SECSports.com: Arkansas Quotes
Petrino: “I’m excited to be back in college football. Certainly excited to be at the University of Arkansas. Since I’ve been in this state, the state has certainly embraced me and my family.
“I was able to get out on the recruiting trail, travel around to all our Razorback functions. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the pride and the passion of the entire state for Razorback football. I’m really, really looking forward to experiencing that as we go through this football season.”
Also:
- SECSports.com: Bobby Petrino Video, Bobby Petrino Audio, SEC Football Media Days
- RBN: Hogs Picked To Finish Last By SEC Media
- ArkansasSports360.com: Petrino Enjoying Return to College Football, Harris: Forte Puts Linebacker Concerns at Ease, for Now
Razorback Central
- Alex Abrams: Petrino’s Big Day of Questions
- Robbie Neiswanger: Forte Assumes Leadership Role
WholeHogSports.com
- Tom Murphy: Glare doesn’t faze UA coach
- Wally Hall: SEC media get a taste of real Bobby Petrino
- Brandon Marcello: Petrino looks to future at first SEC Media Days
Other Sites and Blogs
- The Slophouse: SEC Media Days: Petrino’s performance, Petrino: Hogs will have new, ‘tight’ uniforms
- Chris Low: Petrino not interested in looking back
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Petrino: ‘Love of college football’ reason he left Falcons
- Memphis Commercial Appeal: Media not too high on Hogs
Updated 7/26/08 10:30 a.m.
I never actually believe hindsight is 20-20. You can see what you call mistakes only because of their consequences but you can't really know what other actions would have produced anymore than when you made the original decision.
Looking back, it is easy to see today that Hooty was always a drama queen. The way his hiring was accompanied by such fanfare; local hero returning home and all of that. It looks so similar to reception he is recieving at Ole Miss; acknowledged as their best coach since Vaught without ever coaching a game. Even though the last great debacle was the one that finally revealed his nature, his whole Arkansas career was one big roller coaster ride with Hooty always front and center. "They remember in November" should be put on his headstone. He loved to save a bad season with wins over Ole Miss and Miss St or Miss St and LSU. When he managed to get his only two good teams off to a fast start we were plunged into the depths of dispair as they crashed and burned.
It will be fascinating to watch from a distance to see if that plays out all over again at Ole Miss and how their fans take to it.
Not that Petrino and the rest of these guys don't all have huge egos and grand ambition, but just by nature, he seems to have his founded in the game and in winning. After Hooty's first news conference and national championship under construction you never heard much about goals and winning big after that. He became pretty happy with that tie for the Division "Championship". That may sell well in Miss.
As for Arkansas: I was watching some old game tapes as is my custom in August to get ready for the season and I was reminded of when it was really only about football. For all of Petrinos success (I hope that is at Arkansas) and the accolades that follow, I suspect, even for him, it will really be about the players and the game and winning.
I think there's a great chance all of the BS will catch up to Nutt in a couple of years. He's still going to call the plays this year at Ole Miss, and we all know this is something he's proven in the past he's not capable of doing. It's all in his own mind. (ego) It may sound mean, but I'm looking forward to seeing this clown fall flat on his face. I'll give it 3 years.
It will most likely work out that way. Although, you have to say Dale has a guardian angel.
He arrives at Arkansas to find an SEC contender that had gone 4-7 two years in a row. He finds local recruits Cedric Cobbs, Matt Jones, Shawn Andrews, Darren McFadden, and Mitch Mustain ready to be hogs, five of the best players ever to come out of Arkansas. He plays the administration, the fans, and Nebraska like a fiddle and into a 10 year run and a huge buyout when most coaches would have been gone after 5 or 6 years.
Now he finds a very similar situation at Ole Miss. I definitely expect the same roller coaster. And, it will be much easier to watch from a distance, to be sure.
And, what a wonderful contrast to have Petrino. He seems like such an old school football coach, a real X and O guy, who believes in hardwork and discipline. It is just about winning and good football again.