(BCSNN) -- Ryan Silverfield didn’t expect his first walk through Arkansas’ football facility to be a wake‑up call. But as he headed to his introductory news conference and asked if someone could turn on the lights, he was stunned by the response.

“They are on,” Silverfield recalled during his presser at SEC media days.

From dim hallways to a weight room stocked with dumbbells nearly three decades old, Silverfield said he inherited a program suffering from what he called a “loser mentality.” His first year in Fayetteville has been defined by trying to change expectations inside the building as much as on the field.

“We’re fighting those battles every single day,” Silverfield said. “We’re not the past. The players we’ve retained and the few staff members we kept are saying, ‘Oh, this is very different.’ It’s not rah‑rah and sunshine and rainbows every day, but we’re working in the right direction.”

Silverfield, who arrived from Memphis, said roughly 80% of his time has been spent on fundraising — a necessity, he said, to lift Arkansas out of the bottom tier of spenders in the SEC. On Thursday, he met with one of the program’s most recognizable supporters, golfer John Daly, and has begun building relationships with major national brands headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, including Tyson Chicken and Wal‑Mart.

“It’s showing people what it needs to look like,” Silverfield said. “If we get Wal‑Mart involved, it’s game over.”

Without major financial backing, Silverfield said Arkansas had fallen behind on basic standards that are routine elsewhere in the conference, including post‑workout meals and proper nutrition support.

“We’re changing out every light bulb in the building,” Silverfield said. “It was so dark and dreary — how do you get motivated? You walk the hallway and everything is trash. The stairs haven’t been painted. The lights don’t work. You walk in the weight room and the weights are 26 years old. I said, ‘No. No wonder there’s a loser mentality.’ … You’re not talking Division III. This is the SEC.”

Players have already noticed the difference.

“That’s something he brought in immediately when he got here,” center Caden Kitler said. “The weights are super nice. The lighting’s very nice as well. I feel more awake when I walk into the building, and I actually want to be there instead of it being like a job.”

Silverfield said the changes are only beginning, but the goal is clear: rebuild Arkansas’ infrastructure, reshape its culture, and erase the mentality he saw on day one.