Why you’re in Fayetteville.
Bobby Petrino named his younger brother Paul as his offensive coordinator today. Visit Rainer Sabin’s Slophouse blog and ArkansasSports360.com for all the details.
And, you check out the official (and seemingly endless) press release on the hiring by visiting Hogwired.com.
Sources tell us that Bobby threatened to lock his brother in Paul’s closet if Paul didn’t agree to join the Razorback staff.
No doubt about it: the U of A on Tuesday night reeled in an A-lister to coach its football team. Now that A-list coach is trying to reel in an A-list player for next year’s squad: Arkansas All-American junior running back Felix Jones.
We’d be beyond ecstatic to have Felix back next year, but we don’t see it happening. In fact, given Bobby’s nomadic ways and the Hogs’ recent coaching searches, we wouldn’t too shocked if Petrino isn’t in Fayetteville next year either.
Our advice to Jeff Long: keep interim coach extraordinaire Joe Kines’ number on speed dial.
Head on over to the excellent ArkansasSports360.com and check out Tre Baker’s hilarious post about Houston Nutt’s NW Arkansas house hitting the market. Looks like a cute little starter home.
This mysterious photo was snapped in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this morning:
(thanks to Pat Forde for his furious description of Petrino’s “blank shark eyes” and to Charlie Hog for her great comment on this post)
They played tonight. And won, beating Texas-San Antonio by the score of 67-42. Point guard Gary Ervin led the way with 17 points, although he did abide by the federal law that says he must commit at least five turnovers a game (to be specific, he coughed the ball up six times).
Now, it’s on to Saturday’s showdown against Oklahoma in Norman, weather permitting. The game will be televised by ESPN, providing us with our first chance to check out Pelphrey & Co. this year. Can’t wait.
If the Razorbacks ever make it to the SEC Championship football game in Atlanta under Bobby Petrino, I hope there’s someone on his staff with head coaching experience. That’s because I’m not sure officials will let the former Falcons coach back into the city.
I’ve lived in Atlanta for just more than 10 years, and rarely - actually, probably never - have I seen its sports fans so thoroughly pissed at someone. He is, without a doubt, Public Enemy Number One right now. And if I gave something resembling a sh*t about the Falcons, I’m sure I’d think he’s a big ‘ole jerk too. I may not feel Falcons fans’ pain - but I understand it.
Having said that, the intensity of the reaction has been, at times, amusing. On talk radio, that noted bastion of restrained language and balanced perspective, a local host called Petrino “a despicable human being.” One of his co-hosts, foam presumably circling his mouth, remarked that the new Hog coach is “not a stable man.” Callers echoed similar sentiments.
The city’s biggest daily newspaper didn’t pull any punches, either. Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jeff Schultz writes, “Bobby Petrino. Not a man. He is running like a coward.” Meanwhile, Schultz’s colleague Terence Moore says, “Petrino … is getting too much blame for this franchise threatening to drop off the face of the earth again. Petrino didn’t hire Petrino. [Owner Arthur] Blank and [General Manager Rich] McKay did. All Petrino did was [be] Petrino, and this is what Petrino does: He lies, and then he leaves.”
For those of you thinking (or hoping) that the Razorbacks’ drama level would decrease with Mr. Nutt’s departure and Bobby Petrino’s hiring, I’m sorry to report that you’re wrong. Anyway, how could that be…this is Arkansas we’re talking about!
In a refreshing change of pace, the scene has now shifted away from text messages and local news reporters to billionaires possibly trying to screw each other over. It seems that Falcons owner (and Home Depot CEO) Arthur Blank is a little peeved about the way the Petrino situation turned out (can’t say that we blame him, either). Of course, where it really gets good is when he starts talking about, as noted below, that Cowboys owner and big ol’ Razorback fan Jerry Jones was involved. From then it decends into a who-did-what-and-when situation best described by this article on Arkansas Sports 360.
But guess what, that’s not all! Our new coach is so hated by the national media (particularly ESPN) for his heinous acts against humanity that it’s pretty much the story of the day all over the place. ESPN even devoted a special section of their site to ripping Petrino, with their college football analyst Pat Forde describing him as “disingenuous drifter” with “blank shark eyes”. Wow! That sounds a little personal. I’m guessing that at some point in the past Petrino either a) ran over Forde’s dog, or b) slept with his wife, or c) both.
Somehow I feel comforted by all this. The Arkansas football coach is stirring up some craziness and all is right with the world.
Here’s a link to part of Frank’s interview with the radio station.
Update: Falcons owner Arthur Blank says he first learned of Arkansas’ interest through Jones.
Wow. Bobby Petrino is your new Arkansas Razorbacks football coach. It’s not just “sources” saying it anymore…they had a press conference and everything. (Do. Not. Mention. Dana Altman.) Although the reality of this still hasn’t quite sunk in yet, to say that this hire exceeds our expectations would certainly be a massive understatement.
And we admit it: we were a little off base on this one. We derided Jeff Long and definitively announced that there was no way that an NFL coach would wind up at Arkansas (thus proving, as we’ve said before, that we really know nothing). Big-time props are in order for Long, Chuck Neinas and everyone else who made this happen - this is a major coup for the Hogs.
Along with the rest of the Razorback blogosphere, we’ll certainly have plenty more Petrino coverage in the coming days. In the meantime, here’s a quick list of our early pros & cons (we always strive to present the complete picture, you know) of the new Head Hog:
Petrino pros:
* He wanted the job. That’s not quite as pathetic as it sounds…he actually took pay cut of well over $1 million/year to come to Arkansas. And after a depressing few weeks in which it seemed like every coach in America was using us to get a raise, the fact that a legitimate A-lister got on that Razorback Foundation plane is reason enough to celebrate.
* He wins. Ok, not in Atlanta, but he probably didn’t count on Michael Vick becoming a felon either. Before that, he compiled a 41-9 record with two top 10 finishes in four years at Louisville. Winning 80% of your games might be impossible in the murderer’s row of the SEC, but we still think he’ll do quite well with the Razorbacks.
* He knows a thing or two about offense. New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin called him “the best play-caller I’ve ever been around” (Petrino was offensive coordinator under Coughlin in Jacksonville) and Steve Spurrier is a noted admirer. He has a distinguished record dating back to the 80s, but really established his reputation as an offensive mastermind (and developer of QBs) at Louisville. Even a detractor like Pat Forde of ESPN.com calls him “the best offensive game-planner and tactician since Steve Spurrier’s heyday at Florida.” Think Casey Dick is feeling pretty good about life right now?
* Everybody else wanted him, we got him. Petrino has been one of the hottest names on the coaching rumor mill over the past few years, having been linked to jobs at Auburn, LSU and the Oakland Raiders, among other places. His winding up at Arkansas is probably mainly a matter of great timing (he gave the NFL a shot, hated it and wanted out all at the same time our job was becoming open and the LSU and Auburn jobs were closing up), but it’s still pretty sweet to be able to rub this in the noses of the many Hog-haters out there.
* His hiring will unite a fractured Razorback fan base. Frankly, Arkansas fans needed something they could agree on (besides the fact that D-Mac deserved the Heisman). For now, at least, Petrino has the support of all but the most hardened cynics (and/or Malzahn supporters) in Hogland.
* He’s used to banners flying overhead. On his first day at practice with the Falcons, he was greeted with a banner flying above that read “New team name? Dog Killers?” If that’s not great preparation for the Arkansas job, we don’t know what is.
The flip side:
* He was not well-liked by the Falcons team. He lost the team early on in the season and never got them back…the Falcons’ locker room has been in open revolt for weeks now. And a league source told SI’s Peter King that Petrino was “one of the worst communicators in pro sports.” While we’re in an optimistic mood, we’ll chalk it up to a matter of style…coaching a bunch of college kids is certainly a different animal than dealing with a team full of millionaires with their own agendas and egos.
* The Bobby Petrino era in Atlanta did not end well. He went 3-10 and then quit on the team mid-season. We don’t like the quitting part on principle (although it will certainly help with our recruiting schedule), but at least you can argue that he was dealt an unexpectedly tough hand in Atlanta. Does this foreshadow a bad ending to his time with the Hogs? Maybe, but why worry about that now…if you have a chance to go out with the prettiest girl in school, you take it without dwelling on the inevitable breakup.
* This is not a long-term situation. The down side to hiring any big name is that, if he wins, you’ll be dealing with rumors of him jumping ship to a bigger program every off-season. Petrino, in particular, is known for having very happy feet. But you know what? If he wins, we don’t care. Having your coach potentially hired away because he’s too successful is one of those good kinds of problems.
* Success is not guaranteed. Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire since returning to the SEC after their failed stints in the pros. Nonetheless, we’re more comfortable rolling the dice with Petrino than the buffet of ACC coaches who turned us down.
Our final analysis:
Even factoring in the cons, this is a great hire. Here at Razorback Expats HQ we’d been feeling down about the football team…with D-Mac and the other stars leaving and the uncertain coaching prospects for next year it was looking like a return to the “glory” days of the early 90s was inevitable. But no longer…we are officially very excited about the 2008 season. Go Hogs!
Bobby Petrino to Arkansas…seriously? Surely this is some sort of practical joke. Right?? If it’s for real: wow.
Two Arkansas expatriates examine Razorback sports from the outside-in. razorbackexpats at yahoo dot com
