If you follow college football, you are probably aware of the exploits of Bobby Petrino, who was recently named the new head football coach at the University of Louisville. This is actually Petrino’s second run as Louisville’s head coach. Consider the highlights of Petrino’s career, and ask yourself what message his recent hiring by Louisville sends to young coaches who are trying to climb the ladder in big-time college football.
In 2003, after his first season as Louisville’s head coach, Petrino secretly interviewed for the head coaching job at Auburn University, where he had previously served as an assistant under coach Tommy Tuberville. Why was the meeting intended to be secret? Auburn still had a head coach (Tuberville) in place at the time of the interview. Schools don’t want to be perceived as having given up on their current coach, and a coach typically doesn’t want his current employer to know that he is actively testing the job market, especially when there is not an actual job opening, so each side had a motive to keep the meeting a secret. Unfortunately for them, the media found out and after an initial round of denials, Auburn and Petrino were forced to admit that the interview had in fact taken place. Petrino stayed at Louisville, but the event caused many to question his commitment to Louisville.
In July 2006, Petrino signed a 10-year $25.6 million contract to stay on as Louisville’s head coach. That 10-year deal, which Petrino touted as evidence of his strong commitment to Louisville at the time, lasted six months, until Petrino took the head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL in January of 2007.
Petrino signed a five-year, $24 million contract with the Falcons, and lasted a total of 13 regular season games with the Falcons, departing unannounced without notice to anyone and leaving a four-sentence laminated good-bye note at the locker of each player. The next day Petrino was announced as the new head football coach at the University of Arkansas.
In April 2012, in the midst of considerable success at Arkansas, Petrino crashed while driving his motorcycle. Petrino initially reported to his boss that he was alone at the time of the accident, but subsequently revealed that there was a passenger with him, a 25 year-old former Arkansas women’s volleyball player with whom Petrino subsequently acknowledged he had been having an affair. Of more importance to the university than issues of marital infidelity was the legal concern that shortly before the motorcycle accident Petrino had hired this young woman over 158 other applicants for a job in the football program. Petrino also acknowledged that he had made a Christmas gift of $20,000 to the young woman. This all did not sit well with his boss at Arkansas, and Petrino was fired.
After a year out of coaching, Petrino surfaced at Western Kentucky University where he signed a four-year contract with a $1.2 million buyout if he left during the term of the contract. Petrino coached the Western Kentucky team for one season, before recently signing a seven-year contract with Louisville reportedly worth $24.5 million with a $10 million buyout.
So that’s the road map, and here are the numbers that apparently trump any concerns Louisville might have had about Petrino’s integrity – his won-loss record in college football.
2003: 9-4 at Louisville
2004: 11-1 at Louisville
2005: 9-3 at Louisville
2006: 12-1 at Louisville
2007: 3-10 at Atlanta of the NFL
2008: 5-7 at Arkansas
2009: 8-5 at Arkansas
2010: 10-3 at Arkansas
2011: 11-2 at Arkansas
2013: 8-4 at Western Kentucky
That’s a college football head coaching record of 83-30, with a particularly impressive arc of improvement at Arkansas, an SEC school.
The Louisville AD recently described Petrino as a “changed person.” That may or may not be true, and I don’t think it really matters to Louisville fans whether Petrino has changed as a person as long as he continues to win. Critics of college athletics will point to Petrino’s hiring as one more example of the adage that winning overcomes everything. Not winning with integrity or class. Simply winning. And it’s hard to argue with that conclusion.
I personally wish Louisville had said something like, “We understand that Bobby’s been a little shaky when it comes to personal integrity, but the fact is, he wins. That’s what we’re paying him for. To all our recruits, you need to understand that Bobby will help you become better players, but it’s up to you to become better people. After all, it’s Coach Petrino, not the Rev. Petrino, and winning football games is what we’re all about.” That, to me, would have been an honest self-appraisal of Louisville’s motives.
So the message to young coaches from the Louisville hiring of Petrino is simple: to quote the late Al Davis, “Just Win, Baby!”
Comments? Please contact me at mgilleran@scu.edu. Thanks.