Bobby Petrino did an impressive job revitalizing the Arkansas football program and was on his way to making the Razorbacks a force in the SEC until he was busted for his motorcycle scandal in April 2012. The school fired him for his inappropriate relationship with a co-worker, lying about it to cover it up, and much more. Arkansas was coming off back-to-back double-digit win seasons, a BCS bowl game appearance, and a Cotton Bowl win, so you know Petrino’s actions were awfully bad for the school to deem them worthy enough to fire him. Combining the Arkansas scandal with the unprofessional way he left the Atlanta Falcons, it was conceivable that Petrino wouldn’t get another head coaching gig.
While Petrino did not coach the 2012 football season, Western Kentucky hired him in December as the replacement for Willie Taggart, who left for South Florida. During an interview with AL.com’s Tommy Hicks, Petrino said he did have some concern that he would not get an opportunity to coach again following the scandal.
Q: Was there a concern that the opportunity to get back in coaching wouldn’t be there for you?
A: Certainly, there was always that concern. I just worked hard and tried to fix things with my family and see what opportunities were going to come about. This one came about really quickly. I appreciated how direct and how aggressively Todd Stewart went about it.
Petrino is gearing up for the 2013 season. Arkansas stumbled to 4-8 under John L. Smith and replaced him with Bret Bielema, who went 68-24 over seven seasons at Wisconsin. I’m guessing it won’t take long for Petrino to dominate the Atlantic Sun Conference.
If there’s one thing we can take away here, it’s that as long as you’re a great football coach, there will probably always be a job for you. What else is new?
