Nearly 12 years after being fired as the head coach at Arkansas, Bobby Petrino is returning to the Razorbacks, a move that brings a man long considered one of college football’s top offensive minds full circle and back to a school that he left under unceremonious circumstances.
🔔RING. THE. BELL.🔔
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) November 29, 2023
Welcome back @CoachBPetrino!!!https://t.co/sBCpNbN3Ix pic.twitter.com/QenlUg8V79
Petrino was the Razorbacks’ head coach from 2008 to 2011, compiling a 34-17 record and creating an offensive attack that helped fuel a 10-win season in 2010 and an 11-win campaign in 2011 that included a win in the Cotton Bowl. Three months after that 29-16 victory over Kansas State, things went off the rails.
On April 1, 2012, Petrino was injured in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash. He initially said he was riding alone, but a police report later revealed he was riding with a female staffer. The woman turned out to be former Arkansas volleyball player Jessica Dorrell, with whom Petrino — a married father of four at the time — had engaged in a romantic relationship, given a job in the football program and gifted $20,000. Petrino later was placed on administrative leave and admitted to an “inappropriate” relationship with Dorrell. Nine days after the crash, he was fired.
Petrino spent a season out of football before a one-season stint at Western Kentucky in 2013 led to him being hired at Louisville, where his head coaching career started in 2003. In his first four seasons with the Cardinals, he went 41-9 and became known for developing quarterbacks.
He also was known for controversy. Petrino apologized after initially denying and then admitting to taking a covert 2003 meeting to discuss the Auburn coaching job during his first season at Louisville.
His first departure from Louisville was to coach the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in 2007, a stint that lasted just 13 games in the wake of the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal. He left Atlanta with a 3-10 record to take the Arkansas job.
Besides his one year at Western Kentucky, Petrino has since coached at Missouri State as well as a second stint at Louisville from 2014 to 2018. He spent this year as Fisher’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, leading a unit that ranked fifth in the SEC in scoring offense and eighth in total offense. Petrino was not retained by new Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, whom the school announced as Fisher’s replacement Monday.
“It’s something I hoped would happen,” Petrino told ESPN of his return to Arkansas. “Wasn’t sure if it ever would, but it is a dream come true to be able to go back to the University of Arkansas and do anything I possibly can to make it right this time. I’m grateful to Coach [Sam] Pittman and [Athletic Director] Hunter Yurachek for making it happen.”
