Arkansas AD Jeff Long has been universally praised in the media for breaking of football coach Bobby Petrino. “Long did the right thing” said a few of the college football writers at ESPN.
However, I think a lot of those writers need a good dose of something called “perspective”.
Keep in mind that Long is the same AD who hired Petrino away from the Atlanta Falcons DURING THEIR SEASON. If that wasn’t bad enough, Long did so without asking permission to speak to Petrino.
Plus, I find it hard to believe that Long did not know of Petrino’s past transgressions. After all, this is the same Petrino who secretly flirted with Auburn while former coach Tommy Tuberville was still employed there. And of course there was that Atlanta Falcons “thing”.
So while I am shocked that Long and the University of Arkansas did fire Petrino, I’m not overly impressed. Long knew he hired a scumbag, so why the need to act all indignant and shed a few crocodile tears at the press conference yesterday?
The late George Carlin said it best:
“You can’t build your house at the base of a volcano, and then wake up and wonder why there is lava in your living room.”
Categories: college football, sports story
SEC football is not run by choirboys. The conference has claimed the last six football titles for a reason. They’ve given up all pretense and illusion of recruiting “student athletes” or coaches with squeaky clean backgrounds. Winning is the only criteria they are concerned about. I respect them for their lack of hypocrisy. The other five major conferences and Notre Dame put up a front that they have more integrity but they end up with the same infractions and they get whupped when it’s time to deal with the SEC.
As far as hiring a coach who was under contract elsewhere? Happens all the time. The AD’s job is to get a coach who will win – that’s what he did. Case closed. Notre Dame took UC’s coach, UC turned around and poached Central Mich’s coach… that’ how the game is played. Take no prisoners. Show no mercy. If you haven’t got the stomach for it, become a fan of lacrosse or field hockey instead.
The Arkansas AD deserves neither praise nor criticism. He merely hired the best coach he could find and fired him when his behavior embarrassed the school and exposed it to legal liability. It’s as simple as that.