Bobby Being Bobby
Published on April 6 at 1:07 p.m. Eastern.
By Brian Edwards
It’s bad form to wish badly upon people and there’s also that karma thing. But with that said, it’s clear that you will not find many (if ANY!) people feeling sorry for Bobby Petrino today.
The University of Arkansas head coach was placed on paid leave last night when it became evident that he was with a 25-year-old woman, Jessica Dorrell, when he wrecked his motorcycle outside of Fayetteville this past Sunday.
When Petrino, who is 51 and going into his fifth season at Arkansas, met with the press about the accident earlier this week, he failed to disclose that he was with a woman half his age. Petrino is married with four children.
He had to come clean to his AD before a police report became public on Thursday.
With a potential preseason top-five team coming back, including a pair of Heisman candidates in QB Tyler Wilson and RB Knile Davis, this isn’t exactly what a program wants in the midst of spring practice.
But when you’re Arkansas and you get in bed with a jerk like Petrino, you know a day like this is eventually going to come. You just hope it doesn’t come when The Jerk is 21-5 in his last 26 games with his best team coming back and a schedule that works — the Hogs get Alabama and LSU at home in 2012.
Petrino’s history has been well chronicled in this space. In short, he’s a liar, a backstabber and a money-hungry asshole who doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
Petrino is so arrogant that he wasn’t even wearing a helmet while driving Dorrell, a former Razorback volleyball player who he just hired to the football staff way back on March 28, on his Harley Davidson. I don’t mention the not-wearing-a-helmet thing for safety issues. I mention it because he’s the head coach at Arkansas and anybody could’ve recognized him with the younger woman.
I mean, people, we’re talking about Arkansas, not New York City.
So to recap, after a career spent as a journeyman drifter bouncing from one job to the next that pays more money, Petrino had become an icon at Arkansas. His brilliant offensive play-calling and a terrific collection of talent had the Razorbacks ready for their best season in decades.
But his arrogance and his dishonesty now have him on the hot seat. He might survive, maybe. Winning does cure things such as this.
Then again, we’re talking about a fan base that ran Houston Nutt out of town after a soap opera of a witch hunt.
Whatever the case, people like Tommy Tuberville, Arthur Blank and the good people of Louisville, KY., are kicking back today and getting a good chuckle out of the woes that currently engulf The Jerk, Bobby Petrino.
