When Arkansas hired Ryan Silverfield, the reaction was muted. In some circles, it was openly skeptical. He wasn’t the flashiest name on the coaching carousel and didn’t come with the same hype or national buzz as some of his peers. Meanwhile, Alex Golesh and Jon Sumrall, fellow products of the AAC coaching pipeline, were widely viewed as hotter commodities, landing what many believed were better jobs.
But there’s an uncomfortable question that hasn’t been asked enough: what if Ryan Silverfield is actually the better coach?
Arkansas Football Is in Good Hands, and the Numbers Back It Up
Silverfield, Golesh, and Sumrall are uniquely easy to compare. All three rose through the American Athletic Conference, coached against each other multiple times, and were hired during the same coaching cycle. Now, all three are making the jump into the SEC, ensuring the comparisons won’t stop anytime soon.
Same conference background. Same era. Same opponents. Same leap in competition. If we’re going to evaluate who truly earned their reputation, head-to-head results matter.
Start with the most basic measure of success: winning football games against each other. Ryan Silverfield went 3–0 against Alex Golesh’s USF teams and posted a 4–1 record against Jon Sumrall during his time facing Tulane. That’s a combined 7–1 record against the two coaches who were more sought after, more hyped, and more aggressively pursued than Silverfield during the hiring cycle.
Seven wins. One loss.
Against the very coaches many believed were a tier above him.
Silverfield didn’t walk into a turnkey program. He took over Memphis after Mike Norvell, a notoriously difficult transition that often leads to regression. Instead of collapsing or needing years to rebuild, Silverfield kept the program competitive, relevant, and dangerous almost immediately.
There were no dramatic drop-offs, no prolonged rebuild excuses, and no seasons written off as learning years. While others rode waves of momentum or benefitted from perfect timing, Silverfield quietly stacked wins and, more often than not, beat the same coaches receiving far more national praise.
Ryan Silverfield From Overrated to Underrated?
When Arkansas made the hire, the reaction ranged from “safe” to “uninspired,” with some even suggesting Silverfield was overrated. But how does a coach become overrated when he consistently beats his peers head-to-head, maintains program stability, and does it all without the hype machine?
If anything, the deeper you look, the clearer it becomes that Ryan Silverfield may actually be the most underrated coach of the group.
The SEC is a different challenge, and past success doesn’t guarantee future wins. All three coaches are starting fresh with new rosters, new expectations, and a higher level of competition.
Still, history matters. And history shows that Ryan Silverfield has had the number of the very coaches now standing across from him on the opposite sideline. So if Arkansas starts winning more games than expected, particularly against programs like Auburn and Florida, it shouldn’t come as a shock.
Silverfield’s been beating those guys for years.
The proof is already on tape.