Dont do it, Arkansas. Dont even think about it.
OK, sure, youve made Bobby Petrino the interim football coach after firing Sam Pittman on Sunday. For better or worse, we all knew that was coming in fact, we knew it well over a year ago when you hired him to be the offensive coordinator. At whatever point Pittman wore out his welcome, there was good ol Bobby P, just waiting in the wings, ready to re-ascend to the Hog throne that he foolishly traded for a motorcycle, a neck brace and a human resources nightmare.
But thats where it needs to end.
Because the thing with Petrino that everyone realizes after having to deal with Petrino for any length of time is that its never been worth it.
Not at Louisville. Not with the Atlanta Falcons. Not at Arkansas the first time. Not at Western Kentucky. Not at Louisville the second time. Not at Missouri State. Not with the multiple agents who have cut him loose because they no longer wanted to represent him. Not with anyone who cares about having a functional program that treats players and administrators with respect and that normal people want to be part of.
Beyond a few cheap thrills that turn to noxious gas the longer they linger in the atmosphere, its never worked before. Its not going to work this time.
Do. Not. Do. It.
College sports are a rough-and-tumble enterprise, and goodness knows that being a good person is not a prerequisite to building a good program.
But there’s a specific kind of sleaze that oozes off Petrino. Remember the secret meeting with Auburn in 2003 for a job that wasnt even open and Petrino initially lying about it when he got caught? Remember how he turned his second stint at Louisville into a jobs program for his friends and family, making his son the quarterbacks coach and appointing two sons-in-law as full-time assistants on the defensive staff? Remember that the reason Arkansas had to fire him in 2012 was not because of an extramarital affair but it was a relationship with a subordinate employee that he lied about when a motorcycle accident threatened to expose him?
People with power, money and influence in college sports seem to forget this stuff because despite all of it, they keep hiring him. And its an embarrassment.
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There seems to be a faction of Arkansas boosters who view the next seven games as something of a Petrino tryout. If the Razorbacks could somehow pick off a few wins down the stretch, there will undoubtedly be loud voices in the Arkansas ecosystem who push for a full-fledged return, promising that Petrino is a changed man (again) who is uniquely suited to bring the program back to national relevance. You can bet Petrino has spent the last year-plus convincing them of it behind the scenes because thats how Petrino has always operated.
Somehow, despite possessing the personal charm of a pit viper, he has an incredible talent for telling people exactly what they want to hear.
And Arkansas wants to hear that its going to be 2011 again when they went to the Sugar Bowl and promised to contend for a national title before Petrino blew it all up on the back of a Harley-Davidson.
Its all nonsense, of course. This isnt 2011 anymore.
Thats the same trap Louisville fell into when it brought Petrino back in 2014 and put all those hard feelings from his first departure to the side. But by the time it ended badly in 2018, all Petrino had accomplished was going 17-9 over two years with the best player in program history. Even Lamar Jackson in a Heisman Trophy-winning season couldnt carry Petrino to more than a minor bowl game.
You dont even need to judge his character to look at the track record and realize its absurd that an SEC program in 2025 would consider making Petrino their permanent coach.
We will begin a national search for our next head coach immediately and that search will include Coach Petrino, who has expressed his desire to be a candidate for the full-time job, Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in the schools official release.
Thats a nod to what everyone knows: Petrino will have his important backers as the coaching carousel keeps spinning and Arkansas finds itself in competition with the likes of Virginia Tech, UCLA, Oklahoma State and perhaps Florida for the best prospects on the market.
If the schools leadership had an ounce of self-confidence and vision, it would realize this is a potential top-20 job thats only one good hire away from being in the College Football Playoff mix. Their job is to identify that hire, not fall back on a familiar old name with enough baggage to topple a moving van.
But the next two months in Arkansas will be all about one man and the desire to reach for past glory, no matter the cost or the risk. With Petrino, it always ends badly. If the school ignores that track record, it deserves whatever football hell comes after.