Your daily reminder we could have had Bobby Petrino

[gobulls83]

WKU was 8-4 this past season and didn't go to a bowl game.

 

You'd have to believe that was because of having Petrino as the head coach.

 

It's because they play in the Sun Belt, the worst athletic conference ever devised. There were nine teams in the whole country that were bowl eligible but not invited to a bowl game, and five of them were in the Sun Belt. (The other four: One from Conference USA, one from the Mountain West, and two from the MAC.)

Edited January 10, 2014 by gobulls83

[The Sheriff]

If we had hired Petrino and he had bolted for the 'Ville after one season, that would have opened up a position for Calvin McGee (a coach familiar with Tampa that would love to run the USF program). McGee has only run Rich Rod's offenses for how many seasons? Word has it that he was shocked when we hired Skip. Imagine McGee and a good DC at USF. We could score like WVU and actually have a defense that played old USF football. Our defense was nice to watch most of the season. We would have not lost to Michigan State if McGee were running the program - the guy knows how to get the most out of a player's talent (not saying Taggart doesn't - but we totally were committed to a coach's system - not a player's abilities).

[usfgrad84]

Petrino deserves every bit of criticism about what happened with the girl, but the reality is that there probably isn't more than a handful of coaches, if there are even any, that didn't take a job that was a better situation, better pay or higher up the food chain of schools.

That is how we got Skip and how we got Taggart...and Leavitt left 4 previous positions on his way up the ladder.

Bowden left 5 previous jobs on his way to being head coach at FSU.

Bear Bryant left 6 different jobs on the way to Alabama.

This stuff is nothing new.

I don't hold it against coaches when they leave to take other jobs.

[gobulls83]

"Petrino deserves every bit of criticism about what happened with the girl, but the reality is that there probably isn't more than a handful of coaches, if there are even any, that didn't take a job that was a better situation, better pay or higher up the food chain of schools."

 

It's not the same thing. It's not just that Petrino took a better job, it's that he never stops looking for a better job, and will lie through his teeth every step of the way. He was at Louisville four seasons, and every single offseason he interviewed for other jobs. Then, he signed a 10-year extension that HE suggested to Jurich as a sign that he was committed to Louisville, and six months later bolted. Several of the job interviews he did were in slimy, secretive fashion - including interviewing for an Auburn job in secret when the position was still filled by Petrino's supposed "mentor" and "friend" Tommy Tubberville (this was in 2002, I believe). He apologized, then did the exact same thing again with LSU when they decided to hire Les Miles. He can't help but lie - it would be more shocking if he started telling the truth. In Atlanta, it was the same - he snuck out the back door before the season was over, and was such a coward about it that he couldn't even tell the players, so he instead stuck a short note to his players' lockers in the middle of the night.

 

Just because other coaches leave for better jobs too doesn't mean they are all equally honest, trustworthy or honorable. If Petrino had left just one job under questionable circumstances, it would be forgivable, he might be entitled to the benefit of the doubt; but three consecutive jobs? In the slimiest circumstances imaginable? No, that is not the same as Skip Holtz leaving East Carolina for USF. Not at all.

Edited January 10, 2014 by gobulls83

[JTrue]

So would you say you're not a fan of this hire? I'm starting to get that impression.

[usfgrad84]

If it was so secretive how do you know about it?

The guy is in demand as a football coach because he is top notch football mind. The top programs still seek to hire him and assistants still seem to want to work for him.

He might not be a first class guy, but he doesn't need to be. A lot of these guys are ********, but that goes for every profession with high achievers. You just don't hear about it.

[gobulls83]

If it was so secretive how do you know about it?

 

This is a stupid question. It's because the media found out about it anyway and forced him to fess up. After he first lied and said it didn't happen, of course.

 

Again, writing it off as "lots of people are ********" doesn't cut it - very few coaches, if any, have the track record of dishonesty and screwing over their employers that Petrino does. Being the biggest ******* in a group full of ******** might make it even worse. You said this was the same as any coach who changes jobs, and it very clearly isn't.

 

And if his behavior were irrelevant to his ability to do his job, he never would have been fired at Arkansas. Of course it is relevant.

Edited January 10, 2014 by gobulls83

[gobulls83]

Since apparently assistant coaches' opinions of him are relevant, let's see what one of his former assistants has to say about this stand-up guy:

 

A lot of Atlanta fans, understandably, have forgotten all about the short tenure of coach Bobby Petrino.

But one guy who hasn’t forgotten is Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who was on Petrino’s staff in Atlanta in 2007. Speaking to the Cincinnati media Wednesday, Zimmer ripped Petrino, who left the Falcons to coach at the University of Arkansas.

“When a coach quits in the middle of the year and ruins a bunch of people’s families and doesn’t have enough guts to finish out the year, I’m not a part of it,†Zimmer said. “And you can put that in the Arkansas News Gazette. I don’t really give a (bleep). He’s a coward, he ruined a bunch of people’s lives, a bunch of families, kids, because he didn’t have enough (guts) to stay there and finish the job. And that’s the truth. Most people in football have enough courage about him and enough fight to stick it out and not quit halfway through the year. It’s cowardly.â€

Pretty strong stuff and I’m sure it will appear in newspapers in Arkansas and plenty of other places. Zimmer returns to Atlanta on Sunday as the Bengals face the Falcons.

[usfgrad84]

He was fired for trying to cover up the motor cycle accident and his affair with a staffer, not looking for another job.

I am talking about coaches looking for other jobs and leaving the employers high and dry.

Happens every year in every sport. If you don't think there are a lot coaches that look for new jobs in secret you are naive.

Tubberville left recruits and assistants sitting at a dinner table and the next thing they know he was being announced as the head coach of UC. He also made a mess whdn he left Ole Miss for Auburn.

I'm not saying it is right. I am just saying it is fairly commonplace that these guys deny they are talking until they accept. I guarantee it happens in the business world too. You just don't hear about it unless it is newsworthy.

[WWMJD]

He was fired for trying to cover up the motor cycle accident and his affair with a staffer, not looking for another job.

I am talking about coaches looking for other jobs and leaving the employers high and dry.

Happens every year in every sport. If you don't think there are a lot coaches that look for new jobs in secret you are naive.

Tubberville left recruits and assistants sitting at a dinner table and the next thing they know he was being announced as the head coach of UC. He also made a mess whdn he left Ole Miss for Auburn.

I'm not saying it is right. I am just saying it is fairly commonplace that these guys deny they are talking until they accept. I guarantee it happens in the business world too. You just don't hear about it unless it is newsworthy.

 

Most coaches don't leave the way Petrino did, nuking everything behind them.  Tuberville is an exception, and also a huge d-bag that I would never want coaching at my school.  Is it any wonder that Tuberville and Petrino are buddies?