Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long announced Tuesday night that former coach Bobby Petrino had given a $20,000 gift to Jessica Dorrell.

Some “gift,” many thought. It turns out Dorrell used that $20,000 to purchase a black Acura.

That information was included in Long’s termination letter to Petrino, details of which were released on Friday. Long wrote to Petrino:

“Your conduct and actions in this matter have generated voluminous negative media stories and opinions, within Arkansas and nationally, that have harmed the reputation of the University of Arkansas and our athletic programs. We are now faced with the task of restoring the reputation of our institution and our athletics programs that many individuals and teams have worked hard to build over the years.”

Meanwhile, Arkansas must figure out how to handle Dorrell’s employment status while she remains on paid administrative leave. That’s all while Ms. Dorrell decides her next step and possible action toward the University of Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas has announced this morning that Jessica Dorrell — the UA employee with whom Bobby Petrino shared an “inappropriate relationship” — has been suspended and placed on paid administrative leave.

Facing a possible sexual harassment suit from Dorrell, you can be sure that UA attorneys have done their homework on this matter before okaying her suspension.  Petrino was suspended immediately after the story became public while Dorrell’s situation remained up in the air until today.

It will be interesting to see if UA has enough goods on Dorrell to sever ties with her permanently or if the school is forced into some sort of payoff to prevent her from filing a lawsuit against the school.  After all, she could claim that Petrino — being in a position of power and representing the University of Arkansas — “forced” her into having a relationship with him. 

Arkansas is swimming in some mighty murky waters on this one. 

Upon his dismissal at Arkansas, Bobby Petrino released a statement suggesting their might be a time and a place to refute AD Jeff Long’s decision to show him the door.  Chancellor G. David Gearhart released a brief, bias-less statement saying that a clause in Petrino’s contract made it possible that the ex-coach could bring his case to him and that he might have to rule on whether or not Petrino deserved the boot Long gave him.

According to Joe Schad of ESPN, the coach won’t exercise his right to appeal:


“Petrino has accepted responsibility for his actions and resulting termination, the source said.”


Meanwhile, the Associated Press obtained some of the text messages that had not been deleted from Petrino’s phone.  Those transcripts show a man who after his suspension was — quite naturally — worried sick that he might lose his $3.5 million-per-year job with the Razorbacks.  And according to one text message exchange with an assistant AD at the school, it appears that UA was looking for a way to keep him:


Assistant AD Chris Wyrick:  “Coach, I know I sometimes aggravate you, but PLEASE listen to me.  Does Jeff (Long) know EVERYTHING from your standpoint??”

Petrino:  “Yes I believe he does.  Is the mood to fire me or to keep me???”

Wyrick:  “I can’t honestly speak to (Long’s) pulse on that, but my gut is he wants it to work.  You have done the job and most feel like you are due a mulligan.”


If Petrino had simply carried on an inappropriate relationship, he might just have gotten that mulligan.  But Long’s investigation into the matter found that Petrino had hired Jessica Dorrell into his department over 158 other candidates in a faster then normal fashion.  He’d also given Dorrell a gift of $20,000. 

In other words, he’d opened the University of Arkansas up to a number of lawsuits from a number of people.

So much for the mulligan.  And with his decision not to appeal — even though his chances of winning some form of buyout were slim to begin with — so much for Petrino at Arkansas.

There’s an old saying that goes a little something like this: “It’s not about the Xs and Os, it’s about the Jimmys and Joes.”  Translation: Players are more important than coaches.

There are quite a few Arkansas fans today who buy into that line even though they’re last coach just proved you don’t have to have five-star guys to win double-digit games in a season.

This week, we’ve stated repeatedly that Razorback AD Jeff Long needs to take his time in replacing Bobby Petrino.  By all indications, that’s what it looks like he’s going to do — use an interim coach this season while conducting a long, thorough coaching search in the hopes of finding a long-term solution to the school’s current problem.

Each time we’ve touted the “take your time” approach, we’ve received a number of emails from Hog fans who believe that going the interim route will destroy/crush/annihilate/end Razorback recruiting.  “The school will lose out on the 2013 class and it won’t be making valuable connections to this year’s high school juniors and sophomores, either,” they claim.

And to their point we say… so?

Petrino provides two examples of why fans should be more worried about the man at the head of the program than the kids who may or may not ink with, arrive at, develop for, and stick with said program.

First, Petrino proved that Xs and Os can mean more than Jimmys and Joes.  Under their ex, the Hogs finished in the bottom half of the SEC just about every year in terms of signing day rankings.  Good coaches know how to win and they know how to recruit to fit their needs.

Second, Petrino also proved that making a hasty hire can eventually blow up in a school’s face.  Arkansas and Long — the same guy who’s getting praise for ousting Petrino now — are the same ones who snuck into Atlanta and absconded with the Falcons’ head coach in the middle of the NFL season.  Despite many warnings about his character, Long and his school and its fans went all-in with Petrino.  And then they found out the hard way why people were sending out warnings.

Arkansas fans need to pay attention to their recent history and understand that finding the right coach is much, much more important than landing a good recruiting class or two.

Question: Would UA be better served by grabbing Garrick McGee to come in right now, save the season, and recruit… or by waiting til year’s end and hiring Nick Saban?  Or Les Miles?  Or Bob Stoops?

No, we don’t believe Arkansas will land any of those guys, but the point should be clear — hire the right coach and the recruits will come.  Might the Hogs take a short step backwards by waiting and making a patient decision?  Possibly.  But the long-term gain of finding the right coach to recruit and win and do it the right way for the long haul should far exceed any short-term pain Hog fans would have to endure.

Long has already proven that when he sets his mind and his boosters’ money to landing the coach he wants, he gets him.  There’s no reason to believe that UA — at year’s end — can’t identify and land a man with a proven track record (a positive one, this time).  Do that, and the Hogs will recover and succeed long-term.

But rush things in order to save a recruiting class?  Well, good luck.

In January of 2010, Lane Kiffin hit the eject button and left Tennessee for Southern Cal less than three weeks before signing day.  Panic set-in in Knoxville.  Then-Vol AD Mike Hamilton announced he would have a new coach by the week’s end, placing a wholly unnecessary deadline on himself and the search process.

The Vols had planes criss-crossing the country in search of someone who could save their recruiting class.  The AD was interviewing a candidate in one place.  Another member of the UT brass was interviewing a different candidate in another spot.  All while a key booster was meeting with yet another candidate somewhere else.

Tennessee’s search looked like a jumbled, panicky mess.  No wonder coach after coach turned the Vols down.  Why would Will Muschamp, Kyle Whittingham, or Troy Calhoun have wanted to jump into a rushed, shotgun wedding?

As a result, the Vols wound up hiring a coach with an overall losing record who’d just finished a 4-8 campaign at Louisiana Tech.  And while the jury’s still out on Derek Dooley, the evidence so far seems to be piling up against him.

Oh, but Tennessee saved its recruiting class.

Arkansas fans should pay attention to their own recent history as well as that of their neighbor to the east.

Finding the right coach is more important than saving a recruiting class.  Much, much more important.

If Bo Pelini has any interest in the vacancy at Arkansas, he sure didn’t show it yesterday.  When asked if he was flattered to have his name mentioned in connection with top coaching jobs, Pelini said:

“You talking about the Arkansas thing?  Actually, I didn’t even know my name got thrown around.  I don’t even know how that stuff happens.  I’m here and I’m happy to be here.”

That’s not all.  In addition to saying that Nebraska “is a destination job” and not “a stepping-stone job,” Pelini said his being linked to the Razorbacks’ vacancy is “kind of ludicrous.”

Coaches often lie in these situations, but for now at least, it sure sounds like Arkansas AD Jeff Long can scratch Pelini’s name from his list.  If Pelini’s name was even on his list.

About five years ago many Arkansas fans wanted rid of Houston Nutt.  Someone did a Freedom of Information Act hunt of his phone records.  It was learned that he’d been sending an awful lot of texts back and forth with an Arkansas-based television anchorwoman.  That info made its way to the press as part of a smear on Nutt.

So Nutt left and Bobby Petrino was brought in to save the Razorback football program. 

He did.  He brought big wins, a BCS bowl and millions of dollars to the school.  But apparently Petrino didn’t think the whole “using a state-owned cell phone” thing applied to anyone but his predecessor.

Yesterday — thanks again to the Freedom of Information Act — it was learned that Petrino and Jessica Dorrell exchanged more than 4,300 texts and almost 300 phone call over the last seven months. 

According to ESPN.com, some of the texts included picture and video files.  Uh-oh.

In Nutt’s case many Arkansas fans were outraged that their coach was texting a woman right before the kickoff of a Citrus Bowl game in which he was coaching.  Well, turns out Petrino was also sending gameday texts to Dorrell. 

To quote “Airplane 2″… “Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.”

What we have is a case of a football coach feeling that he’s truly unbeatable.  It would take a team of sociologists to determine the point at which a man receives so much praise that he begins to believe he is invincible, but that surely looks to be the situation here.

Petrino went for a ride on his motorcycle — with no helmet — with a 25-year-old honey wrapped around him.  In other words, he wasn’t worried about any fellow motorists seeing the head coach of the University of Arkansas football team and asking, “Hey, who’s the girl?”

Then — having not learned any lesson from the recent Jim Tressel and Bruce Pearl sagas — he tried to go the cover-up route.

Finally, Petrino paid no mind to the fact that the last Arkansas football coach wound up in the news because he sent umpteen texts to a woman who wasn’t his wife via his official UA cellphone. 

That’s awfully reckless behavior for someone making more than three million bucks per year.

Earlier today, we made the case that Arkansas AD Jeff Long should simply find or promote an interim coach for 2012 and use the next eight months to thoroughly research every possible coaching candidate in the country.

Who else gets that kind of time to find the right man for a job?

Apparently, UA seems to be heading in that direction.  Matt Jones of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writes that “an interim coach seems the most likely route for Arkansas to take” this fall.  In his words, “This is an experienced and invested staff of assistants with which the players feel comfortable.”

If Long’s smart, that’s exactly the route he will take.  But there’s good money — or at least good pageviews and ratings — in kicking around the names of coaching candidates.  So before Bobby Petrino’s coaching casket was lowered into the ground, website and talk radio shows were already targeting his replacement.

Garrick McGee, Butch Davis, Gus Malzahn, Skip Holtz, Dana Holgorsen, Kirby Smart, Art Briles, Charlie Strong, and on and on.

Of those mentioned, two “candidates” have already distanced themselves from the rumors.

Arkansas State’s Malzahn told a radio show this morning that he’s “the coach at Arkansas State” and that he’s “committed” to staying in Jonesboro.

Skip Holtz of South Florida also shot down the speculation.  “I have not talked to anybody from Arkansas… I am not looking to leave here.  I am not calling anybody.  I am not trying to put my name out there.  I want to be the head football coach here.”

Coaches lie, folks.  So I have no doubt that Malzahn or Holtz would jump at the Arkansas job if it were eventually offered.  After the season.

But to move between spring practice and the fall?  That’s a heckuva mark to put on one’s resume.  Such a move wouldn’t be forgotten.  See: Petrino’s own midseason departure from the Atlanta Falcons.

A new coach would also be walking into a complete mess.  How would players embrace him?  Would he come alone and use Petrino’s old staff?  Would he bring in his own staff and learn Petrino’s system from the players?  Would he implement his own system during fall practice?

The right thing for Long to do is to find the best man for Arkansas this year and let that interim handle things in 2012.  Then, by December, Long will have had plenty of time to uncover the perfect choice for next year… and beyond.

When news of Bobby Petrino’s motorcycle crash took off late last week, we wrote that if the coach lost his job it would be because a) he lied to his bosses, and/or b) he put the University of Arkansas in a position to be sued.  It would not be because he had cheated on his wife.  Hiring the person he had an inappropriate relationship with would be the much bigger problem, in our view.

The longer AD Jeff Long dug into the situation, the more clear it became that UA didn’t want to can Petrino unless the outlook was just too bleak.  Yesterday we wrote that if the coach were axed, it would be “because there’s so much dirt behind the scenes and on the horizon” that the school couldn’t keep him.

Turns out, the lie to his superiors, the hiring of his mistress, and a we-all-just-learned-about-it $20,000 gift from the coach to Jessica Dorrell did indeed go on behind the scenes.  Oh, and he hired her over 158 other candidates.  And that could open the school up to lawsuits from 159 people including Dorrell herself for sexual harassment.

Also, Long said last night that Petrino’s relationship with the UA employee had lasted for “a significant period of time.”  In other words, he’s been lying about that relationship — we assume — for quite a while.

Add it all up and you’ll understand why Petrino was shown the door last night.  Despite the fact that he was worth millions to the school.

Now, to any rational person there’s no question Long and the UA administration did the right thing — you can’t have an employee openly lie to you and put the university in jeopardy from a legal standpoint.

As Long said last night:

“He made the decision, a conscious decision, to mislead the public on Tuesday, and in doing so negatively and adversely affected the reputation of the University of Arkansas and our football program.  In short, coach Petrino engaged in a pattern of misleading and manipulative behavior designed to decieve me and members of the athletic staff, both before and after the motorcycle accident…

Coach Petrino abused his authority when over the past few weeks he made a staff decision and personal choices that benefited himself and jeopardized the integrity of the football program.”

Aside from a few saps, there’s not a boss in the world who would have retained Petrino.  As ever, it was the lie that got him, the cover-up.  As we said Friday, Jim Tressel and Bruce Pearl learned that lesson in 2011.  Petrino either doesn’t have ESPN or he didn’t pay attention to those coaches’ sagas.  How else could he lie to the press and to his bosses?  And how could Long or UA chancellor G. David Gearhart ever trust him again after he’d lied to them?

And let’s be clear to the “we all fib every now and again” crowd, Petrino didn’t lie about who drank the last gulp of coffee in the break room.  He lied about a police investigation and a relationship with a subordinate.  UA had no choice but to dismiss him.

Unfortunately, the departure of Petrino only raises more questions for a program that had clearly been on the rise.  Here are a few:

1.  Will Long suffer a backlash?

On Friday, Andy Staples of SI.com warned that Long was in a precarious situation.  Having lived in both East Tennessee and Central Ohio, this writer told you that there was considerable backlash against the men who fired Pearl at Tennessee and Tressel at Ohio State despite the fact that those ADs and those schools really had little choice otherwise.  (You can find both articles here.)

Anyone who saw the riots at Penn State when Joe Paterno was sacked knows that there will always be a portion of fans who worry only about wins, nothing else.  If Vladimir Putin could coach ball, there’d be plenty of folks more than happy for their school to hire him.

So how much trouble is Long in after making this move?  As of last night the messageboards were already lighting up with some folks calling for the AD’s head rather than Petrino’s.  In the end, will Petrino take Long down with him?

CBSSports.com’s ever-excellent scribe Tony Barnhart clearly believes it’s possible:

“As hard as it was for Long to step up and do the right thing and to show extraordinary leadership, the really hard part is just beginning.  In the aftermath of Tuesday’s press conference, Long and Arkansas will be praised for their integrity and deservedly so.  But if Long can’t hire another coach as good as Petrino who can keep the program on an upward cycle, he could be gone by the New Year.  And that would be a shame.”

Long needs the strong support and backing of UA’s chancellor right now.  Last night all he got was a statement from his boss that featured more legalese than “we’re behind ya” comments:

“This is a sad day for the University of Arkansas and Razorback sports.  After a thorough review, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long has made his decision.  Mr. Petrino’s contract establishes a process by which he may have his termination decision reviewed.  Under that process, the review would ultimately come to me for consideration and action.  Given my role in the review process as Chancellor, I must decline further comment on today’s announcement.”

Translation: “We’re doing things the buttoned-up way.  Petrino’s contract says he can bring his firing to me if he feels it was an unfair decision and I would have to make a ruling supporting him or supporting my AD in that case.  So I can’t say anything about it lest it appear that I’m already biased against the coach.”

Long must have known before dismissing Petrino that he would have Gearhart’s backing if push came to shove.

How far that will go with Razorback fans if UA’s program starts to dip is anyone’s guess.  But if the Hogs do take a step back, Petrino should get the blame… not Long.

2.  How much will this move cost Arkansas financially?

Well, according to the letter that Long sent to Petrino — yep, he fired him with a letter, not in a face-to-face meeting — the school is ditching the coach with cause.  Meaning no multimillion dollar buyout.  That’s a plus because there could be millions that will need to be coughed up in other directions shortly.

The school could face a sexual harassment suit from Dorrell (more on that later).  The school could face a wrongful termination suit from Petrino (more on that later).  The school could possibly face lawsuits from some or all of the 158 people passed over when Petrino hired Dorrell for a $50,000+ job in his football department.

The school is also on the hook for a multimillion dollar football complex that’s being built.  Will those who’ve committed cash to the project suddenly pull their dollars now that Petrino’s not in charge of things anymore?

Also, bringing in a new coach might not be as easy as one might think.  Arkansas was a program on the move and the school has great fan support.  There’s money all around and the school’s in the SEC, the launching pad to national championships.  At the same time, the school’s in the SEC.  As good as Petrino had been, he hadn’t even reached Atlanta from the cutthroat SEC West (which is now adding Texas A&M).  He’d had just two years of Top 10 success.  That’s it.  Prospective coaches won’t confuse Arkansas for Alabama tradition-wise.

Also Petrino’s offensive system allowed him to win without five-star recruits.  Any new coach would know that Arkansas is a talent-poor state, so he better have a darn good system of his own.  And he would also know that living up to Petrino’s success and popularity would be a difficult challenge.

Someone will jump at the Arkansas job, sure, but they may ask for a bit more than the going rate to take over a program that’s in a real bind at the moment.

3.  So who will Arkansas hire?

Many names are already floating around: Butch Davis (would you hire a man who lost his job in a mess to come clean up a mess?), Gus Malzahn (would Arkansas want an unproven head coach from lil’ brother, Arkansas State?) and Charlie Strong (Louisville’s coach is a defense-first guy, just the opposite of Petrino).  South Florida’s Skip Holtz has been mentioned.  Ditto Mark Hudspeth of Louisiana-Lafayette.  Inside the SEC, James Franklin and Dan Mullen are viewed as up-and-comers.

And we’ll throw out Jon Gruden’s name just because someone always throws out Jon Gruden’s name.

But the name most mentioned at this point is that of Garrick McGee.  Former Hog quarterback Ryan Mallett was already campaigning for the ex-Razorback offensive coordinator via Twitter last night.  “GM only coach Ark should look at if they wanna win now,” he wrote before following up to make it clear he was referring to McGee, not Malzahn.

McGee is in his first spring at UAB.  Would he leave that school so quickly?

Are you kidding?  For Arkansas?  Yes, he’d leave.

But he might not take the gig right now.

4.  Will Arkansas hire a new coach after the spring or use an interim for the year?

Many Razorback fans believe this is the year they’ll vault past LSU and Alabama and into the SEC title game.  Maybe so.  If not, they can blame Petrino.

Currently, Long intends to keep the current staff in place through spring — including Petrino’s brother, Paul, the Hogs’ offensive coordinator.  (Tell me that’s not going to be uncomfortable.)  Taver Johnson — just hired from Ohio State — will continue to run the team as it completes spring drills.

It is believed Long will then open a search to see who might be available.  In late-April, early-May.

In our view, Arkansas would be better off bringing in an interim coach for one season than making a hasty move.  Stealing McGee from UAB — if Long chose to do that — would only lead to catcalls from the national press.  The AD would have taken the high road with regards to Petrino… and then backdoored another school’s season.  (Of course, he also backdoored the NFL’s Falcons’ season when he grabbed Petrino, so he’s not above such a move.)

The Razorback program has had its ups and downs.  It should be looking for someone who can bring consistent ups.  The longer the vetting process, the better.  Imagine if Long could spend the entire fall scouring the country for the right person, the right fit, the right coach?

Long — and Hog fans are gonna scream about this take — must be willing to sacrifice the 2012 season for the long-term stability and good of the program.  Perhaps an interim coach can win big with the unit Petrino’s put in place.  If the ex-coach’s brother stays on to run the offense, all system’s should still be go for UA this fall.

Better to take the time to find the absolute best fit than to make a rushed decision.  The last school to do that in the SEC was Tennessee following Lane Kiffin’s surprising exit (more on him later) and that landed UT Derek Dooley.  Dooley hasn’t exactly torn things up as of yet.

5.  What’s Petrino’s next move?

The coach released a statement last night apologizing for his behavior:

“As a result of my personal mistakes, we will not get to finish our goal of building a championship program.  My sole focus at this point is trying to repair the damage I’ve done to my family.  They did not ask for any of this and deserve better.  I am committed to being a better husband, father and human being as a result of this and will work each and every day to prove that to my family, friends and others.”

So he’s walking away quietly?  Not necessarily.  His statement also included this paragraph:

“I’m sure you heard Jeff Long’s reasons for termination.  There was a lot of information shared.  Given the decision that has been made, this is not the place to debate Jeff’s view of what happened.  In the end, I put him in the position of having to sort through my mistakes and that is my fault.”

That suggests Petrino might choose to “debate” Long’s view of what happened somewhere else at some other point.  That could mean in a review with Gearhart in which he angles for some type of buyout.  Or it could mean in a courtroom if things get contentious enough.  We doubt Petrino will sue because it doesn’t appear he has much of a case — he was rightfully terminated — and he surely won’t want to put his family through a court fight.

But it’s possible.

6.  What’s up with Dorrell?

Dorrell was a consenting adult in all of this mess, but as Petrino’s subordinate, she will be harder to fire than her boss. Long would not comment on her situation last night.  Friends have said that she’s basically gone into hiding after all of this.

Personally, I feel for Dorrell… and for Petrino.  They’re human — whether you like him, her, neither or both — and they failed.  There’s no one reading this who hasn’t failed at one time or another in terms of their morality.  And in case you feel like commenting that their failures are greater than your failures, congratulations, you just failed.  “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

Petrino earned his ouster.  Dorrell — from what we know — earned one, too.  That doesn’t mean they should be taken to the city gates and stoned.

7.  Who will give Petrino his next shot?

In his career, the book on Petrino is that — at best — he’s an opportunist.  While at Louisville he went behind his AD’s back to try and grab the job of Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, his former employer.  With the Atlanta Falcons, he skipped town midseason leaving goodbye notes for his players and egg on the face of the owner who’d hired him.

Now this.

But Petrino wins football games.  He turns programs around quickly.  He can even do it in college football’s toughest division.  And he doesn’t need Top 10 recruiting classes to do it.

There will come a time when another AD will step to a podium and introduce a “changed” Petrino who is deserving of a second chance.  It’ll happen.  Guaranteed.  Start the clock.

8.  Who will be the next SEC coach to flame out?

The book on Petrino when he was hired was that he was a bad dude.  Long and the Razorback faithful looked the other way, defended their coach, and then got burned.

Kiffin — who we mentioned above — was called an out-and-out liar by former employer Al Davis when Tennessee hired him.  Davis said he would screw up the UT program.  Vol fans called Davis a kook, defended their coach, and then got burned.

Tressel — also mentioned above — had a history of NCAA transgressions while winning national titles at Youngstown State.  When John Cooper didn’t beat Michigan enough, Ohio State called Tressel back to Columbus.  Buckeye fans defended Tressel even as ooze began to leak out regarding Maurice Clarett and Tyrelle Pryor.  They too got burned.

Coaches with bad reputations tend to have bad reputations for a reason.  So who in the SEC fits that mold today?  How ’bout John Calipari at Kentucky?

We always take a beating from fans of the other SEC schools whenever we point out that UK’s coach has never been found guilty of any wrongdoing by the NCAA.  None.  Well, today we’ll take a beating from Kentucky fans for pointing out that that school looked the other way regarding Calipari’s reputation, they’ve defended him against all attacks, and — if history repeats itself — they could wind up getting burned at some point down the line.

Now, some Petrino/Arkansas national headlines:

Arkansas’ Long does right by the school as Petrino does wrong by everyone

With Petrino out, who’s next at Arkansas

Arkansas was ultimately left with no other option but to fire Petrino

Right call: Losing Bobby Petrino

Petrino ouster leaves huge hole for Hogs

And now for some headlines out of the Natural State:

Petrino Fired After Jeopardizing Integrity Of Program

Long did what he thought was best for UA

Long has had this task before

What Arkansas Players (Past, Former, Future) Are Saying

Bobby Petrino Is Out, Now Where Does Jeff Long Turn For A Razorback Coach?

Arkansas has fired football coach Bobby Petrino, according to Chris Low and Joe Schad of ESPN.

The school has called a press conference for tonight at 8:15 eastern time, at which point athletic director Jeff Long is expected to announce Petrino will not return to Arkansas.

Long held an impromptu press conference late Thursday night after learning Petrino had failed to inform his boss that football program employee Jessica Dorrell had been a passenger during his April 1 motorcycle accident. Petrino later admitted to having a “previous inappropriate relationship” with a woman. The Associated Press reported Monday what had been widely assumed – that relationship was with Dorrell.

Long was unable to answer many questions in detail on Thursday night. Expect him to have a much greater explanation this time.

Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com isn’t my favorite writer.  I believe he is brash and abrasive for the sake of being brash and abrasive… because that kind of thing is what stands out, grabs pageviews and equals dollars into today’s media world.

Ironically, Doyel writes today that it could be dollars that save Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino.  There’s nothing new in what Doyel opines and — to be honest — it’s a little surprising that he didn’t immediately wonder if Petrino’s value to Arkansas might save his hyde.  Most everyone else did.

That said, here’s part of his take on why the Razorback administration might be dragging its feet on giving Petrino the boot:


“Maybe Petrino won’t remain in his job for long, once Arkansas concludes its review of his motorcycle crash/cover-up, but I’m not hopeful.  Which is to say, I’m not naive and gullible.  Not anymore.  Not as naive and gullible as I was a few days ago, anyway, when the news first broke of Jessica Dorrell’s position under Petrino (ahem) and I fired off a scathing missive that said of course Petrino would be fired.  Because I was under the illusion on Friday that real-world rules applied to the Candyland that is college football.

Don’t I feel dumb.

Over the weekened I did some research, read everything I could read about the marriage in question, and realized Arkansas probably can’t afford to divorce Bobby Petrino.  He is the biggest provider for the Arkansas athletic department, and not because he’s the football coach — but because he’s the best football coach in Arkansas history.  Since Petrino got the Hogs rolling in 2009, accoridng to Forbes magazine, the value of the Arkansas football program has increased more than any football program in the country (59 percent), all the way to $89 million.  That value will skyrocket ever higher once the school completes construction on its 80,000-square-foot football facility, a facility that will cost at least $35 million, a facility helped along by Petrino’s run of success.

A facility that has not been paid for, as yet.

The school has commitments for much of the money, but a commitment is not cash.  And those commitments were made by donors under the impression that Bobby Petrino would be the coach working in that new facility.”


Whether it’s a crime or a college athletic department, always follow the money, folks.  If Petrino were losing games in front of a partially-filled stadium he would already be gone.  That statement should shock no one.  And it works the other way, too.

How many times have we written on this site that the fans — not the ADs and presidents — hold the futures of their favorite schools’ coaches in their hands?  If attendance drops and donations dry up, forget the positive track record, the A+ NCAA compliance, and the positive influence stuff.  None of that matters.  If a coach isn’t putting rumps in seats he’s a goner.

See: Rick Stansbury this season.  He is the winningest coach in Mississippi State history.  But disappointed Bulldog fans stopped coming to games and he “retired” after the season.

Go back to 2008 and the end of Phillip Fulmer’s reign at Tennessee.  He’d won a national title and two SEC crowns in 16 seasons at his alma mater, but when Alabama fans took over Neyland Stadium in 2008, we wrote that the clock was ticking down on his tenure.  Turns out, Fulmer lasted one more game before being forced to announce his resignation.

It’s all about the money.  If a school’s making it, then a coach is hard to touch (Petrino).  If a school’s revenue stream starts to decline, any coach can be given his walking papers.

If Petrino is ousted, it will because there’s so much dirt behind the scenes and on the horizon that the school can’t possibly find a way to save him.  Because they most definitely want to save him.  Doyel’s right on that one.  Petrino’s too valuable not to save.