The amount of grace extended to Bobby Petrino is dumbfounding. Second chances are all fine and good, but he’s gotten enough to deserve a classification all to himself.
Petrino has had enough chances and doesn’t deserve another shot at being an NCAA Division I head coach.
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Apparently, Arkansas doesn’t feel that way and just granted him one more, although this one comes with an interim tag at the moment.
Let’s recount his greatest hits that he’s been absolved from before moving on to another head coaching job:
There was the airplane rendezvous with Auburn representatives during his first stint at Louisville that he lied about ever taking place when initially confronted by The Courier Journal. Then he left the Atlanta Falcons a short letter as he slipped out in the middle of the night in 2007. The infamous motorcycle ride from hell and the cover-up that ensued led to his dismissal from Arkansas in 2012.
He fizzled out so bad at the end of his second stint at Louisville that then-athletics director Vince Tyra had to let the whole family go with two weeks left in the 2018 season. Tyra fired Petrino’s son Nick, who was the quarterbacks coach; along with linebackers coach Ryan Beard and defensive line coach L.D. Scott, who were both his sons-in-law; to keep them from drawing unnecessary fire and more screams of nepotism.
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The Razorbacks should know better. They should know this isn’t going to end well for Petrino. It’s never been a smooth exit for him when he’s been in the spotlight; it’s always been a crash landing. (Perhaps the only time it wasn’t was in his three seasons at Missouri State from 2020-22, but even then he left after a five-game losing streak and a 5-6 record to become the offensive coordinator at UNLV.)
Arkansas fired head coach Sam Pittman after suffering its third straight loss Saturday, a 56-13 smackdown at home by Notre Dame. Petrino is reportedly vying to get the interim tag removed and be considered for the job permanently.
Petrino’s first move with his interim tag in place was to fire three defensive assistants. That included coordinator Travis Williams, who was nominated for the Broyles Award — which recognizes the best assistant coach in college football —in each of the last two seasons.
The defense hadn’t been great, but it’s far from the only problem with the Razorbacks.
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They lost a shootout at No. 4 Ole Miss 41-35 in a game in which they missed two field-goal attempts.
They squandered a 28-10 lead against Memphis in a 32-31 loss. And while the narrative quickly formed that the defense gave up the lead, the flip side is their offense had two turnovers and only managed a field goal in the second half.
And this so-called high-powered offense that ranks eighth nationally in total offense could only muster 13 points against the Irish. Just 13 points at home to a Notre Dame defense that ranked 96th in total yards allowed per game and is now 98th in scoring defense. (It can thank Arkansas’ performance for helping it crack the top 100.)
The only reason Petrino should be back in charge is if Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek has outsmarted us all. What if he’s putting Petrino in this position to lead because he’s looked at the remaining seven games on the schedule and doesn’t believe Petrino will emerge unscathed.
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The Razorbacks play five ranked teams starting with an Oct. 11 trip to No. 15 Tennessee, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 13 LSU, No. 7 Texas and No. 18 Missouri. Their two home games outside of those opponents are Auburn, which has won the last four games in Fayetteville dating back to 2015; and Mississippi State, which has won nine of the last 13 in the series.
There are no easy wins here.
Maybe this murderers’ row of games is what it will take to finally end the string of athletics directors and university presidents willing to prop up Petrino before his inevitable fall.
Until that happens, assume the crash position. We’ve all seen how this ride is going to end.
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Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Arkansas football has given Bobby Petrino one chance too many
