 in various assistant roles and operating as an assistant offensive line coach for the Detroit Lions for a portion of 2015. Arkansas represents his second collegiate head coaching position and, ironically, is a program that Silverfield defeated on Sept. 20, erasing an 18-point deficit for a Memphis victory 32-31.
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Silverfield succeeds Sam Pittman as the 35th full-time head coach at Arkansas. Pittman was fired on Sept. 28 after going 32-34 in six seasons, peaking at 9-4 in 2021. Former Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino served the interim term since Pittman’s firing earlier in the season and continued in the role until Saturday’s season-ending loss to Missouri. The Razorbacks are currently on a 10-game winning streak and Silverfield aims to break it in their 2026 debut against FCS North Alabama.
As for Memphis, second-year assistant head coach/defensive backs coach Reggie Howard will serve as interim for the upcoming bowl game. Memphis is seeking its fifth straight bowl victory, looking to snap a three-game losing streak and end 2025 on a high note.