May 22, 2013

Who’s The Boss?

April 9, 2012 by

Mike Irwin posted a fine blog over the weekend about Bobby Petrino and who really owns the Razorback program.  It’s worth your time to read it all but here’s an excerpt we thought was interesting:

If you (Petrino) do end up coaching the Hogs again please keep in mind that it’s not really your program.  The fans own it.  They build the facilities. They pay for the scholarships and coaches salaries.  They loan the program to you in the hopes that you will value it as much as they do.

Bobby Petrino (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson) It’s a quaint notion to think that the fans of an athletic program actually own it.  And, theoretically, we agree with Mike.  As fans, we’re here for a lifetime and Bobby Petrino is just passing through.

But there should be no confusion about who the ‘majority ownership’ will be deciding Petrino’s fate in the coming days.  Jeff Long, UA administration and the usual cadre of lawyers and power brokers will be making that call.

Organize all the support rallies and online petitions that you want.  The truth is we, the fans, own no part and have no say on this program-defining decision.  We just have to live with it for what will seem like a lifetime.

Live with the repercussions on the field if Petrino is fired.  The unavoidable setback to the progress made over the last four seasons.  The death of the near-term dream of a national championship.  The potentially debilitating financial implications.  The acceptance of the need for patience as another program rebuilding process begins again.

Or…live with the ridicule if Petrino is retained.  The haughty columns by national media.  The constant attempts to debase any accomplishments on the field with regular reminders of the indiscretions that occurred off of it.  The inevitable divide in support from what had been a strongly united Razorback fan base.

There will be wins again on The Hill but there are no winners here.

Filed Under: Arkansas Razorbacks, Football Tagged With:
  • Zeke

    There may be no true winners here — due to Petrino — but only one action covers us in shame: retaining a man whom we gave a second chance and whose own narcissistic nature burned it.

    We were ridiculed at HIRE due to the certainty that something like this would occur. If we retain him, we move past ridicule and into being deserved of scorn.

    • Greg

      You nailed it.

      • Bob

        agreed.

    • GolfHog

      You three are Nutt, Nutt, and Markeson, right?

  • Rodney Winkler

    Razorbacks fans remember what happened to Rick Pitino,his case was much worst than Bobby Petrino’s, and Louisville retained him,and if I remember correctly Louisville was in the final four this year,recruits don’t care about this type of thing, all they want to do is win,and winning heals all wounds,Nothing else has been said by the media about Rick Pitino,because he’s winning,And if Arkansas retain Bobby Petrino after the season starts you want hear a word about this case again,because he’s a winner

    • yup-ROLL TIDE BABY

      ROLL TIDE BABY!!! Looks like another 10 years of mediocrity for ARKY fans, AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      • Anonymous

        eat shit roll tide

  • guest

    Petrino deserves a second chance with the appropriate safeguards and oversight. If he gets in trouble again, he’s gone and nobody has any second thoughts about it. He will still be able to recruit and maintain order within his program. He does need more oversight than he had until recently. But he deserves a second chance.

  • Guest

    The person to respect here is Jeff Long he brought Petrino in and we need to have the faith in him to make the right and best determination for the University of Arkansas. Regardless of wins and losses. What is the rules that our University has stood on since it’s establishment. Our country has strayed from our four fathers will our university???? We need to support our AD in this hard, difficult, and stressful determination. Everyone says Hog Nation the true hog nation will be calling the hogs with and/or without petrino. Yes it would be nice and amazing to have a national championship , but what makes a true champion??? hard work ethic, desipline, and respect. Which Petrino lacks in all aspects, so will” National Champion” happen anyway. We will see what our University stands for in the days to come and always WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE

    • uvahog

      Four fathers? Please tell me you didn’t graduate from “our” university! btw it’s fore.

  • T beck

    Does no one care about Petrino’s family, specifically his wife. Yet again another arrogant male who thinks he can dump on his wife after she has put up with him all these years. And the embarrassment his poor kids feel. Let them move on out of Arkansas where they can be away from the microscope. Football isn’t everything. And the 25 year old girl. You know she will probably lose her job because of this. Then there’s the fiancé who was also an employee. Actually I believe he was a strength coach for the football team. He was someone that should have been able to trust Petrino. What about all of these folks? The girl was young enough to be his daughter. What do you think would have happened if it were his daughter involved in such a scandal? Observing Petrino I believe heads would roll. So should his

    • MemphisHog

      Her fiance is the strength and conditioning coach for some women’s sports, swimming I believe.

  • http://razorbloggers.net HogBlogger

    Fire Petrino and you also fire his staff and uproot their families. You also hurt all the players that he recruited that wanted to play for him at the U of A. You also hurt all the boosters that gave money because Petrino was running the program and the program was doing so well. You also hurt Jeff Long, who now has to fund raise for significant commitments already made against a program that would be thrown in chaos. You also hurt the fans that have regained pride in the program and want to see the Hogs as winners. You also further hurt Petrino’s wife and family by throwing them into job uncertainty and causing them to have to live even more deeply with his sins.

    Fire Petrino and you can ethically thump your chest and take pride in how you dealt with the manner. As to all of the collateral damage caused listed above – well, you can say it wasn’t you that caused that but rather Petrino with his “choices.”

    Don’t fire Petrino and you prevent all of that collateral damage and have to walk around with egg on your face for “not doing the right thing.”

    So, “do the right thing,” rain down righteous judgement and hurt a lot more people, or keep him around and simply face ridicule and noise for having Petrino as coach. Recruiting might suffer a bit for this, but I wouldn’t expect it to suffer much.

    While there are no winners here the opportunity exists to create a lot more losers if Petrino is fired.

    This situation needs to be punished and rehab’ed, not compounded. That’s the lessor of the evils.

    • http://therazorbackblogger.com/ GonzoHog

      In short, I couldn’t agree more with HogBlogger. Absolutely correct.

    • Zeke

      This “situation” CANNOT BE rehabilitated if Petrino is still on campus.

      • Dave

        BS

  • GolfHog

    Maybe, Probably.

    Everyone loves winning. Not just fans and boosters and alumni and the BOT. Everyone, the kids, the moms and dads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. Petrino possesses a rare comodity. And everyone knows it. His wife, the kids, the blonde, Jeff Long, everyone. Yes, what he did to his wife and kids was wrong. What she did to her fiance’ was wrong. I hope that those people will find time someday to address that. What really takes it to another level, a public level is that they wanted the taxpayers to pay for all of this.

    I hope he finds a way to stay. But, if it is going to work there is going to be some public penance due. The Easter analogy here is that you’ve got to be crucified before you can be resurrected. Does Bobby have the stomach to come out and eat this much crow? If he does really well he might get by pretty quick. But, it’s going to have to take a good effort, a national championship effort.

    And, the girl is going to have to be paid. She was promised a job and a future. And, Bobby needs to be on probation for at least one year. If he goes 8-4 with this team the whole state will want to lynch him.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bobby.mooney2 Bobby Mooney

    I feel it was a bad decision on Boss Hoggs behalf BUT we all are guilty of things at somepoint in our lives, lets get it together and keep it going. I do have feelings for Petrino’s wife and I do wish them all well, It all may have been caused by the two of them not just the coach? Uof A needs to make up there mind and do whatever they are going to do and SHUT up about it! Boss Hogg Fan! Razorbacks are going to come back I promise you!

  • Jenna Marelle

    I don’t think Jeff Long has the courage to get rid of the dirtball coach. Watching pigs like Petrino continue to prosper in spite of his ongoing awful behavior is depressing.

  • LR Hog

    If Petrino manages to hang on, we will be lucky to to go 8-4 next season. What the plank-headed Bobby lovers don’t seem to understand is that Petrino is already damaged goods. They seem to think if their football god stays, everything picks up right where it was before Bobby’s hubris tossed himl from grace. No such luck, I’m afraid. The Hog future is already changed.

    For the record, I agree that the person who needs our support right now is Jeff Long. Don’t know of anyone who wants to be in his shoes right now.

    And, if Petrino should be removed, we will recover. Again — we will recover and find another good coach.

    • Hawgfan100

      Don’t think I’m going to be satisfied with ‘good’ anymore. I’ve a good taste of ‘great’ and I like it.

      Good luck on finding more ‘great’.

  • Guest

    If this is an isolated case, he stays. If however, he and Mr Long determine that there is more ladies to come out, the party is over. I am sure Mr Long will need to feel quite confident that this was an isolated case.

    • Carolina Hog

      Exactly right which is why Long is taking his time and I wouldn’t be too quick to rally in Petrino’s favor just yet. We’ll all look like idiots when more crap comes out.
      LR Hog makes a good point that even keeping Petrino may not keep the train rolling. I don’t however have his confidence in our recovery. 20 years of mediocrity has left me quite humble. Tipster summed it up best. No one wins in this situation.

  • HungryHog

    JEFF MF Long!

    The Boss – of “The Arkansas Razorbacks” – is Jeff Long. The fans are supporters, but we don’t really make the decisions. Even the big shot boosters have an influence, but the Buck Stops with Jeff Long. And he has been put in a horrible place by this. He can’t please everyone here. He will decide what he feels/thinks is best for the Arkansas Razorbacks, and we all should support him. He is a great AD. He is doing great things with this program. There will be parts of this that we will never know. Jeff has never given us any reason to believe he isn’t working his tail off to make The Arkansas Razorbacks a premier athletic program. He is a very smart man as well. I for one thought he was a carpet bagger, could never replace Frank Broyles – and I was wrong. The guy has taken us to another level.

    I personally hope that this is an isolated incident. That Jeff will be able to find a way to keep Bobby. That Alabama will come to town and we will put a 35-14 whipping on them and everybody will be back on the train to a National Championship.

    But no matter what – I support Jeff MF Long! He has earned it.

  • uvahog

    I’m an Arkansas expatriate. Can someone who’s spoken to many razorback fans, seen the local news coverage, and is not as deranged as some folks who’ve posted on this board give us out-of-staters a sense of how divided the fanbase is on this and what the percentages roughly are? Obviously things are more complicated than just “fire him” or “keep him,” but provide some perspective on where the fanbase is.

    • Walking on Sunshine

      UVA, I will give it a shot. I think the majority around here (NW Arkansas)…maybe 70-75% would like to see Petrino punished but retained. Punished being suspension without pay primarily. Had Ms. Dorrell not been a subordinate, the sentiment would be a lot different, and the “inappropriate relationship” would be more of a private transgression between Petrino and his wife.

      I think those that want him removed truly love the UofA and just hate to see its image…in any respect…tarnished. Legitimate feelings, no doubt.

      As Tipster said in his post, there are no winners here.

      • uvahog

        thanks

  • Greg

    I don’t hardly ever post here but I must say, how did we not expect this. Mr. Patrino has had some drama every where he has been. He has betrayed, lied to and deceived people everywhere he has been and here we were expecting a different result. Tell me what is the definition of insanity?

    The fact is that Mr. Patrino is all about himself, we don’t need that. Lets go get a coach that wins the right way.

    Someone earlier stated lets give him a second chance……..really? He has had multiple chances in his career.

    Come on Hog fans lets don’t sell our ethics and pride for a couple of wins………I know mine is not that cheap!

  • MemphisHog

    HogBlogger said it best so far. There’s two options, but the complexity of each makes it a hard decision. In the end, if this is isolated Bobby stays. If not, I think he goes. That’s the simple version.

    If he goes, who do we try to hire for another coach?

  • Carolina Hog

    I think its interesting that folks seem to think we can just go out and get another coach that will do what Petrino has done, in spite of the fact that no one has for over 30 years. I don’t know if I want him gone or to stay, but if you want him gone don’t come on here crying about 7 and 8 win seasons down the road. As far as new coaches go, I’m leaning toward someone that can hold the staff together. I’ve been against bringing McGee back because he isn’t ready, but I’m coming around on that a bit. I’d rather have Paul Petrino but the politics would never let that happen. I’m not a Malzahn fan, because I’m just not sold on that offense though you’d have to think it would run pretty well with Brandon Mitchell. I would also be interested in Art Briles, but that’s probably a situation where you’d have to go interim for a year whereas the other two might come straight away.

  • soupdhog

    This is sickening. Reading the responses here just show how crazed our fanbase can be. Granted, I’m sure the folks posting can’t speak for all Razorback fans, but it is a good same.

    For those that call Petrino damaged goods – what did he do that was so wrong before this latest crisis? He went from a poor job (Atlanta) to a better job (Arkansas). Who among us wouldn’t do that? I know if I had a sucky job situation and had an opportunity to move on I would take it. Would I give 2 weeks notice or leave a note? Who knows – depends on the details of the situation. And must everyone be reminded that we were bashing ESPN for doing essentially what we are all doing now.

    For the current situation – it’s not like he’s harbored a pedophile for 20 years – I’ve seen less harsh reactions for Paterno.

    If Petrino is fired, we are done for 5-10 years. Don’t fool yourself. Look at Pelphrey. The only thing wrong here is that the chick worked for the Foundation. I wouldn’t think that justifies firing the coach, and killing the best chance we’ve had at a championship in 50 years.

    • uvahog

      Well said. I’m going to go out on a limb here make the prediction that the administration is going to see it exactly that way. As I said before: mea culpa, public penance, 9 to 12 win seasons, and it all disappears as a faded memory in a year or two.

      • uvahog

        well that comment was ill timed. we’re screwed!