Arkansas has hired Ryan Silverfield as the 35th head coach in program history, bringing in one of the nation’s winningest coaches over the past three seasons to lead the Razorbacks into a new era.
Silverfield was officially announced as the Razorbacks’ new head coach Sunday. He arrives in Fayetteville after a successful tenure at Memphis, where he compiled a 50-25 record since taking over the Tigers program in December 2019. His run included multiple 10-win seasons, six straight bowl-eligible campaigns and an offense that consistently ranked among the top in the nation. Memphis won 29 games over the last three seasons, placing the program among the top 15 nationally in total victories during that stretch.
His final team at Memphis earned the program’s 12th consecutive bowl berth, the longest active streak among non–Power Four programs.
Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said Silverfield’s sustained success and the school’s increased financial commitment to football made him the clear choice to take over the program. Yurachek said Silverfield shares the department’s vision of competing for a national championship and believes the incoming coach is positioned to pursue that goal with the resources Arkansas has invested.
Yurachek also pointed to Silverfield’s regional familiarity and his ability to build and maintain a winning program. Silverfield and his wife, Katie, along with their daughters, Adeline and Celicia, will relocate to Fayetteville.
At Memphis, Silverfield fielded high-powered offenses and a steadily improving defense. This year, the Tigers finished No. 19 nationally in scoring at 34.6 points per game, marking the fourth straight season they ranked inside the top 25. All six of his Memphis teams averaged at least 30 points per game.
Memphis also ranked in the top 20 in scoring offense during each of the last three seasons, joining Notre Dame, Oregon, Ole Miss and Texas State in that category.
Defensively, Memphis posted its strongest season under Silverfield in 2025, allowing 22.5 points per game. The Tigers finished with a top-15 turnover margin at plus-9.
Silverfield’s most notable stretch came in 2023–24, when Memphis recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time in school history. The 2024 team went 11-2, defeated West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl and finished No. 23 in the coaches poll and No. 24 in the Associated Press poll, marking the program’s first top-25 finish since 2019. His 2023 team went 10-2, earning him his second Tennessee Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year honor, making him the first Memphis coach to win the award twice.
He also became the first coach in program history to win back-to-back bowl games, doing so in 2021 and 2022.
Silverfield developed numerous standout players, including freshman All-America quarterback Seth Henigan, who threw for 3,322 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2021. His offenses routinely ranked among the nation’s best, including a 2020 squad that finished in the top 25 nationally in total offense, passing offense and red-zone defense.
Silverfield brings more than two decades of coaching experience across high school, college and the NFL. He joined Memphis in 2016 as an offensive line coach and rose to run game coordinator and assistant head coach before being promoted to head coach in 2019. His experience also includes six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, work with the Detroit Lions and offensive roles at Arizona State, Toledo and UCF. At age 23, he served as a high school head coach.
His 2018 Memphis offensive line was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s top offensive line unit. He has twice been recognized as one of the American Athletic Conference’s top recruiters.
