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Sam Pittman reveals he deleted his Twitter account, gives in-depth answer on mental health
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Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman recently deleted his Twitter account, and on Monday he gave an explanation for that decision.
Ultimately, the negative parts of social media weren’t worth the positives for Pittman. While social media can be a great place to boost the team’s image as well as a great recruiting tool, it also comes with being subject to criticism from fans and opposing fans.
“I think you can figure out the rationale,” Pittman said during his press conference Monday. “You know, when you’re a public figure, I think everybody thinks it’s okay to bash public figures and people. That could be musicians. Coaches. Whatever it may be, I’ll be honest with you, I just got sick of it.”
Pittman said that he’s had players approach him, upset about something they saw on social media. Pittman recognizes that he can’t escape criticisms of his coaching, but when people attack him or his team personally, that is where he draws the line.
“You can talk about my coaching all you want,” Pittman said. “But going and attacking me and guys on the team, it’s not right. I’ll never feel like it’s right.”
I highly recommend you take the time to listen to Sam Pittman talk about a conversation he had with Arkansas punter Max Fletcher about mental health and social media.
“There’s a lot more going on in their life right now than when I was a kid.” pic.twitter.com/ub7R4QWHrY
— Mason Choate (@ChoateMason) September 25, 2023
Not having social media as a coach means Pittman doesn’t have to see negative comments towards him and his team on a regular basis, which has helped his mental health as he deals with other stresses of a long season.
“As a coach you can’t have a political affiliation. You can’t have a religious affiliation,” Pittman said. “You can’t do anything, but you can take it. I got tired of taking it and I closed my Twitter account. Looks like I’m going to fire it back up, but that’s how I feel about it. All that’s going to do is get some more people bashing me, so go right ahead, because I don’t have Twitter.”
