Bobby Petrino apologists and advocates, you now have your wish.
For every Hog fan’s sake, I’ll welcome any possible success the new and largely unanticipated offensive coordinator hire might bring. For my sake, I’m mildly discouraged, a little jazzed and completely perplexed.
What I can say is that the artist formerly known as “BMFP” had best keep that contrite appearance for a while. He’s getting an opportunity that, frankly, he probably did not deserve. Texas A&M’s offense was shaky in Petrino’s only season as OC, but it also showed promising signs under essentially three different quarterbacks.
I’ve been an unflinching critic of Petrino, even still, because I’m not convinced his philosophies and schemes fare as well in the “modern” game. Further, I’d expect this hire to be roundly appreciated by other SEC coaches who will use his past and present against him on the recruiting trail.
But maybe this is, in a typically Bizarro World way, a new leaf and a new approach. After all, Petrino did find ways to allow Lamar Jackson to use his mobility and big-play-or-bust approach to a Heisman and 17 wins over two seasons. The opposition will correctly note that Bobby also lost nine games over two years at Louisville despite Jackson’s prodigious numbers and talent, and that he didn’t even survive the year after Jackson went pro.
Petrino’s conduct was unconscionable in April 2012 and it remains so today, especially considering his success and his apparent pride in being here. The optics of this decision will naturally and deservedly be subject to an initial flurry of volatile takes.
And I think Petrino finally recognizes that he brought all of it on himself, not just the ignominy of his dismissal but also his carpetbagger reputation. The good news for him is that the new era of college sports now basically forgives and even encourages coaches to be every bit as nomadic as the players in the portal have been.
The issue for me, of course, is … well, the university’s whole approach to this. It will be sold, deftly, by athletic director Hunter Yurachek and Petrino themselves, as an ideal redemption opportunity, even as members of the national media mock this decision. That’ll fade out quickly.
What may not, however, is the total diffusion of accountability up and down the food chain. If Bobby’s for-cause firing 11 years ago left him ineligible for future employment, and the board of trustees and president approved this, then those parties are now under as much scrutiny as the head coach and athletic director have been. Will that be worth it to them if it all implodes, as it may very well do?
This move smacks of both legitimate desperation and the equally comprehensible desire to revive an offense that pretty much died on the OR table this year. It’s the most Arkansas thing ever, too, every bit as controversial as his December 2007 hiring as head coach.
And I won’t take this space to pick at scabs. If the man merits forgiveness according to some, I can’t argue that, and I love a good old-fashioned bounce-back story as much as anyone.
Yet, of course, this program sits on a razor’s edge anyway, and I have no idea what the next few weeks of recruiting will look like. Can he convince KJ Jefferson to return and flourish like Jackson did under his watch? If not, can he get Jacolby Criswell and Malachi Singleton to compete and stay onboard? And where in the actual hell are receivers going to come from?!
Alas, here we are in Bizarro World, and if I’m forced to choose, I’d rather Arkansas football inspire more laughs than tears.