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Name-dropping: Bobby Petrino, Richard Nixon and Steve Kragthorpe
Published: 4/10/2012 9:18 PM
Last Modified: 4/11/2012 11:35 AM


Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long discusses the firing football coach Bobby Petrino on Tuesday night. APRIL L. BROWN/AP

Three thoughts about Bobby Petrino’s firing at Arkansas:

1, Razorback fans shouldn’t be mad at Arkansas for making the move.

Petrino fired himself with his actions and with his Richard Nixon imitation. You can’t do that and keep a great job. (FYI, Nixon didn't survive either).

While it’s not kosher to wish a firing on anybody, this is going to be a good thing for college athletics because it’s evidence that behavior does matter and no person -- no matter how many games they win -- is bigger than the university or the program. There have been too many examples to the contrary and it’s time to at least try to get the toothpaste back in the tube.

2, Get over the notion that Petrino (who won 66 percent of his games) is the only coach on the planet who can win at Arkansas and that’s why he should have been retained.

Houston Nutt had a better winning percentage in conference games than Petrino. Ken Hatfield won 76 percent of his games.

Ever heard of Lou Holtz? Or Frank Broyles?

Yes, Petrino is the only coach to lead Arkansas to a BCS bowl.

But that’s only because BCS bowls didn’t come into existence until lately. If there was such a thing as BCS bowls back in the day, teams coached by Holtz (remember when his shorthanded squad knocked Oklahoma out of national championship contention in the Orange Bowl?) and Broyles (who won a national title in 1964) would have been in them.

Arkansas has participated in 39 bowl games. The Razorbacks won 13 SWC championships and have appeared in three SEC title games (never under Petrino). Hog fans shouldn’t worry that Ragnarok has arrived. The program will be fine with another leader who can simultaneously act right and coach ball. That guy, believe it or not, is out there.

3, Know who’s looking better in the wake of the Petrino mess? Steve Kragthorpe.

Kragthorpe left the University of Tulsa to be Petrino’s successor at Louisville. People close to Kragthorpe told me he inherited all kinds of discipline problems from the Petrino regime and was forced to clean house.

“I was shocked,” Kragthorpe told ESPN.com in 2008, when asked about the state of the Louisville program. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Kragthorpe dismissed nearly a dozen players (a starting cornerback was arrested for allegedly robbing a gas station) in his first season at Louisville. The Associated Press reported that he jettisoned perhaps two dozen players during his tenure as the Cardinals’ coach.

The loss of depth no doubt played a role in Kragthorpe -- a miracle worker at Tulsa -- getting fired at Louisville. He was 15-21 over three seasons.

At a 2008 SEC media function, Petrino was asked about the insinuation that he left behind discipline problems in Louisville.

“I saw some of those comments,” he said. “We didn’t have a discipline problem when I was there. Knock on wood. You always knock on wood on that, but we had players that were real focused, did a great job, went 41-9, and I think they returned 21 starters off of that Orange Bowl team. So, you know, I felt good about the way we left the program and the shape that we left the University of Louisville in.”

By the way, Petrino also is the guy who lied to his boss at Louisville (about pursuing the Auburn job) and who lied to his boss at Arkansas (in regard to details about the cycle crash). Who do you choose to believe?

SI.com once conducted a research project to see which college football program in the 2010 preseason top 25 had the most players with police records. Pittsburgh was first. Arkansas, coached by you know who, tied for second with 18 arrests.

It’s not fair to lay all the blame at Petrino’s feet. Would you want to be responsible for the behavior of 100 college kids? But it was absolutely fair to expect Petrino to behave in a manner that a leader of men is supposed to behave. If he doesn't follow the rules, why should his players? And that's why he had to go.


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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