Jessica Dorrell Incident No Reason for Arkansas to Fire Bobby Petrino

Let the record show that I am not a Bobby Petrino fan. In my opinion, he's proven himself to be an unsavory character on enough occasions to warrant any dislike fans may have of him.

But that doesn't mean I think he should be fired.

Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long is currently reviewing the incidents surrounding Petrino's motorcycle crash with Jessica Dorrell, a woman with whom he had an "inappropriate relationship" and who also works for the University. Petrino is currently on paid leave.

So what should Long do? Should he keep the successful Petrino aboard, a man who is 34-17 at Arkansas and 21-5 the past two years? Should his record have anything to do with the decision? Or should he get axed?

Keep in mind, Long has an easy out in Petrino's contract if he wants to get rid of the coach. From the Associated Press:

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Petrino signed a new seven-year contract in December 2010 after completing his third regular season at Arkansas. The contract, which was for an average of $3.53 million annually, had a clause in it that would allow Arkansas to dismiss Petrino for "engaging in conduct, as solely determined by the university, which is clearly contrary to the character and responsibilities of a person occupying the position of head football coach or which negatively or adversely affects the reputation of the (university's) athletics programs in any way."

"

That makes me think he'll probably be gone. But let's keep in mind that Petrino didn't break any laws here and, so far as we know, neither he nor Dorrell committed any NCAA violations.

I'm not a big fan of people's personal lives finding themselves in the workplace, or the lawful—however immoral—lifestyle choices we engage in determining our work status. Petrino is a football coach, not a marriage counselor.

Yes, I've heard the arguments that he's now a poor role model for the student-athletes he coaches, but let's not be naive. These aren't children, they're young men. This isn't high school football, this is a huge, money-making enterprise under the guise of collegiate athletics.

And it could serve as a learning opportunity. A chance to explain to these young men that a mistake was made, that the head coach is human too but family values actually are an important thing, something Petrino clearly forgot about.

Besides, when you hired the man who lied to the face of Arthur Blank before ditching the Atlanta Falcons or interviewed for an occupied Auburn job and lied about it, which ultimately led to the president and athletic director of that school resigning, well, can you really pretend like Petrino was hired to be a role model?

No, no you can't.

You don't have to like what Petrino did—I don't care for his actions one bit, and I feel so sorry for his family and what they must be going through right now—but that doesn't mean he should be fired.

College football can't have its cake and eat it too. It can't rake in ridiculous amounts of money like a business but pretend to act like some sort of sacred institution where things like morals and values are its primary concern.

It's been choosing the money for a long time now. And that's why Petrino deserves to keep his job.

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