FAYETTEVILLE — Things certainly haven't started so well for first-year Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield, who has led his new team to a 3-4 overall record and 1-3 in SEC play.

The biggest problem he's facing right now is transitioning from a Memphis program

where he had reached his ceiling in terms of an NIL budget compared to Arkansas' scraping peanut shells out of the bottom of a Texas Roadhouse bag.

ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg had this short snippet to say about his view of Silverfield's tenure now that the season is over halfway cooked.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Ryan SIlverfield watches his offense return to the sideline after a punt in the first half. | Nilsen Roman, Hogs On SI Images

Silverfield has some baked-in challenges with his first team, revealing last month that he had a locked-in budget for 2026 and did most of his offseason fundraising for the 2027 roster. Arkansas has not been set up to win for a while, which has sent the UA board of trustees into action.…