Bobby Petrino: Arkansas Fans Rallying to Support Coach Should Pump Their Brakes

Bobby Petrino is the hot topic du jour and has been for about a week now. We've gone from the "Oh no, he was in an accident" stage through the "He apparently had an inappropriate relationship" phase, and now we are in the "Will he get fired?" stage of the ordeal.

Folks are lining up on each side, and the story has gone from a local situation to a national ordeal in the way a true scandal always does in the age of constant information. Now, a week after the news truly broke, Razorbacks fans are looking to rally to keep Petrino.

Spurred on by a Facebook page, as it most certainly should be, these members of the Hogs nation plan on making sure their voices get heard. As they state:

"

Arkansas Football: It's the players running through the A, Hog Hats. It's more than 70,000 fans calling, "WOO PIG SOOIE!".

Arkansas Football: It's the State of Arkansas banding together behind one team, and a mascot like no other. Those select few who put on the jersey are, chosen. They wear the colors, they pay the price, and they succeed. They are exceptional, they are Razorbacks.

Together we stand as tall as the tower of Old Main. Our memories are etched in stone like names on Senior Walk. And our blood flows Razorbacks Red. For 100 years we've been Hogwild, and today we continue the tradition.

We are, Arkansas Razorbacks!.

SAVE OUR COACH!

"

A lot of what they say I'm inclined to agree with. Arkansas football is, and should be, more than just 70,000 fans calling, "Woo Pig Sooie." It should be about the players running through the A. It should be about banding together as a team and as a state.

That's part of what makes college football beautiful—the way people identify with their team, whether they walked those grounds as students or they just love the boys representing their state. 

That is great, and fans supporting their players is something that I am 100 percent behind. However, Arkansas football should also be about more than football.

Now, to be fair, I'm not operating in some idyllic space where wins don't matter and being noble is the name of the game. I've lived college football. I know the dirt and filth and grime that exists beneath the thinly-veiled romantic image the NCAA wishes to project. I know coaches sleep around; I know coaches' wives like to party; I know legal issues get "taken care of" around campus. This is not new to me.

These sort of movements are simply a waste. It is not unique; these have been done and been done and been done. We get it, folks, we really do. You like winning football games. You think the coach has done a lot for your school, so you are down to ride with him through the storm and make sure you keep winning ballgames.

Frame it with nice rhetoric if you like, but this movement is more about winning ballgames than either of the first two linked points. Petrino is not Joe Paterno, who had built up a sense of community and had an iconic status at the university. Petrino is not Jim Tressel, a coach that got a national title and two other title game appearances, was at the school for a decade and was a fixture in the community.

No, this is Bobby Petrino. This is not about a guy making a mistake and needing to atone for his wrong to prove that he is the good guy everyone thought he was. This is not about a guy hiding something to protect his players and keep them on the field. No, this is simply about fans not wanting to lose a guy who is winning more than the Hogs have won in a long time. 

Nothing wrong with wanting to win—I was hoping the North Carolina Tar Heels would retain Butch Davis—but to get vocal and public about it in hopes of forcing the administration's hand is where you're going wrong.

Want to win all you want. Hope he stays on if you like. Send your emails and write your letters to Jeff Long. However, getting vocal in support of a guy that is a proven liar just is not what you should be about. You're making it way too easy for folks to point the fingers and laugh at you.

Maybe you don't care. Maybe winning supersedes all else. Maybe you don't mind people thinking "what a joke" about your school, fans and administration. Long is about to be in a position that's worse than E. Gordon Gee saying he hopes Tressel doesn't fire him.

What you're imploring your athletic director to do is say, "Yeah, you lied to me, made us look like fools, violated our sexual harassment policy and proved we value winning above all else; but yeah, we're good." 

Really a brilliant move.

That's not to say that Long should fire Petrino, but rather to say that the last thing a guy in his position needs is a bunch of "win at all costs" Hogs fans being spotlighted by the rest of the nation as part of the impetus for his decision to retain the coach.

Fill up his inbox, not the front page of the newspaper. Give the guy a break—his head coach already made his life hard enough. Don't add to the miserable situation.