Bobby Petrino: Will Disgraced Arkansas Football Coach Ever Surface Again?

The Bobby Petrino situation at Arkansas has now come to a close of sorts. Petrino is fired, spring ball is over and John L. Smith is now at the helm for the Razorbacks in 2012. We'll know come December or January where the Hogs are going in terms of a permanent replacement. All things seem to be falling into place from the university's side. However, on the Petrino side of things, there has not been much to talk about. 

Petrino's Fayetteville, Arkansas, mansion is on the market, which makes it pretty clear he is not planning on sticking around town. So the big question still looming is an easy one: Will Bobby Petrino work in football again?

The short answer is yes.

There are so many reasons why Bobby Petrino should not work in football again: unethical hiring practices, lying, and the way he quit the Falcons come to mind immediately. But, yes, Petrino will find himself working in this sport sooner or later. It is not going to be an easy trigger for an athletic director to pull, but someone is going to fire on bringing in Bobby Petrino.

Petrino wins ball games. Everywhere he's been, in the college ranks, he's produced a winner. He's taken two very different ball clubs to BCS Bowl games; only Urban Meyer and Nick Saban can claim that same feat. His offenses are exciting, they're inventive, they score points. Quite frankly, the man is a genius with respect to offensive football. Special talent gets special treatment and even with all of his negatives, the fact remains that Bobby Petrino is a special talent.

It won't be easy for Petrino to break back into the game. He doesn't exactly have the goodwill most coaches have when it comes to being recommended for jobs. Every athletic director that even gets the idea is going to have to look at their desk photo of their wife and remember he's got to sleep next to her that night. Petrino, unlike other disgraced coaches such as Butch Davis or Rick Neuheisel, can't go running to the NFL for a check until the heat cools down around his name.

Bobby Petrino is a college football coach—that is what he does. And odds are Petrino will be on the sidelines coaching in the next few seasons. Times are desperate and winning means a lot in today's college football climate. Bobby Petrino wins, as long as you've got that title of winner affixed to the end of your name the system is going to find a place for you.

Don't expect him to land a high level job early. It might take him a stint as an offensive coordinator or as the captain of a less than big-time ship, but you can mark it down, Bobby Petrino will most definitely be coaching college football again in the near future.