OT: a minor heads up on the Petrino situation.
Just got done watching the Fayetteville local news, and there was footage of a rally outside the UA athletic department. People pleading for them to keep Petrino. I simply can't wait until the players lie to the NCAA about something and say "well our coach lied to his boss, why can't we". Have to love that win at all costs mentality. WOO PIG FOOOIEEEEE
It was Joe Roberson. Bo was out of town when that went down and the common feeling at the time was it would have had a different outcome had he been around. It was reported that Mo was offered treatment for his drinking and was fired after he refused. That being said, very few people know what might have gone on behind the scenes before Mo's public incident.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^
Knowing he would never do that. Dude wanted him out, so he could take back control of athletics. And tried doing it behind Bo's back while he was out of town. Bo told Mo not to do or sign anything till he got back, but Mo wasn't in a great frame of mind. If Bo had been around we wouldn't have changed coaches. So the original point "remember Mo?" actually shows that we would have excused it too if Bo was around to excuse it. It ended up getting Dude pushed out, because he made his power play without consulting the regents. Who weren't all on his side in the matter.
Part of the problem at Penn State, probably a big part, was that the football program and the coach had gotten too powerful. Bad decisions were made to protect the program. No one was willing to stand up to Paterno. I don't think that lesson has gone unnoticed at schools across the country.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
Do you lobby for a pro-infidelity group or something? I mean, congrats on taking a very unpopular position in defending an indefensible situation. I find it almost funny what an absolute ass Petrino is and comparing his actions to those of bigger asses (Pitino) is idiotic. I mean, he's a somewhat overweight ugly 50-something year old man being forced to put 5.5/10 mistress on the payroll of a public institution and riding a motorcycle (LOLish mid-life crisis) and crashing it.... oh yeah he also cheated on his wife and I imagine he has kids (I bet they get to hear some pretty funny comments about their dad banging a sub-par looking slut, who was also cheating on her fiancee). Classy group you're choosing to defend.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:35 AM ^
Wow, talk about a sraw man argument.
NO ONE is saying Petrino ought to be fired for having extramarital sex. I think we're all with you there--we could care less who he sleeps with, or if he knocks back a few too many on Saturdays, or whatever. The issue is that he put his mistress on the payroll and then subsequently lied about the whole thing after the accident. Like always, the cover-up is the biggest crime.
Having sex with someone other than your wife is not a crime. Having sex with someone you've just hired (presumably, precisely because you're having sex with her) IS a crime, and for good reason. One isn't a fireable offense, one is.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:00 PM ^
Petrino having sex with this gal isn't a crime. It is dumb and it may be a fireable offense, but a consensual sexual relationship between employee-employer (especially a pre-existing one, which it looks like this is) is not a crime anywhere I'm aware of.
And I'm not saying he shouldn't be fired. I'm pointing out that it isn't some grand moral issue and that it will likely blow over shortly if he isn't given the boot, just like the Pitino situation did. If they fire him they will be able to act self-righteous for a moment and will stem the tide of embarassing press. If they don't can him, the news cycle will soon move on to something else and the Arkansas football program will continue to chug along (probably with a good deal more success than they've had with most coaches) with the only negative consequence being that people know they have a fairly sleazy guy as their head coach (something we already knew about Petrino in the first place). That is a pragmatic decision on the part of the school and it could go either way without much difference in the results (it certainly won't lead to a rampant increase in sex offenders on campus as one poster suggested). I'm saying it doesn't matter one way or the other and the hystrionics we're seeing about the case even in this thread come from an douchey, judgmental place.
I agree things get like that at times (Tiger Woods, anyone?) but Petrino's story is more complex than him sleeping around.
I simply can't wait until the players lie to the NCAA about something and say "well our coach lied to his boss, why can't we". - from the OP
That is more or less the core reason why I would hope that the University of Arkansas think about the potential message sent by giving Petrino anything less than a severe reprimand if not canning him outright. It's not just the fact that they should be deeply offended professionally that the man should feel the need to lie to them and potentially incinerate several clauses in his contract in the process (if there was an "ethics" portion), but it is the message you send will define the character of your program.
One of the great things about our coaches at Michigan, past and present, is that they've tried to develop "players as people", if you will, not only giving them skills to use on the field, but in life as well. It's something that contributes to why we are "the leaders and best". We put our leaders on the field into leadership roles in life later on. It takes a special sort of person to be able to balance these things, and we're fortunate to have someone who can do it in Brady Hoke.
You could also go the other route and develop great players who are short on character too, and teach your players that all that matters is indeed winning, as the rally participants at Arkansas seem to prefer. Actually, if that is what you want, you don't really need a head coach for that, at least not an effective one. There are plenty of coaches - qualified for D-1 play or not - out there who are technically gifted but suck at people development. If winning is all that matters, the bar is alarmingly low.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Pitino impregnated a waitress after the restaurant closed. (She testified that it lasted only a few minutes -lol). His problem was he got his staff involved in the cover up and then she blackmailed him.
I do not think she was married at the time and certainly not to a staff member.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ^