FAYETTEVILLE -- The bye week has allowed Arkansas to get an interim head coach in place before heading to Tennessee on Oct. 11.

Hunter Yurachek decided to fire Sam Pittman following a 56-13 loss to Notre Dame when the Razorbacks didn't seem to play with much fire or effort. Yurachek was asked if the portal was a determining factor in him firing Pittman?

"I mean, the portal is a key factor in this, but more than anything it was just heading into a bye week to have a transition with a head coach," Yurachek said. "Having a bye week before we head to Tennessee, this was kind of a natural point to make that. We have another bye week coming up later in the season, but I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me a little indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit, because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure."

Yurachek also was asked if he learned anything in the hiring of Pittman that he can take into this search?

"You learn something from every coaching search," Yurachek said. "They all take on a life of their own. We’ve got a little bit longer runway on this coaching search and have a chance to get out ahead of that a little bit. Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position and he will have that opportunity. But we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at that same time. I’ve got a little bit longer runway to do that and to do my due diligence and do some really good research. We’ll find a good candidate, whether that’s Coach Petrino or someone else."

Yurachek said coaches with Arkansas ties would definitely be considered during this search.

"I think that’s icing on the cake if you can make that happen," Yurachek said. "I don’t think you can go in with that being one of your guiding principles in your search. I think that’s something that if someone has ties to the state, that is awesome, and a bonus, but I don’t think you can go into the search with that being one of your guiding principles."

As with anything related to college athletics in this time money will be a factor. Yurachek pointed to the hiring of John Calipari as an example of what takes place with the football program.

"Absolutely, money will be a factor at some point in time, because there’s limited resources, but I think we saw with the hiring of Coach Calipari and what we were able to do there with him and his staff and what that’s meant to our basketball program," Yurachek said. "I think we can build a similar model within reason for our football program. I think there'll be people across this state that will step up for us. I think there’s an opportunity for the university to potentially help us , and we’re continuing to look at new ways to generate revenue within our athletic program. Our football program is far too important to the health of our athletic program for us to take it for granted."

Firing Pittman this early in the season should allow Yurachek to get ahead of the curve talking to potential candidates.

"Sure, yeah," Yurachek said. "I mean, if you actually get ahead of anybody that's going to make its change anytime later, then you make a change. So, you know, it's really sensitive, because you're most likely going to be talking to coaches that have positions at other institutions, and some are going to want to talk to you, or some are not going to want to talk to you during their season. And I have respect for both of that. So, you don't want to lose a candidate because they want to wait till the end of the season to have any dialog, but you can definitely start vetting some people in advance of others."

Yurachek wants to assure fans that steps are being taken to make sure the football program gets to where it needs to be.

"We will get our football program back to a place that everyone across this state will be proud to say that they're an Arkansas Razorback," Yurachek said.