Hog Calls

Petrino had it all at UA, until he didn’t

Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino gets his players ready for their game against against UCA Saturday night at Estes Stadium in Conway (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Justin Cunningham)
Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino gets his players ready for their game against against UCA Saturday night at Estes Stadium in Conway (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Justin Cunningham)

FAYETTEVILLE - Offensive describes Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas’ coaching tenure.

On the field and off.

On the field concerns Arkansas tonight. Petrino returns to Reynolds Razorback Stadium coaching the Missouri Valley Conference lower FCS division but offensively potent 2-0 Missouri State Bears against Coach Sam Pittman’s 10th-ranked 2-0 Razorbacks.

Spanning Razorbacks coverage from 1973 to present including Hall of Fame coaches Frank Broyles and Lou Holtz and prolific offenses under Ken Hatfield and Houston Nutt, it seems from here that Bobby Petrino offensively ranks above.

Creativity, diversity, prowess for passing blended with power when required, Petrino’s offenses displayed it all during his 2008-2011 Razorbacks run. His 34-17 Arkansas record was capped by 2010 and 2011 campaigns 10-3 and 11-2 closed in the Sugar and Cotton Bowls.

Petrino lit up the Razorbacks program.

He also blighted it. Many predicted he would given his past.

As Louisville head coach, he clandestinely interviewed for the Auburn head coaching job while Tommy Tuberville, for whom Petrino previously served as Auburn’s offensive coordinator, still head coached Auburn.

Petrino was the Atlanta Falcons head coach promising owner Arthur Blank he would continue there then abruptly bolted to Arkansas.

Arkansas took something of a similar chance before.

In 1993 Athletic Director Broyles hired Danny Ford, a Hall of Famer for his Clemson record including a national championship, but ousted in a power struggle with Clemson’s administration.

As Ford would say later in his slipped sideways syntax about a different matter, “Been that, done there.”

Ford promised Broyles and Chancellor Dan Ferritor he would ruffle no higher-ups’ feathers. And he didn’t. The usual suspect for a coach’s dismissal, a couple of 4-7 seasons after winning the 1995 SEC West, ended Ford’s Arkansas tenure without controversy though he should be credited recruiting the players Nutt coached to a smashing 9-3 1998 debut.

Unchecked by then new (2008-2017) Athletic Director Jeff Long, Petrino increasingly did as he pleased without reproach. He treated support staff abominably.

The Cotton Bowl, staffed by salt of the Earth good folks always friendly to Arkansas and reciprocated, experienced Petrino and his minions behaving so rudely that a UA grad of high Cotton Bowl position professed wishing never seeing the Hogs picking Cotton again.

Following Broyles’ decades of open door policy, Razorbacks alums felt unwelcome during the lockdown Long-Petrino era.

When Petrino’s motorcycle crash revealed crossing an irrevocable line hiring his mistress on the football payroll, he was fired amid scant support for a coach who had won so much.

That said, post Petrino the 2012 through 2021 Hogs under four coaches suffered six losing seasons. They didn’t exceed eight victories until Pittman’s 2021 Hogs went 9-4.

Third-year Coach Pittman credits some of the recent success built from the Petrino proof that Arkansas indeed can win.

“Last time Arkansas was relevant, was when Coach Petrino was here,” Pittman said. “We’ve used that in recruiting.”

Given Petrino’s prowess, it’s the Razorbacks’ task tonight to keep his Arkansas relevance past tense.

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