Loading ...So things have settled down a bit down south. Petrino has left the Falcons for Arkansas, former players are ripping Petrino left & right and the Falcons are left once again scratching their heads. With a couple of days to think about it, I have finally come to grips with what has happened. Petrino is not a bad guy, yes leaving his team with 3 games left in the year so suddenly was cowardly but I do believe he did what he thought was best…and what was best was for him to go back to College Football.
The NFL is the big time, and every coach dreams of being a head coach in the NFL, but it is a different ball game from College Football. First off, College kids owe everything to their coach and their entire career rests on the coach playing them. Once you move to the NFL it is a completely different ballgame, a coach cant coach the same way - motivating players that make more then him is an awesome challenge. Respect? College kids are coming from High School and are awed at playing college football. NFL players have been there and done that so why should they respect a college coach? Honestly I feel that college coaches should stick to college, if they do want to move to the NFL they should come in as a assistant coach to learn the ropes.
Petrino is a good college football coach - yes in Atlanta he went through some crazy stuff (e.g. Michael Vick!) that no one ever thought would happen. But, I think the woes in Atlanta was just an excuse for him to jump ship and head to a big time program that will love him for however long he coaches. In the end the Atlanta Falcons, the Arkansas Razorbacks and Bobby Petrino will all be better off after what went down this week.
1 response so far ↓
1 Tyler // Dec 14, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Kieran,
Good take on Petrino. My opinion, however, being a former Louisville fan is far different from yours.
The man has been under three contracts, totaling well over 20 years, in the past 14 months. And, granted, of course, he is a college football coach all the way, as you mentioned, but he has proven to be incredibly disloyal.
Nearly every comment Petrino said in his press conference down at Arkansas he mentioned when he signed a 10-year, $25 million deal to stay at Louisville.
Assuming he turns the Razorbacks into a formidable SEC team, Petrino is going to up and leave when a better job offer comes his way, as history will only repeat itself.
That being said, however, my biggest concern for him at Arkansas has to do with how he deals with potential recruits. How can a future prospect and his family truly trust Petrino at his word given his track record for backing out of commitments. If I was a betting man, like Teddy, who still owes you more money for that Abreu deal, I would put money down that Petrino will not be the head coach at Arkansas come 2010.
Nice blog, though.
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