It wasn't Petrino's football pedigree that concerned me- he'd recently come off a great run at Louisville, formerly a non-entity in the college football world that flirted with serious contention under Petrino, and amassed a very respectable 41-9 record in Petrino's 4 seasons there (and, it is worth noting, quickly returned to irrelevance after his departure), although he had struggled in the NFL. His abysmal 3-10 record with the Atlanta Falcons wasn't the issue, though- the issue was with the way he left the organization, pledging his support and commitment to Falcons owner Arthur Blank only to resign the very next day to accept the Arkansas job, leaving a note in his players' lockers on his way out. Could the Razorbacks organization really trust a man who would behave so unprofessionally on his exit from his former job? If he would do that to the Falcons, what would stop him from doing the same to us once a better job inevitably opened up? Of course, Hogs fans who didn't want to face the reality of how scummy it was of us to have essentially poached a man away from a job were quick to point out that Petrino had signed on with the Falcons prior to Mike Vick's dog holocaust becoming public knowledge and the fallout from that; and that Petrino had been sold a bad bill of goods in Atlanta, not getting to coach the QB he'd been brought on board specifically to work with. It was a flimsy excuse, but one that had enough moral wriggle room that you could sort of tilt your head to the side and squint your eyes a little and it seemed like enough justification to feel better about the signing.
As it would turn out, though, my concerns about Petrino's character were warranted. Just not for the reason I expected.
If you've been near the Internet or a TV showing ESPN in the past week, you're familiar with the details of Petrino's wild motorcycle ride, so I won't rehash much of what you've probably already heard or read a half dozen times. When the story first broke, before we knew all the sordid details, I'd taken the stance that Petrino had earned enough goodwill with his 21-4 record in the last two years that his personal life was none of anybody's business but his own. So he'd had some young girl on his bike that wasn't his wife. So what? Guys go through mid-life crises and cheat on their wives all the time. Sure, it's trashy, but as long as it wouldn't affect the on-field product, I didn't see where it was an issue for the fans to worry about. Then the dirt began to come out. Petrino had hired that girl, Jessica Dorrell, to a position within the program over 140 other applicants even though they'd already began a relationship. They texted sometimes more than 70 times per day. Petrino had given her $20,000 cash. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I stuck to my "so what?" reaction, because I liked seeing this program at the top of the college football pyramid. Under Nutt, we were lucky to get 8 wins in a season. With Petrino, we were guaranteed it. He could have as many side pieces he wanted as long as he kept winning 10+ games per season, as far as I was concerned. It wasn't like Petrino was the first guy to ever give a job to a woman he was sleeping with, right?
Perhaps fortunately for the University of Arkansas, that is why Jeff Long is the athletic director and I am not. Long was able to make a difficult decision, one that I would not, could not have. Long was able to fire Bobby Petrino, even with the full knowledge that the chances of hiring a comparable replacement were pretty improbable. Long put ethics and the integrity of the program ahead of a successful program, to the approval of half of the fanbase and the utter dismay of the other half. In an emotional press conference, Long explained the circumstances behind the situation and his decision to fire Petrino. It all made sense. It was the right move.
Yet even knowing that Long made the right call, I can't shake the feeling that it was the wrong call for the program. My initial reaction on Facebook was regrettable and juvenile; I posted "U of A football is dead to me. Geaux Tigers.", (further proving that nobody should Tweet or use Facebook while feeling strong emotions), adding later "I have a hard time embracing a program that thinks mediocrity is an acceptable status quo. They finally find a guy who can get them over the hump and they fire him over a non-issue to appease a bunch of moral hand wringers. Screw this crap." To some degree, I suppose I DO value winning over character in my football; I'm still able to cheer for the Steelers in spite of the face of their franchise being a deplorable (alleged) multiple rapist. After all, Petrino isn't coming in to MY living room asking me to trust him with the well-being of MY son for the next four years. None of the scandal affects me on a personal level. I just want my team to continue to win. And even with time to calm down and come to my senses, I'm still angry, although I'm now more rightfully angry with Petrino than with the U of A football program.
I don't know where the Razorbacks go from here. Though much of the fanbase is loathe to admit it (and some are just in complete denial of it), Arkansas football isn't exactly a program with a rich history or strong tradition, and Fayetteville is going to be a hard sell to any talented 18 year-old with options. If I were an 18 year-old boy writing my own football destiny, I'd either be going to a historical juggernaut like Texas, or Michigan, or Notre Dame (even with the way those programs have collapsed in recent years, they all still have significant name value and tradition) or to a hotbed of hot girls, like USC or Florida (and yes, this is how most 18 year-old boys think, like it or not). Arkansas is known for neither (this is not a knock against the women in Fayetteville. I've been there, and the co-eds are lovely. But anyone who thinks they can really compare to the women in Southern California or Florida is only fooling themselves). Successful coaches know this, and they know recruiting to Arkansas is an uphill struggle for any talent to come from outside the state. Add to that the fact that people rarely want to walk in to clean up a mess of the magnitude of the one left behind by Petrino, and there's little room to be optimistic about Petrino's replacement.
I don't know where Petrino goes from here either, and I can't say that I particularly care. He'll land on his feet, I have no doubt. In two or three years, a desperate AD for a middle of the pack Big 10 or Pac-12 team will take a gamble on him- Illinois or Colorado, perhaps- and he'll take them to prominence for a few years, and then he'll leave in the middle of the night or be forced out, leaving a mess behind him for somebody else to come and clean up.
At the end of the day, my disappointment in what I know will be the decline of a team that I have grudgingly come to love weighs the same with my disgust at the coach who caught me with my guard down and made me feel like I could trust him; the man who put the AD in a no-win situation. This will probably blow up in that same AD's face someday, a few years of mediocre seasons will more likely than not lead to Long's eventual dismissal, because the fans and boosters have had a taste of life in the penthouse, and nobody likes being part of a riches to rags story. It's hard to pity him, though. He knew Petrino was a snake when he picked him up from the Atlanta Falcons locker room. He shouldn't be surprised that the snake eventually bit him. But he can rest easy knowing that he'll be overlooking the most ethical 7-5 team to ever grace the SEC.
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