UPDATE: Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long made two revelations on Tuesday night that made Petrino’s firing a no-brainer. Still, before those discoveries were made, there would have been much deliberation…
Battered, bloodied, bruised.
Bobby Petrino’s reputation took quite a tumble last week in the tangled aftermath of his motorcycle’s crash 20 miles southeast of Fayetteville. For a few days it looked as if the Sunday wipe-out could actually help raise the tough guy image of Arkansas’ head football coach.
On Tuesday, Petrino showed up at a press conference looking like he had just gotten into a brawl with his entire offensive line. Wearing a neck brace, and likely a little dopey on pain meds, he emphasized it’s still all about creating a winner out there on the spring practice field while sneaking in some banter about avoiding brain damage despite failing to wear a bike helmet. Then, a couple days later, the world was introduced to a 25-year-old University of Arkansas employee named Jessica Dorrell.
And the bottom fell out, and didn’t stop until Tuesday night, when it was announced Petrino’s Arkansas coaching days were over. It was a decision the majority of Sync magazine voters supported.
Obviously, he damage from this scandal extended far beyond Petrino’s cracked neck vertebra and four broken ribs, far beyond the pain he inflicted on his own wife and four children, or Dorrell’s fiance. It became a public matter on March 28 when Dorrell was hired as student-athlete development coordinator for the football program, moreso when Petrino forgot to tell his boss, Jeff Long, she’d joined him on his Harley-Davidson for a Sunday evening joyride. University policies usually don’t smile on supervisors promoting mistresses. Nor do employers typically take to an employee’s lying.
Long, the athletic director, has determined Petrino’s ultimate fate at Arkansas. He must go. There’s has been much to weigh, and Long will get flak from many Arkansas fans for making this final call. The 51-year-old Petrino has built a complex legacy – has a college head coach ever been forced out on as much of a high note (as far as on-field success goes)? For every plus Petrino had, there seemed to be a minus. To wit:
A previous version of this column ran in Sync magazine.
