It would take far too long to get into the details of Bobby Petrino’s tomfoolery. Suffice it to say we will leave it with this brief recap:
- After One season as the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator, he took the Auburn offensive coordinator job without telling Jacksonville head coach Tom Coughlin.
- This one hits close to home for Bearcat Nation – After coaching at Auburn under our beloved Tommy Tuberville, he went behind the backs of his bosses at Louisville in an attempt to get Auburn to fire Tubs so he could take Tubs’ spot! Side Note: Tuberville stayed with Auburn until 2008 and Petrino had 3 different head coaching jobs in that time.
- He left Louisville 6 months into a 10-year deal.
- He resigned from coaching the Atlanta Falcons 13 games into his first year. How did he do it? He notified his players by posting a 78-word letter in the locker room!
Atlanta Falcons Players:
Out of my respect for you, I am letting you know that, with a heavy heart, I resigned today as the Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons. This decision was not easy but was made in the best interest of me and my family. While my desire would have been to finish out what has been a difficult season for us all, circumstances did not allow me to do so. I appreciate your hard work and wish you the best.
Sincerely, Bobby Petrino
- He went to Arkansas, gave his mistress a job in the Arkansas athletic department, and tried to cover up the scandal after crashing his motorcycle with her on it.
In the most recent development, and example of how people never truly change who they are, there is the recruiting scandal involving 3-star running back Matt Colburn out of Dutch Fork High School in South Carolina during Petrino’s second tenure at Louisville.
Colburn committed to play for Bobby Petrino at Louisville 8 months ago, and never flip-flopped or waivered. Indeed, 8 months ago Colburn was a Louisville man. He fell in love with the coaching staff and campus, and thought the Cards were the right fit for him. He shut down his recruiting campaign, and believed his college playing days would be spent in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
I think you can see where this is going, and you are right…
Petrino revoked Colburn’s scholarship this week after unexpectedly signing too many top-notch recruits. Did Petrino call Colburn to inform him of this life-changing event? Of course not! Bobby Petrino had an assistant coach make the call to inform Colburn that he would not be getting a scholarship to Louisville this year.
Colburn’s high school coach has now banned Petrino and his staff from recruiting at Dutch Fork High School, but that 3-star prospect, Matt Colburn, has been left in the dust. Hopefully, this student athlete can find a spot on another high-profile team roster. Maybe he will even play for a coach that doubles as a decent human being. Until then, Colburn has been left behind in the arms race known as National Signing Day.
And we can all relate to Colburn here. How many of you have stopped updating your resume, put it in the shredder, done everything in your power to please your boss to stay with the same company all your life, and then be a part of that fateful, dreary day, when your boss tells you to pack it up and leave without any notice or expectation? This is real life, and it should not happen to 17 and 18 year-old kids.
Please also don’t confuse Petrino with Pitino. That’s a whole other story…..
By Andy Smith
As a side note, the University of Louisville Code of Conduct, which is seldom read and likely only enforced against students, states the following:
“Members of the University of Louisville community share these core values:
-honesty and rigor in all pursuits;
-transparency and integrity in decision-making.”
So, there’s that…