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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Cory Woodroof

Bobby Petrino is reportedly returning to Arkansas, leaving fans flabbergasted

Bobby Petrino Arkansas (Organization) Football Lane Kiffin Razorbacks ESPN

Arkansas has reportedly hired Bobby Petrino as its next offensive coordinator because irony is dead.

Per ESPN’s Chris Low, the Razorbacks have done the inexplicable and breathtakingly stupid by agreeing to bring back Petrino to run its offense.

This comes after more than a decade after Arkansas fired Petrino. Yes, remember this? The school fired the former head coach in 2012 for hiring the woman he was having an affair with and trying to hide the fact multiple times from Arkansas leadership.

If you’ll recall, a motorcycle accident involving Petrino and the woman in question led to one of the most infamous press conferences in college football history with a dinged-up Petrino wearing a neck brace and lying to reporters about the details around the crash.

Former Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long excoriated Petrino at the time of his April 2012 firing, per a report from ESPN at the time:

“He made the decision, a conscious decision, to mislead the public on Tuesday, and in doing so negatively and adversely affected the reputation of the University of Arkansas and our football program,” Long said, choking up at one point as he discussed telling players that their coach was gone. “In short, coach Petrino engaged in a pattern of misleading and manipulative behavior designed to deceive me and members of the athletic staff, both before and after the motorcycle accident.”

After an 11-2 season in 2011 that saw the Razorbacks play in the Cotton Bowl in Petrino’s last season, Arkansas fell into a 4-8 season under one-season coach John L. Smith. Petrino returned to the college coaching ranks with notable stops at Western Kentucky, Louisville and Missouri State.

Arkansas hasn’t been quite the same program after the embarrassment of the Petrino scandal. And now, he will take a prominent role once more with Razorbacks football after spending a season with Texas A&M as its offensive coordinator. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, etc.

College football fans were absolutely baffled to see Petrino return to the school that marks the biggest failure of his career (outside of that time he quit being the Atlanta Falcons coach midseason by leaving notes in the locker room announcing his departure).

Well, at least he’s got Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin on his side?

As for the rest of us…

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