Published April 11, 2012 - 8:20am
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It would be inaccurate to look at Bobby Petrino’s firing as a case of “ethics and morals” trumping wins. Judging by his Tuesday evening press conference, Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long was not engaged in moral grandstanding or some Roger Goodell-like effort to show everyone that he was in charge. Long made a calculated long-term decision that he believed was in the best interest of the Razorbacks football program. We won’t know if he’s right for at least a year, maybe longer.
Obviously, the reaction of many Arkansas fans will be concern for the immediate future. A team that finished 11-2 last year with a returning starting quarterback and dates against division rivals Alabama and LSU at home in 2012 are signals to many Razorback supporters that Long should have overlooked Petrino’s actions. But Alabama and LSU are perennial powers. Even with Petrino’s recent success, Arkansas remains at a competitive disadvantage in the SEC West because of its relative lack of in-state talent. Recruiting matters at every SEC school, but it’s at a premium in Fayetteville, and this is where Petrino’s misconduct threatened to do serious harm to the football product down the line.
The last thing Arkansas can afford to be is a national punchline. And the longer Jeff Long kept Bobby Petrino around, the more laughter there would be. Long admitted it was the “negative publicity” of Petrino’s motorcycle accident—and the “inappropriate relationship” with Jessica Dorrell that it unraveled—that proved the “key factor” in Long’s decision to fire Petrino for cause. As I noted last week, what the media calls the “morals clause” in Petrino’s contract is really a “bad publicity” clause.
But this wasn’t just about some today’s headlines. It was about Arkansas’ ability to remain competitive in recruiting with Alabama, LSU and the rest of the SEC West. We all know that negative recruiting is a big part of the game. Anything that publicly damages a coach’s reputation is fair game. (Heck, even rumors of things you can’t prove are “fair” game.) Moreover, once you’re in the media’s crosshairs, their tendency is to keep digging until they find even more stuff to embarrass or destroy you with. Jeff Long has been an athletic director long enough to understand this.
Let’s also remember that it was Petrino, not Long or the media, who made his “inappropriate relationship” a football matter when he hired Jessica Dorrell as a direct report on his staff. Petrino could have just paid Dorrell off, as Long claims he did, or found her work through a friendly booster outside the university. Instead, Petrino did the most reckless thing possible—he used his influence to hire Dorrell over 148 other applicants where only two other finalists received an interview. And let’s not forget Dorrell’s fiancee was also an employee of the Arkansas athletic department.
Recklessness is really the key word here. All successful coaches are risk-takers. Many of them are quirky. You can overlook quirky if they win enough. Les Miles is quirky. But Bobby Petrino wasn’t caught eating grass. He abused his good relationship with the athletic director to sneak his apparent mistress onto the state payroll. Even in Arkansas, there are standards.
I would also suggest to Petrino’s Arkansas supporters that perhaps it’s better this happened now. Bobby Petrino’s tenure at Arkansas was going to explode at some point. His character and history never suggested a guy who was going to build a stable, long-term championship program. He’s ultimately a coaching thrill-seeker—the 99-cent store Urban Meyer, if you will. If he was reckless enough to act as he did with Dorrell, just imagine what other stunts he would have pulled—or may have pulled—if he hadn’t crashed his motorcycle. At least this explosion didn’t result in NCAA sanctions (like Ohio State) or criminal investigations (like Penn State). Jeff Long just needs to find another football coach.
Good article, Good read. I appreciate and agree with your point of view. Petrino has been on my sh*t list since he quit the Falcons. Yea, you got a raw deal when your francise player goes down. But you take the lemons and make lemonade, most of all, you don’t quit. I like the way Arkansas and Long has handled the situation. No drama in the press, they kept it a private matter. The bottom line is you don’t lie, especially to you boss who is protecting your butt.
The Petrino circus will set it’s tent up in another town. Some University will gobble him up like a pretty dress on a markdown rack. Overall, Arkansas, the SEC are better off without him.
I agree with most of this article, but don’t really appreciate the “even in Arkansas they have standards” line. I would say when surveying the SEC, you should look at Arkansas and be proud of their conduct so far. They haven’t been involved in any Auburn-esque investigations and they haven’t allowed players involved in smashing a marine’s face in at a bar to remain on the field either. Just saying.
I concede it was a flip line. Actually, I wasn’t thinking about the University of Arkansas in comparison to its SEC brethren so much as Arkansas’ political history of sleaze (e.g., Bill Clinton).
Well, how about you keep it to sports there, chief?
Not every Arkansan supports or supported Bill Clinton. Lots of us tried to warn you about him. You outsiders don’t know half of the stuff he did as Gov.
As for Petrino, Long had to fire him. Petrino gave him no choice with his reckless behavior, his lies, and his total disregard for decorum.
I agree that it was a little flippant.. but someone needs a little humor in times like this.. Even I, who grew up just across the River, occassionally joke that I left MS for TX so I could marry outside the family. Petrino had to go, If he had just been caught with a hooker, the problem would be between him & his family, but when he involved the university and lied to his boss, the entire dynamic (and EEOC legal implications) changed. Being a MSU Bulldog fan first, and SEC fan second, I do wish the university all success in all but one game next year.
Absolutely.
Thank you amybradley, well said!
Even in Arkansas? What’s that supposed to mean?
When Alabama dropped Mark Price before a single game, a lot of people thought it was a bad move. But the SEC is still in the South and the entire region tends to have a more conservative morality than the rest of the country, and if you have a coach of dubious morals families are going to push recruits to other schools which hurts your recruiting and program in the long run. This is definitely the right move for Arkansas if they want to keep getting quality talent, especially with Malzahn now recruiting on the same turf. So, yes, this was the right move for Arkansas.
And people, the “even in Arkansas,” line is a joke. Don’t take everything so seriously.
The reactions to “even in arkansas” is nothing compared to the people of Alabama getting pissed about William Wallace saying there’s probably not a zoo in Alabama…. http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/poisoning-trees-whats-next/
Hilarious.. .
Let’s not lose our ability to poke fun at each other please…
At least none of the angry comments are mine even though I did find that one of his least humorous. “Paul Bunyan was a serial killer of trees and we call him a Folk Hero”? HH can do better than that.
WW not HH. That’s what I get for trying to listen to the radio and type before the coffee has kicked in.
A little dog was crossing the railroad tracks, when a train came by and cut off a little bit of its’ tail. The dog spun around to see what happened, and the train cut off its’ head. The moral?…….Don’t lose your head over a little tail.