Bobby’s World
William Rhoden of the New York Times caught up with Jeff Long to get his thoughts on why Arkansas went after the peripatetic coach, Bobby Petrino. A week after the hire, the incoming athletic director had this to say:
“Once we got the word that he intended to resign from the Falcons,” Long said, “we knew that he would be a very hot commodity in the coaching ranks; there would be a number of schools interested in him, and that’s why I felt I needed to move quickly and hire him.”
From the Arkansas perspective, this was not a case of breaking up a marriage. “To put it in your terms, he got the divorce and we moved in,” Long said. Petrino was a Cardinal at the University of Louisville and a Falcon in Atlanta. Now he’s a Razorback. “I believe that we conducted ourselves in an ethical way,” Long said.
Rhoden’s column skewers Petrino, saying that what he did was worse than the actions of Michael Vick, Isiah Thomas/Knicks owner James Dolan, Marion Jones and the baseball players named in the Mitchell Report.
Rhoden’s comparison of a coach resigning from a job which clearly turned out to be other than expected to the likes of cheaters in the sport as well as the man whose lack of morality figured largely in the decision of Petrino to resign, Michael Vick, reminds me that this newspaper is well-known for its inability to distinguish what is bad vs. good behavior in other areas of its reporting. Anyone who seriously listens to the NYT (which continues to bleed subscribers and almost daily embarrass itself) needs their head examined. If the NYT involved itself as intimately in the details of the credentials of its own reporters and the veracity of their stories as Coach Petrino immerses himself in the game of winning, perhaps they can rack up a more impressive success record than a niche of liberal losers in Manhattan who have nothing better to do than to read their ridiculous rag.
Man, I am so tired of the media blasting Petrino. They act like he is the first coach who has ever resigned a season early. To make comparisons to breaking animal cruelty laws is distasteful and just plain bad journalism, which especially for one that is supposed to be top of the line… supposedly.
if Arthur blank is going to throw his “stones” out there and blast Petrino with the fervor that he has, he needs to go back to year 2003 when he fired a Hall of Fame coach and player, Dan Reeves, with three games left of that season. What happened to “don’t quit” for Arthur Blank??
Has-Been Players and “who are you?” analysts on the “worldwide leader” are supposedly fuming that someone would quit on a team during a season, yet Arthur Blank is revered as a great owner, even though he has managed to see his ownership tenure at the Falcons wallow in mediocrity, while having possibly the most exciting player to play in the NFL. He fired the one coach that took him to the Super Bowl.
In a day where coaches are fired by owners and ADs before their seasons and contracts are up with no public defamation of any sort, why are they choosing to fixate on this.
Sure, he left Louisville because there was an opportunity to coach at the highest level of his profession, the NFL. At the end of the day, the NFL is the one with mud on the face b/c it underdelivers in being a crappy job for coach, who is used to getting his talent, coaching it his way, etc.
An owner like Arthur Blank is just mad that his leadership is not that good. Welcome to the bottom of the toilet, Arthur Blank. Enjoy the ride down! Before you spout off about the speck in Bobby Petrino’s eye, why don’t you remove the “plank” from your own eye!
Go friscohog! Great download on Blank, buddy.
As a side note, the players throwing the stones at Petrino as well are not in the clear either. Five of them got fined for their involvement with Vick’s dog ring. So, is Bobby quitting on them, or did they already quit on Bobby? That includes Chris Houston as well.
Playing with their heart and money somewhere else is more reflective of a 3-win season than a coach who decided to leave 3 weeks before the end of the season. Those players have no heart and no pride for themselves. They quit on themselves. Bobby leaving was just the result of their lack of effort. Steve Bartkowski even had more heart than that, and his teams were record-setting in mediocrity.
Players, enjoy your fine! Have fun chasing Arthur Blank down the toilet that is the Atlanta Falcons. See you in another 10 years!
correction: the players were not involved in the dog ring. They are just showing their support for their leader’s involvement and his mediocrity and lack of heart and focus for his own teammates.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3159267
Like I said before the 4letter network has givin UA more national exposer than it could ever purchase.Keep it up ESPN.We love hearing Petrino and the UA on the national media.
So Bobby told Blank that he was his coach on Monday afternoon and then on Tuesday morning resigned. What changed during that time? Well, let’s see…
Some of the Falcon players showed up to the MNF game wearing signs and t-shirts saying “Free Vick”. Some of the players wore stickers in the game supporting Vick. Arthur Blank said on national TV that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Vick returning to the team, as long as he didn’t get fat on fried chicken. And oh yeah, the Falcons gave absolutely zero effort in getting blasted by a mediocre Saints team. I think Bobby stayed up all night Monday asking himself (and his wife), “Why am I punishing myself? I made a huge mistake taking this job to begin with. I have a great opportunity to go back to what I love, college football. The Falcons are better off without me, and I’m better off without the Falcons.”
I do think he should have met with the players before he left, but there would have been no love lost whether he did or not. It was a day off for the players, so it’s not like he could just go down to the locker room and get everyone together. He would have spent another day saying cold goodbyes when he needed to be recruiting before the NCAA dead period started.
This will all blow over eventually, but I am concerned that at least one recruit (Okpara) has said he’s not coming to Arkansas because he feels Petrino has a lack of integrity. Not a good sign.
By the way, when an ESPN opinionator (as opposed to a commentator) gets on national TV and tells recruits not to sign with Arkansas, they have stepped way over the line !!! The UofA and NCAA should have something to say about that. ESPN already compromised McFadden’s chance to win the Heisman by christening Tebow. Now, they are compromising our recruiting class. ESPN is the new gestapo and Arkansas is on their hit list.
Regarding Petrino: Being a white male sometimes has its drawbacks. The media picks and chooses whom it will “blast” accordingly.
Then too, all this talk will probably keep Petrino at Arkansas for quite a while. We’ll see.
due-ly noted hogboy…if Petrino leaves before this contract is up, he may not find himself coaching too many more big-time schools. Because of all of the talk, his credibility for staying at a school is definitely on the line.
I, personally, think that NW Arkansas would be a breath of fresh air for his family, as opposed to Atlanta. I’ve never been there. But, all of the reviews from friends and co-workers are much less than raving.
NW Arkansas is very family-friendly, and a great place to live.
I think Petrino left a very impossible situation in Atlanta for many reasons. The obvious, Vick and the not talked about bad relationship he had with the Falcon owner. Many coaches that left the college ranks have not fared well in the Pro madness. I truly believe this media attention will become positive in the near future. We all make mistakes. The mistake Petrino made was getting out of college ball in the first place. To the Razorbacks that mistake will be a blessing, and will be realized in a short time. The best way to shut up and shut down the mean spirited diarrhea of the mouth media is to be successful beyond expectations. It seems as though he is on that path. This negative garbage should cause hyper vigilant redeeming efforts on his part. SEC West championship next year. Approaching National Champion in two.
It’s a shame ppl are still on Petrino! No one will talk about the Falcons Firing Dan Reeves a number of years ago when he was 3-10 during the season! Why isn’t that bad??? And the players of the Falcons talk about loyalty and all these things. The truth is that the league and game should be played in good spirit and I wished it did. Players hold out for more money in their contracts and wouldn’t attend camp and all this non sense why aren’t they bashed???? It seems that at the NCAA and NFL it’s all business, which is fine, but parties shouldn’t cry fowl only when someone else makes a “business” decision.
Funny, Lou Holtz had a 3-10 season in 1977 and quit the NY Jets before the season was over and he works for ESPN. How come they don’t ask or bash one of their own for doing the same thing??
(My 12/12 early ‘take’ on the Petrino situation, from the perspective of one close to both ends of this story)
The Falcons, one way or the other, continue to be the biggest game in town - everywhere but on the field of play; except the results are the same - another loss. For these professional amateurs, the big game is mainly played in the locker room and the boardroom; where individual and collective behavior of these poor jilted souls has turned vicious and personally slanderous towards a man they’d just driven off by unacceptable circumstances of team members unable to show proper respect for their designated coach, brought in with best intentions, on their behalf; whom they obviously expect to kiss their a__es, or else it becomes personal - as in “collective” personal. The kind of collective, which flies in the face of good old sportsmanship, and the like; you know the way is always was until lately.
Moving on into the boardroom, where multi-ZILLIONAIRES seem oblivious to the magnitude of their duties and responsibilities to oversee their paYrollees in a logical manner. Had they, the Vick affair would have never been allowed to develop, or would it have? It’s almost worse that they claim to have not known of Vick’s secondary business venture than had they, and are covering it up. Either way would have been enough for the vast majority of us to escape at first chance.
It doesn’t matter what you think or dig up on Petrino; he acted WHEN he had to; as Arkansas was about out of time, because of a recruiting pre-holiday deadline and team concern. Take the job NOW, or it’s Muschamp tomorrow. So, “here today -gone tomorrow” applies to MORE than just him.
And it affected more than just him: like in the happiness of his family. You know how that works out there. Even such an ogre as this guy possesses genuine, real-life personal concerns! You know the ones that could be distracting some of our “professional” players from one game to the next. No poke at the ATL, but the Fayetteville, Arkansas area is highly ranked in the country for quality of life and retirement. TRANSLATION: great place to raise a family with most of the big city amenities.
Think about it: most any of us (especially those having options like Petrino) are naturally seeking out a good paying job we enjoy going to every day, and in a place AND atmosphere commensurate to family needs, which include happiness.
This was a golden opportunity that no reasonable man could pass on. The circumstances of his behavior are not as heinous as the Falcons and their media hype would have you believe. That THE PETRINO FAMILY chose the life boat over going down with the ship (and then what?!!) is NOT what this local ATL hysteria makes it out to be.
Pure and simple: It’s sour grapes by certain thin-skinned celebs calling themselves professional athletes, who’ve forgotten what the game is really about. It’s about Falcons decisions based on emotions and wishful-thinking. It’s a job environment hostile to what most of us would voluntarily be willing to endure.
This time, anyway…. it’s more about “everybody else involved” than Petrino.
(Along the lines of my previous post: a couple days later, I ran across this article, which I am unable to provide a link for, but which I offer in its entirity, as downloaded, including its headline, byline, and date published. It better echos my own thoughts, only presented in a more professsional way. ENJOY.)
Petrino Isn’t One to Blame
12-13-07 by Dave Burns/Sports 620 KTAR
Apparently the devil carries a clipboard.
Atlanta Falcon players. Falcon owner Arthur Blank. The governor of Georgia. Atlanta media. National media. They’ve all made Bobby Petrino sound like he’s Satan himself for leaving them with three games to go.
But if you apply the “real world smell test” I think you’ll see that Petrino is no different than you or me. What’s the “real world smell test”?
Take a set of circumstances and apply it to the real world and you tell me if it holds up.
Do people in the “real world” look for jobs, leave jobs, take jobs, bounce around, even if the timing of those departures often stink?
Have you ever done that?
Do you know someone who has? Have you ever walked in a room with the sole intention of networking? Getting your name out there? Planting seeds for future opportunity?
Do people in the “real world” take a job but then realize a few months later that the job wasn’t what they thought it would be and they look to get out?
Aren’t you taught, in the “real world”, that you have to look out for yourself because no one else will?
When an owner gives a coach a vote-of-confidence, but then fires him two weeks later in the middle of a season, is he being dishonest, disloyal or was it just time for a change? What’s the difference?
I Googled “job hopping” yesterday. One expert said you should stay at a job for at least a year. Another said three years. One offered advice on how to “spin” a resume dotted with a history of job hopping.
When you think about it, in the “real world”, is what Bobby Petrino did, that bad? Why we hold professional sports to a higher moral standard is something I’ll never understand.
The two things he did that were truly egregious: He lied right to Blank’s face when asked specifically about the Arkansas job. And he informed his players of his departure with a note left in their locker. Cowardly to be sure.
But to have the Falcons players themselves rip Petrino is laugh-out-loud hypocrisy. These are the same boneheads who wore “Free Mike Vick” t-shirts Monday night. Why don’t they accuse Vick of abandoning them? Why is Vick not a dishonest man in their eyes?
And you’re going to tell me that every single Falcon player has played hard every single moment of this season? That nobody has quit?
Sorry, but I live in the real world.
I’m going to add my opinion too………when Chris Berman made the statement on espn that Petrino and ARKANSAS were both losers………..and that they deserved each other………..hey Berman, to have never coached a game in the nfl or college ranks, you sure act like you know an awful lot about it!!!! Shows me that you’ve got the tact of a “sissy boy” and the iq of a rock!!!!!! Also, this is the 21st century……..wake up,,,,,,we can’t stand your “disco” and 60’s sayings!!!!! What is it with espn……..they hire “jock wanna bees”, who couldn’t make playing sports, so all they can do is talk & dream about it!!! The Swammi Sux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get a combover too…………..your hairstyle matches your wardrobe & commentary…………….OUTDATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!