Sam Pittman didn’t think he stood a chance. He had made the trip to Knoxville to interview for a spot on Tennessee’s 2012 coaching staff, but one step inside Neyland Stadium suddenly seeded heavy doubt in his mind.
“The (graduate assistant) took me over to the stadium,” Pittman said during his weekly press conference on Monday, “and I’d never been there before.”
Derek Dooley was the head coach doing the hiring and, according to Pittman, he was in front of then-Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart discussing the potential hiring of Pittman while Pittman got the stadium tour.
At the time, Pittman was North Carolina’s associate head coach and offensive line coach after stops at Northern Illinois, Kansas, Western Michigan, Oklahoma, Cincinnati and Hutchinson Community College over the previous two decades.
“(Dooley) was talking to AD about if he could hire me,” Pittman said, “how much he’s going to pay me and all that.”
Pittman was looking for a foot in the door in the Southeastern Conference. That is, until he walked into Neyland, Tennessee’s 101,915-seat college football cathedral.