Arkansas AD Jeff Long Deserves Some Criticism for Hiring Bobby Petrino

Hindsight is always 20/20, but don’t tell me that Arkansas AD Jeff Long didn’t realize Bobby Petrino had some character issues when he hired him four years ago. For that, Long deserves some criticism for hiring Petrino as the Arkansas head coach.

The writing was on the wall from the onset. Despite the successes that he may have brought to the position in Fayetteville, Petrino has long built a reputation as a guy that was not trustworthy. Winning was obviously a big priority for Arkansas. Now the Hogs would likely take the wins back to avoid this scandal.

So why would Long hire Petrino?

Why Petrino Became a Hog

Bobby Petrino has been a very successful coach at the collegiate level, earning a reputation as a quarterback developer and offensive guru.

Petrino got his start at the University of Idaho under coaching legend John L. Smith. Petrino was the quarterbacks coach and eventually the offensive coordinator for the Vandals under Smith.

The second stop on the collegiate coaching trail landed Petrino at Arizona State as a quarterbacks coach. Petrino spent two seasons with the Sun Devils, guiding future All-American and NFL quarterback Jake Plummer.

Departing from Arizona State, Petrino took his talents to Nevada and then to Utah State under the leadership of John L. Smith once again. When Smith took the head coaching position at Louisville in 1998, Petrino followed along to serve as the team’s offensive coordinator.

After one year of service to the Cardinals, Petrino took to the NFL as the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, serving under NFL coaching legend Tom Coughlin. Coughlin had high praise for Petrino’s ability throughout his tenure.

After his first stint in the pros, Petrino was hired as the Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator, spending one year with the Tigers before returning to Louisville as the head coach.

In his time with Louisville as the head coach, Petrino continued the winning legacy that was born from John L. Smith’s efforts. Petrino took the Cardinals to a 41-9 record overall, all while ensuring bowl berths in all four seasons with the Cardinals. His final season, Louisville made it into the BCS.

It was time for Petrino to return to the largest stage in football. He returned to the NFL in 2007 as the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons. Petrino had made it. Unfortunately for the Falcons, it wouldn’t end as well as they would have hoped.

Petrino departed the Falcons after a 3-10 start before the season had actually concluded. His resignation came just a day after assuring Falcons owner Arthur Blank his intent to stay with the Falcons. Petrino told the players by leaving a letter in their lockers. That’s weak sauce.

Arkansas had just hired AD Jeff Long to replace Frank Broyles, and Long was looking to make a splash. Long made a splash all right, one that is just now seeing the waves begin to settle.

It is easy to read the résumé and expect great things, even with his failure at Atlanta. But shouldn’t Jeff Long have known better? Despite the winning ways of Petrino in his career, he dumped his team midseason to take another head job.

Jeff Long Should Have Known

Undoubtedly, Long was looking to land a big-name coach that could rebuild a team that had fallen hard in the final year of the Houston Nutt regime.

Bobby Petrino had success at the college level as a coordinator and as a head coach at Louisville. The Cardinals had made it into the BCS bowl game under Petrino and averaged 10 wins a season.

Was Long looking past major character flaws in Petrino to find wins? Looking back, it appears that way.

The first strike against the questionable character of Bobby Petrino came in 2003 with Jetgate. Auburn University officials took to the friendly skies in an attempted coup d'état of Tommy Tuberville, courting the first-year Louisville head coach.

Petrino admitted to the meetings after Auburn officials had to make the information public. Strike one.

The character issues continued in his time at Louisville when he told former Louisville player D.J. Kamer not to attend a friend’s funeral where he was set to serve as a pallbearer, according to a New York Times report. Leaving for a funeral showed that Kamer didn’t “want to play football” in Petrino’s eyes.

How was all of this missed?

The final, most obvious straw was the way that Petrino handled the Atlanta Falcons situation. Petrino was brought to Atlanta for his offensive genius and to help mold Michael Vick into a top-notch NFL quarterback.

Before Petrino got his chance to develop Vick, the infamous dog fighting scandal broke loose, forcing the Falcons to cut ties with the talented signal-caller.

Petrino lasted into the month of December, dumping the Falcons for the Arkansas head coaching position.

Where Long Failed, Why it Makes Sense

What has happened in the recent weeks is a surprise because of the actions, but not for the lack of moral and ethical aptitude that Petrino carried to Fayetteville.

His reputation was never a squeaky-clean one, and Petrino never made the attempt to cover up his attitude. After the firing of Houston Nutt and the public evisceration of his character, shouldn’t Long have looked elsewhere?

Long didn’t, and unfortunately the trees that were planted have produced fruit. The process that was followed by Long to hire Petrino from Atlanta was sketchy at best, showing that the Arkansas AD may have some character issues himself.

There was some fallout over the way that Petrino left the Falcons and how Arkansas went about the hiring, but Long didn’t care. He “was going to work to find the best coach.” Petrino was a winner, but far from the best man for the job.

That is where Long failed himself and the university whose athletic interests he represents. He went about the process wrong and used backdoor dealings to hire his replacement for Arkansas. He took part in a process that was flawed by the actions that took place to land Petrino in Fayetteville.

It is easy to see how Long was likely eager to prove his worth after replacing legend Frank Broyles in the Arkansas AD seat, but now adding up the layers of character issues shows why it was a bad move to begin with.

The unfortunate incident that led to this firing makes sense. In no way did Long have the foresight to know that Petrino would wreck a motorcycle with his mistress on the back, but ignoring the past character flaws of the coach set Long up for eventual failure.

Not only did Petrino harm the university with his actions, but so did Long four years ago. Jump on Petrino all you want, but don’t forget the man that gave him the platform to black the eye of the University of Arkansas.

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