OT: Petrino Fired (per Joe Schad twitter and ESPN)

Submitted by orobs on

https://twitter.com/#!/schadjoe/status/189851517203914752

 

 

Bobby Petrino is out at Arkansas

 

UPDATE (ESPN):

 

Bobby Petrino will not return as head football coach at Arkansas, multiples sources have told ESPN.com's Chris Low.

The university has called an 8:15 p.m. ET press conference at which time athletic director Jeff Long will announce Petrino will not be back.

PurpleStuff

April 10th, 2012 at 7:19 PM ^

The guy went to a BCS bowl at Arkansas and won one at Louisville.  It will be interesting to see what kind of schools are willing to go after him and if so how long they will wait for him to rehab his image or for people to forget about this story before they make a move.

If some AD is willing to take the PR hit his school is probably going to win a lot of football games.  Just wonder if it will be at a name program or if he'll have to wait around like Mike Leach did for a second tier job.

FrankMurphy

April 10th, 2012 at 8:48 PM ^

I don't think the sleaziness gap between Northwestern and the rest of the Big Ten is nearly as big as the sleaziness gap between Vanderbilt and the rest of the SEC. Vandy doesn't even have an athletic department. They abolished it and brought their sports programs under the oversight of the university's general administration precisely because they didn't want to it to run amok the way the rest of the SEC has.

FrankMurphy

April 10th, 2012 at 9:29 PM ^

Indeed he was. This is an op-ed he wrote when he undertook that bold move:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2007/07/12/gee-article.html

He must have been relieved that Vandy's football coach didn't fire him over it. 

In fairness to Vandy though, the fact that they haven't reestablished the AD in the 5 years since Gee left indicates that Vandy's current administration might be genuinely committed to the ideals that Gee preached (but probably didn't believe in). 

PatrickBateman

April 10th, 2012 at 7:45 PM ^

I wonder what will happen to the chick?  Obviously, her skills extend beyond the office, but I wonder how skilled she actually is IN the office.  I doubt she was going over to Petrino's house to go over compliance forms or discuss game strategy, so does Arkansas have to keep her onboard simply to avoid a wrongful termination/sexual misconduct lawsuit (even if she was just as guilty as Petrino... she's almost married.. PS - sucks to be that dude, got beat out by a fat 50 year old who still uses a motorcycle to pick up girls)  Doesn't her fiancee also work in the Athletic Department? 

He definitely isn't as lucky as the last guy from Arkansas who got caught stuffing his much-younger employee and then got caught lying about it.  Hell, I'm just glad America is holding its' college football coaches to a higher standard than our elected officials, makes me confident in the system.

Loving the fireworks.

Needs

April 10th, 2012 at 7:29 PM ^

I'm going to assume that he'll be fired for cause. He had 5 years and $18 million left on his contract.

And will likely get divorced, with his ex taking half of his assets.

That's one expensive motorcycle crash.

JHendo

April 10th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

He's without a doubt going to be fired with cause, thanks to the "morals clause" that's built into his contract.  I'd also probably add in the slight chance of some asinine civil suit by his lady friend and/or her (ex?) fiance as another possible hit to his bank account...

aaamichfan

April 10th, 2012 at 7:31 PM ^

I'm surprised.

I guess there is a saying in the South that, as long as you don't get caught with a "dead girl of live boy" you won't be thrust from a high profile position.

I guess this one puts that to rest.

Jivas

April 10th, 2012 at 7:36 PM ^

That was a comment a specific Southern politician made to the local press once, a few days before an election.  He commented that he was sure to win unless he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, thus the political term of a politician being in "dead girl/live boy" territory.

So it wasn't a saying intended broadly for all Southerners in positions of power.

aaamichfan

April 10th, 2012 at 7:41 PM ^

I know wsas originally said by a Louisiana politician, but if I understand correctly, it has taken on a broader meaning in certain parts of the South. Arkansas probably isn't an area where it would be applicable, but it's still funny to pull out that quote.

gopoohgo

April 10th, 2012 at 7:44 PM ^

It's not the cheating (or the banging) that got Petrino fired.

It's the hiring of a girl you are cheating/banging onto your staff as a subordinate (thus opening the AD up to sexual harassment charges with associated liability) and lying to your boss about it.

 

PatrickBateman

April 10th, 2012 at 7:49 PM ^

Are you Skip Bayless?  I disagree with literally everything you say in every thread.  Not ripping on you (Hell, I could be right in half of the arguments and you could be wrong in the other half), but just interesting that we never follow the same train of thought.  ^^^^ The lying plus the "bailing on an NFL job during the season" part isn't a great testament to his moral fiber and character.  Oh, plus the fact that he obviously doesn't give half a shit about his family.

JHendo

April 10th, 2012 at 8:39 PM ^

I like your analogy.  However, to play devil's advocate, Stephen Hawkins is mostly representing himeself as a physicist, not an entire university (yeah yeah, I know he's some sort of professor or director at Cambridge or something), and is also not entrusted by parents to look after their sons as they turn into men.  Science is just that; cold, emotionless science.  Football is pretty intensely emotional with less room for moral shortcomings.

Also, divorce and staring at some boobies from a distance is much different than lying about an affair...with a young lady you suspiciously just hired.

JHendo

April 10th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^

What the hell does job importance have to do with it? Pre-school teacher is fairly unimportant compared to both aforementioned jobs, but if parents and the school district found out a pre school teacher was frequenting sex clubs and/or lying about having an affair with a much younger woman he just hired as an assistant, he'd need a miracle to save his job.

Bodogblog

April 13th, 2012 at 7:12 AM ^

In the post I'm replying to, you're arguing that 1) Hawking represents himself, rather than an entire university, 2) Hawking is not entrusted with young people/men.

Both are untrue.  Hawking represents Cambridge, a more prestigioius university, and in a position more globally representative than Petrino.  He is also a professor, teaching young people. 

born1ntheArbor

April 13th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^

I think the two situations are quite a bit different. In one situation, the man is bigger than the university. People who aren't physicists know who Hawking is. People around the world know who he is. Heck, I read A Brief History of Time in high school for fun. When people think Stephen Hawking, their first thought isn't Cambridge. It wasn't until someone mentioned here that I even remembered that fact.  People know him for his accomplishments, his theories, his books and also ALS. Or they may know him as the really smart dude in the wheelchair that speaks via computer on tBBT, Star Trek or The Simpsons.  Stephen Hawking would still be Hawking with or without the position at Cambridge (he stepped down in 2009). And while Hawking did have to teach students physics (or whatever his interactions with students involved), that was the sole purpose. He didn't actively recruit those students. He just has to deal with them if they had problems with certain concepts.  He could have a million divorces and sleep on a bed of naked women breasts.  None of that really matters because of the respect or awe or whatever his name already invokes in both the academic community and globally.

In the other situation, the university is bigger than the man.  Before this came up, any association you'd make with Petrino would be Razorback football (unless you're a jilted fan of another fan base). Everything he did would essentially be a reflection of UoA and the type of people they hired. Petrino may be great as a college football coach, but his other main responsibility was to help 17-18 year olds mature into men.  (And I've felt that way since before Hoke). Petrino went to the homes of these kids and made promises to their parents. He was going to be one of their mentors and a role model and get them drafted. Parents had to put a lot of trust into the moral integrity of the man that they were sending their kids to.  He failed miserably in that department.And because he was just a face of the university, he was canned.

BlueHills

April 10th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^

Gee, if you can't hire your elleged mistress, what's the freaking point of making 3.5 million dollars a year?

On the other hand, if you're making 3.5 million dollars a year, you're supposed to be smart enough not to cause one of these little scandals...

NeilGoBlue

April 10th, 2012 at 7:41 PM ^

He probably would have kept his job if the following hadn't happened:

 

Banging a Univ employee

Banging the fiance of another university emp.

Give a job on your staff to the girl you are banging.

 

If he just had an old fasioned affair with someone not associated with the University, he would have kept his job.  

CRex

April 10th, 2012 at 7:47 PM ^

This is proof of that.  I'd bet Petrino could have survived the crash and the Mistress thing if the Mistress didn't also work for the school.  The supervisor proking his underling is always a major concern for any HR department.  Motorcycle wreck and a mistress (who doesn't work for Arkansas) isn't a concern for the school.  Mistress who works for the school and the can of sexual harassment worms it opens up is a huge concern.  Also anyone she passed over for promotion can sue claiming she only got the job due to sleeping with Petrino.  That's a liability any businessman wants to jettison.

Moral of the story, have a rich booster give your mistress a cake job on the down low.  Don't try to make your AD cover your cheating, because Risk Management will advocate firing your ass if you do.