Bobby Petrino, Head Coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks

[Mith242]

I've been hesitant to start new topics with this being the typical slow period for the forum. But there's been some interest in a separate topic so here it is. I even threw in a poll too. Although I also didn't want to delve too much into this and make it seem like fanning any flames of controversy over the hire. I'm just curious to see what people think. I suppose our future meetings with Auburn might be a bit more interesting now. Petrino was the coach that Auburn tried to hire behind Tubberville's back. Granted I also think Tubberville mainly used us to get an extension recently. What would be even more interesting is the reception Petrino would get when we get back to the SEC Championship. Assuming of course he's still here. I admit I do wonder how long he'll be here. Every year he was at Louisville he was looking for another job. But I do think he's been trying to get into the SEC and now that he's here there's the chance he could stay for a bit. We also have better facilities here than what he had at Louisville. But if a position comes available at a big school, even a rival like LSU or Florida, I don't think we should be too surprised if he leaves. I just hope he stays long enough to help Arkansas up to another level. I admit I figured we'd end up going the route we did with basketball, end up taking a lesser known coach or assistant. So I was a little surprised we actually did end up with a big name coach. Anyway what does everyone else think?

[Stormcrow]

I've been hesitant to start new topics with this being the typical slow period for the forum. But there's been some interest in a separate topic so here it is. I even threw in a poll too. Although I also didn't want to delve too much into this and make it seem like fanning any flames of controversy over the hire. I'm just curious to see what people think. I suppose our future meetings with Auburn might be a bit more interesting now. Petrino was the coach that Auburn tried to hire behind Tubberville's back. Granted I also think Tubberville mainly used us to get an extension recently. What would be even more interesting is the reception Petrino would get when we get back to the SEC Championship. Assuming of course he's still here. I admit I do wonder how long he'll be here. Every year he was at Louisville he was looking for another job. But I do think he's been trying to get into the SEC and now that he's here there's the chance he could stay for a bit. We also have better facilities here than what he had at Louisville. But if a position comes available at a big school, even a rival like LSU or Florida, I don't think we should be too surprised if he leaves. I just hope he stays long enough to help Arkansas up to another level. I admit I figured we'd end up going the route we did with basketball, end up taking a lesser known coach or assistant. So I was a little surprised we actually did end up with a big name coach. Anyway what does everyone else think?

[cowbreath]

I'm just happy we have a coach, but no, I don't think he's the right guy for the job. I don't think he has the patience to rebuild like he's going to have to do. It's obvious from his handling of the job in ATL that he needs specific caliber of players to run his offense and he apparently doesn't have the wherewithall to develop what he needs in players with less inate talents. It'll be a rough couple of years.

[bubba72704]

Yeah, I'm not happy about this, and I don't think he is the right coach for us either. It makes me question the quality and character of our new AD. I've already questioned John White's involvement in the process. Now we have a coach that has left his old team behind abruptly, and I can't be too high on that or respectful of it.

Anyways, I hope he doesn't last one day here.

[zman9810]

My first impression is positive- he's a proven head coach with an exciting offensive philosophy. 41-9 at Lousiville speaks for itself. I think you can throw out this NFL season at Atlanta- no one could have made that situation work. He got put into a no win situation and is making the best of it. First word from the players and recruits seems to be postive. Even Wally Hall thinks it is a home run hire (which makes me question my opinion).

As far as whether or not he would jump ship if he has success- I think it's safe to assume he will, as would any other sane head coach in this day and age. The days of long term careers at one school are over. Now days if you are successful a head coach had better continue that level of success or he will be considered a failure. Unrealistic expectations have made head coaching a unstable situation. Why wait around for the inevitable fan rift and subsequent abuse to follow? After the next few years of struggle there will be a a number of people wanting to fire the whole university administration. Wait- there are already people who want to do that!

[Go Gators]

NO. He's a jerk. Go to ESPN.com and read the story they have about him. It pretty well makes my point.

[Stormcrow]

My first impression is positive- he's a proven head coach with an exciting offensive philosophy. 41-9 at Lousiville speaks for itself. I think you can throw out this NFL season at Atlanta- no one could have made that situation work. He got put into a no win situation and is making the best of it. First word from the players and recruits seems to be postive. Even Wally Hall thinks it is a home run hire (which makes me question my opinion).

As far as whether or not he would jump ship if he has success- I think it's safe to assume he will, as would any other sane head coach in this day and age. The days of long term careers at one school are over. Now days if you are successful a head coach had better continue that level of success or he will be considered a failure. Unrealistic expectations have made head coaching a unstable situation. Why wait around for the inevitable fan rift and subsequent abuse to follow? After the next few years of struggle there will be a a number of people wanting to fire the whole university administration. Wait- there are already people who want to do that!

[cowbreath]

NO. He's a jerk. Go to ESPN.com and read the story they have about him. It pretty well makes my point.

[zman9810]

Who does Louisville play? Big East isn't exactly the SEC...

I think he's destroyed his credibility now so most other top flight schools in a major conference won't give him a passing glance. That said, I think he'll bolt in 2 seasons for a lesser division after he gets our boys creamed during the impending rebuilding process.

I sure hope he proves me wrong though.

[Mith242]

You know I've wondered if the bad publicity he's getting from the way he left Atlanta is a bit of Arkansas' doing in a sense. I really don't think Arkansas wanted to wait till the NFL season was over with to hire a new coach. I think that may have hurt chances of going after Kiffen and then some of the assistant coaches in the NFL as well. But he might have gone ahead and quit anyway even if the Arkansas job wasn't available. While I certainly don't think he's here for the long haul I think he might make it for a few years. Some of the bigger football programs might be a bit hesitant to hire him away from Arkansas immediately. I think he'll have to help get the program going here again before any of the 'bigger' schools would go after him. I also don't think he'd leave Arkansas to go to a smaller school that might be willing to give him a chance. The good thing about getting a 'big name' coach is that I think he'll be able to bring in recruits faster to turn the program around than if we had to settle for an assistant coach few have heard of. He does seem to have a rather tarnished reputation right now but looking at the positives, he really brought Louisville out from nowhere. I hope if he can have the success he had a Louisville that he could help bring some success to Arkansas.

[Mith242]

I think coaching is about getting the most out of what you have to work with. It's about success against your peers at whatever level of competition. Having said that, he took Louisville to a BCS bowl and won- something that has not been done at Arkansas (yet).

The demand for a proven winner is so intense that any school would hire anyone if they can put up the numbers. I'm not saing that is good- just the way it seems to work.

It sounds like there will be token support for the new coach among some fans and then it will be back to the mentality of "run him out of town" again. I can see it now- next practice there will be another plane with a banner flying over the field.

[johnnydr87]

I can't help but think that all this bad press is solidifying his stay here.

When you've got the front page of several sports sections saying you're a drifter and a liar, going after a new coaching position after a year would only feed into that persona. He has a chip on his shoulder with all the bad press, and now he has to prove his loyalty or he'll be lost forever in the coaching scene, with no franchise ever hiring him.

I think he might be in for a good few years.

[Aporkalypse]

I can't help but think that all this bad press is solidifying his stay here.

When you've got the front page of several sports sections saying you're a drifter and a liar, going after a new coaching position after a year would only feed into that persona. He has a chip on his shoulder with all the bad press, and now he has to prove his loyalty or he'll be lost forever in the coaching scene, with no franchise ever hiring him.

I think he might be in for a good few years.

[Mith242]

That's kind of what I thought as well.

You know, Lou Holtz came to Arkansas from the NY Jets after he left with 3 games left. He was 3-10 in his first season as well.

Also, Blank canned Dan Reeves with three games left in the season 3 years ago. Does "giving up" not work both ways?

Petrino has only had one other head coaching job in college. How do we know he won't stay?

[cowbreath]

He could I suppose. But his history seems to suggest otherwise. It might have something to do with how well he does here. But as you and Johnny pointed out with so much negative press I think he'll have to be here for a little while. Although I think as soon as he has a really good season other programs will start trying to court him. But it would be nice to think that he was just always trying to get out of Louisville because well it was Louisville and that he'll be more content to stick around in the SEC. But with his past history I also think Razorback fans have to realize he could only be here for a short time as well.

[KJW]

Couple of thoughts now that the dust is settling:

- I doubt Arkansas will ever be in the top three "destination" coaching jobs (i.e. schools like Southern California, Texas, Florida) for NCAA Division I universities. However, (ESPECIALLY with the changes in NWA like we've discussed all over here) I've been trying to think of reasons why it couldn't be a "top 20" (or higher) such job.

I've really not been able to come up with any.

- We're going to find out what kind of character Coach Petrino has, obviously. Johnnydr and Aporkalypse, I think your scenario is a very distinct possibility. We shall see.

- The Democrat Gazette could have done a LOT of editing but...I thought it to be very telling to read the reaction of Arkansas players and recruits (especially recruits) in the paper yesterday.

The young recruit from Pulaski Academy, a wide receiver, went wild over the news according to the paper. The QB recruit from Camden, when informed by his father of the change, seemed VERY happy with what Coach Petrino was going to bring. And another razorback (a current player) said of Petrino's troubles in Atlanta words to the effect of: "Well, he didn't TELL Micheal Vick to start dogfighting."

I'm not trying whatsoever to belittle the character of these players...I'm sure they're fine young men you'd want as a friend.

However, the players comments to me indicated we're in a different time and culture now. Once upon a time, when loyalty, sacrifice and staying true to one's word were more valued, a coach who'd done some of the things Petrino's done might have been shunned.

Now, however, we're frequently encouraged from all sides to look out for ourselves now. That's the culture these players have been raised in. And that's why, if the reports from the newspaper are accurate, there may have been a lot more excitement than unease with the Petrino news among the current and future razorbacks.

[Stormcrow]

Interesting story if a bit light on real material relating to the headline:

http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/60196/

Given Jones' apparent reaction I'd say it sounds like he's considering it! The way the state of Arkansas and Razorback fans in general have been raked over the coals by the national media for hiring Petrino and his apparent desire to work to keep some talent in the stable and get them degrees makes me much more upbeat about the guy than I was 48 hours ago. I'm more than a just a bit taken aback and offended by some of the sports pundits comments about us because our school hired a coach about whom they have some very specific opinions.

[Mith242]

After watching a rerun of the press conference it turns out he is a pretty unique guy. He's kind of a personality that will need adjusting to, but he answered all of the questions well with real composure. It looks like the other side of the coin is yet to be told in terms of his actions, but he might tell it. No doubt Jeff Long had connections with him in the Big East, and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. At the least though, I'm looking for a guy with honest answers not laced with political rhetoric or fancy two-stepping like Nutt.

[Mith242]

Couple of thoughts now that the dust is settling:

- I doubt Arkansas will ever be in the top three "destination" coaching jobs (i.e. schools like Southern California, Texas, Florida) for NCAA Division I universities. However, (ESPECIALLY with the changes in NWA like we've discussed all over here) I've been trying to think of reasons why it couldn't be a "top 20" (or higher) such job.

I've really not been able to come up with any.

- We're going to find out what kind of character Coach Petrino has, obviously. Johnnydr and Aporkalypse, I think your scenario is a very distinct possibility. We shall see.

- The Democrat Gazette could have done a LOT of editing but...I thought it to be very telling to read the reaction of Arkansas players and recruits (especially recruits) in the paper yesterday.

The young recruit from Pulaski Academy, a wide receiver, went wild over the news according to the paper. The QB recruit from Camden, when informed by his father of the change, seemed VERY happy with what Coach Petrino was going to bring. And another razorback (a current player) said of Petrino's troubles in Atlanta words to the effect of: "Well, he didn't TELL Micheal Vick to start dogfighting."

I'm not trying whatsoever to belittle the character of these players...I'm sure they're fine young men you'd want as a friend.

However, the players comments to me indicated we're in a different time and culture now. Once upon a time, when loyalty, sacrifice and staying true to one's word were more valued, a coach who'd done some of the things Petrino's done might have been shunned.

Now, however, we're frequently encouraged from all sides to look out for ourselves now. That's the culture these players have been raised in. And that's why, if the reports from the newspaper are accurate, there may have been a lot more excitement than unease with the Petrino news among the current and future razorbacks.

[Mith242]

Interesting story if a bit light on real material relating to the headline:

http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/60196/

Given Jones' apparent reaction I'd say it sounds like he's considering it! The way the state of Arkansas and Razorback fans in general have been raked over the coals by the national media for hiring Petrino and his apparent desire to work to keep some talent in the stable and get them degrees makes me much more upbeat about the guy than I was 48 hours ago. I'm more than a just a bit taken aback and offended by some of the sports pundits comments about us because our school hired a coach about whom they have some very specific opinions.

[Mith242]

Apparently there's a $2.85 Mil buyout in Petrino's contract and he also can't to go another SEC West team for a certain time period either. So they're basically trying to make it harder for him to leave. Although I don't think it would keep a big non SEC program from going after him. But you'd still think he's probably here for at least a couple of years.

[KJW]

Mith, (scroll down to near the bottom of this current thread for more)it appears Felix isn't the only "Jones" heavily involved in this coaching decision...

[Stormcrow]

It would be really great if Felix Jones stayed another year. Overall I think it's going to depend on where he's expected to be drafted. If he's projected to go further down he might stay another year and see what he can do without sharing the ball with another huge back. But I couldn't blame him if he did leave. As far as I've seen he's been nothing but class. He's never complained about not getting the ball or being in McFadden's shadow even though he's a great runningback as well.

[Aporkalypse]

Couple of thoughts now that the dust is settling:

- I doubt Arkansas will ever be in the top three "destination" coaching jobs (i.e. schools like Southern California, Texas, Florida) for NCAA Division I universities. However, (ESPECIALLY with the changes in NWA like we've discussed all over here) I've been trying to think of reasons why it couldn't be a "top 20" (or higher) such job.

I've really not been able to come up with any.

- We're going to find out what kind of character Coach Petrino has, obviously. Johnnydr and Aporkalypse, I think your scenario is a very distinct possibility. We shall see.

- The Democrat Gazette could have done a LOT of editing but...I thought it to be very telling to read the reaction of Arkansas players and recruits (especially recruits) in the paper yesterday.

The young recruit from Pulaski Academy, a wide receiver, went wild over the news according to the paper. The QB recruit from Camden, when informed by his father of the change, seemed VERY happy with what Coach Petrino was going to bring. And another razorback (a current player) said of Petrino's troubles in Atlanta words to the effect of: "Well, he didn't TELL Micheal Vick to start dogfighting."

I'm not trying whatsoever to belittle the character of these players...I'm sure they're fine young men you'd want as a friend.

However, the players comments to me indicated we're in a different time and culture now. Once upon a time, when loyalty, sacrifice and staying true to one's word were more valued, a coach who'd done some of the things Petrino's done might have been shunned.

Now, however, we're frequently encouraged from all sides to look out for ourselves now. That's the culture these players have been raised in. And that's why, if the reports from the newspaper are accurate, there may have been a lot more excitement than unease with the Petrino news among the current and future razorbacks.

[nwa_479]

Woo! Bobby Petrino! Better than Jim Grobe...that's all I have to say.