Arkansas has a new leader in the trenches. On Sunday, ESPN’s Adam Ritterberg reported the program will be hiring Baylor offensive line coach Eric Mateos.
“Arkansas is expected to hire Baylor offensive line coach Eric Mateos for the same role,” Ritterberg wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Mateos has spent the past three seasons at Baylor after coaching O-line at BYU. He coached Joe Moore Award semifinalist offensive lines at each of his last two spots.”
Mateos will replace Cody Kennedy, who joined new Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby. Kennedy was a multi-time honoree as an Broyles Award candidate and former semifinalist for the award given annually to college football’s best assistant coach.
More on Eric Mateos
Mateos carries an impressive resumé. He joined joined the Baylor Football staff in January 2021. While there, Mateos was to the Dave Campbell Texas Football’s prestigious 40 under 40 list, honoring the top assistant coaches in the state of Texas that are under 40 years of age.
Despite Mateos’ accomplishments, Baylor’s offensive line sputtered this season. The front five allowed 34 sacks, ranking No. 107 in the country. Baylor’s slow season upfront is an oddity.
In 2022, Mateos boosted the Bears to a rushing attack that rolled to 182.4 yards per game and 2,371 total rushing yards, including 34 rushing TDs, which ranked seventh-most in program history. The Bears also totaled 5,380 total offensive yards, the 10th-best total in school history.
In his debut season with the program, Mateos paved the way for the Big 12’s best rushing attack, which averaged 219.3 yards per game for the 10th-best mark nationally. Mateos is no stranger to Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman. Mateos worked under Pittman at Arkansas from 2013-15.
The Razorbacks return another old friend
While many Arkansas fans may not remember Mateos, Pittman returned another familiar face to the program. Last week, Arkansas announced it will be hiring Bobby Petrino as its next offensive coordinator. Petrino was ousted from the program in infamous circumstances in 2012.
Pittman had to address the controversy around Petrino from his prior stint in Fayetteville during a press conference on Thursday. As far vetting the hire, he left that up to the school and athletic department. He just wanted to hire the best man for the job and, in his opinion, that was Petrino, regardless of his past.
“That part of it? That’s up for Hunter (Yurachek) and those guys,” said Pittman. “I wanted to hire him. I know he’s a good man. We all make a mistake.”
“I wanted to hire him,” Pittman continued. “He was our best candidate, he’s a wonderful person. I was adamant that I wanted to hire him and he was adamant that he wanted to come. So the university went to work on all that kind of stuff.”
On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this article.
