Missouri State getting blasted for giving Bobby Petrino yet another head coaching opportunity
Bobby Petrino is back in the news as Missouri State announced the former Louisville coach has been named the 21st coach in program history on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Missouri State is scheduled to travel to Arkansas on Sept. 17, 2022. While there’s a slim chance Petrino is still at Missouri State at that time, we can dream!
Petrino sat last season out after being fired from Louisville at the end of the 2018 season. Petrino, of course, has also coached Arkansas, the Atlanta Falcons, Western Kentucky and several other spots as an assistant but it seems wherever he coaches, he often leaves the program off in worse shape than when he inherited it.
That’s the prevailing reaction among those that have heard the news of Petrino’s hiring at Missouri State.
Just check out some of the instant reactions from around the nation to the news:
Update: Bobby Petrino is the new head coach at FCS Missouri State.. Hopefully for this program, they'll have some Scott Satterfield type guy waiting in the wings to pump some life back into the place after Petrino guts it. https://t.co/KgoQhPxnLJ
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 15, 2020
It has to be disheartening to all of the hard-working coaches hungry for their shot to see schools like Missouri State recycle a guy like Bobby Petrino. His track record is known and easy to find. Bears fans should push back. Your team and school is being mocked, for good reason.
— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) January 15, 2020
Imagine being an up and coming minority coordinator, looking for a shot to take over an FCS program, and missing out because a school decided it would be better to hire fucking Bobby Petrino again
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) January 15, 2020
Missouri State picked Bobby Petrino over Art Briles? Well, that’s definitely….better.
— Hogtrough (@Hogtrough) January 15, 2020
Missouri State reportedly hiring Bobby Petrino as their head football coach.
Yes. This Bobby Petrino. pic.twitter.com/QQKiLZg8NT— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) January 15, 2020
When your coaching search comes down to Art Briles and Bobby Petrino pic.twitter.com/EJVZ671dwj
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) January 15, 2020
Bobby Petrino has a head coaching job again in college football. Missouri State is the latest in a long line of places willing to have his tenure end badly on its watch.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) January 15, 2020
Missouri State sounds like a fictional college in a movie.
Never heard of it.
It’s in a place called the “boot toe”.
The reason you wouldn’t have heard about it, is because it is recently the former South West Mo State. IE directional trying to be a non-directional school. (It’s still VERY MUCH a directional)
The odd thing is people think Petrino can “destroy” a near last place fcs program. It’s like asking “how far down is down”.
The other interesting thing is SW Mo puts Petrino VERY close to Fayetteville, and potentially more ass.t Volleyball coaches, hmmm, how many did he have shacked up?
Springfield is Missouri’s third largest city so what does that make Columbia? “That place people from Jeff City go on the weekends?”
Yes, Bobby Petrino has had some major past transgressions & “off the field” issues…but, you know…he’s a good offensive coach and can mentor a QB a lot better than many others in the College Head Coaching position. And now he’s a little older and maybe realizes that he must “walk that line” straight and narrow. As a Head Coach, Missouri State could have done a lot worse. Time will tell.
The people making this ignorant comments clearly have no concept of the program’s history. Missouri State has not made the FCS playoffs since 1990. The program is a perennial bottom feeder in the MVFC. There has been consistent talk over the years about cutting the football program and many students, faculty and alumni question why the program exists. In replacing Steckel, there was even discussion of going to the high school ranks in SWMO to find a replacement. The narrative about the young more deserving coaches unfairly being turned away is the opposite of reality. This is a home run hire for MSU.
Thank you for the context. This hire actually makes a lot more sense now.
Another point to consider- MO State’s athletic department budget has always been tight. It took forever to get rid of Paul Lusk as the men’s basketball coach due to concerns over his buyout, which was effectively only a couple hundred thousand dollars. Similarly, I think the reason Steckel stayed so long was due to buyout concerns despite a complete lack of success and regression on the field. His buyout was also only a few hundred thousand dollars. Like Steckel, Petrino’s salary is only about $250,000 a year.
So they hired Petrino as a fund raiser?
If he (Petrino) leaves to take another job or is fired with cause then the school will receive funds…
This 100%… Honestly this is a desperation move by MSU as probably the only way to pump some semblance of life into the program. As surprising as it is I’m shocked Bobby would even take the job, not getting any results there would be him going out with a whimper instead of a bang…
yeah, but if he can get MoState competitive at that level in THAT conference then P5 schools will definitely be calling again, maybe not the heavy hitters but P5 none-the-less.
Agreed. Honestly, I think that his undoing at Louisville had less to do with performance (he only had one bad year) and much more to do with UL purging anything and anyone associated with Tom Jurich and the fallout of the Adidas scandal.
It probably will wind up being a smart move for the Bears, for one thing people WHO WOULD NEVER talk about the Bears are actually talking about them, and yes, Petrino is a pretty decent SCORING coach. (innuendo challenge made)
This still isn’t as bad as if a P5 school were to hire DJ Durkin…
“Mo State” (aka Southwest Missouri State) went from being Mizzou’s little brother to their crazy weird uncle overnight!
I have never understood Mizzou’s animosity toward MSU, even trying to prevent the name change. That just shows that you view MSU not as little brother but as a legitimate threat to Mizzou’s status as the state’s flagship university. That said, I think it’s equally stupid Arkansas won’t schedule other AR schools for what is basically the same reason.
it’s an effin’ joke, dude
and no, there’s never been any ‘threat’ to the flagship status.
Except of course in college baseball which they are extremely good at!
nah it’s just stupid, it’s like North East changing to Truman State hoping it won’t sound so directional.
You little smallville 2 block campuses just need to be what you are.
I mean, MSU’s enrollment is over 20,000 students so it’s not really the small school you are describing and makes sense for them to want to enhance their profile to align with their growth. S&T did the same thing no longer wanting to be UMR. To be fair, S&T is the better engineering school so it makes sense that they would want to establish a separate brand identity.
Truman State at least changed just about everything with its identity when it changed. Now considered one of the best value schools in the country… by basically stripping out everything but the education and sprinkling in some depression.
Are you kidding me?! This is a great hire!! It’s Missouri-freakin-State! Recruiting will instantly be better, and so to will the win column. It’s kinda hard to gut a program that has this team’s record. There’s practically NO way that this won’t work for this school, wherever it is..
It’s in Missouri.
Not far from U of Arky, lot’s of hawgs in the area code.
I’d say Springfield is probably about the same distance from Columbia as it is Fayetteville. But yes. Large UA presence. Especially since UA offers in state tuition to neighboring states, it’s becoming a popular option for Springfield kids.
No
The Oracle,,, winner winner chicken dinner! You are 100% correct my friend. Even if Petrino gets the program canceled they would probably still come out of it ahead.
Not so many hog fans ad when MU was in the middle of 17 losing seasons. Pre pinkel. And I’m do happy because I worked hard to send them packing.
It’s been about 5 years since I’ve moved from Springfield, but i remember the women’s basketball team being the gem of the school. Even went to a handful of games and the arena was usually 70% full. Drive by the football field during a home game and it looked like just the players family was there. I really don’t think that town cares about the football program or who is coaching it.
See above comment. I also lived in Springfield until just recently. Plaster Stadium is incredibly dated and the apathy, due to the lack of success and perennial losing, have caused many to question whether the program should be cut, especially given recent budget cuts within the university. The president of the university, Clif Smart, has said he won’t be the president to cut football, given the budget issues and the fact that the team has not been good for about 30 years, it’s a fair question to ask. That said, if the football team were to turn it around, I think the fan support would be there within the community. The administration has tried. The Dave Steckel experiment failed but everyone was pretty upbeat when he was first hired. Hiring Petrino shows the administration is trying to right the ship and still cares about football in Springfield.
Hilarious!
It’s also known as the Queen city of the Ozarks and is held in much higher regard than Rogers, Bentonville and yes even fayettevol. Also the home town of a very much respected and loved fan of MU who often opines in this very site. Home of Peanut Adams and DGB. And where Larry flint was incarcerated for a while. Where cashew chicken was invented by Leong and NBA player Winston Garland played along with former women’s NCAA record scorer Jackie stile who took state to a final four for the second time. The area where MLB pitchers Scott bailed and Jim. Mickey mantle begun his career here. Wild bill to cook shot a man on the square etc. An hour from where MS wilder wrote her books. Just a quaint little town that as far as the Ozark hillbillies go is Queen.
It would be quite a feat if petrino could possibly leave it in worse shape.
but it seems wherever he coaches, he often leaves the program off in worse shape than when he inherited it.
Money line of the article. 100% true