Ex-Hog, Cowboys Coach Johnson Says Arkansas Should Re-Hire Their Ex

November 7th, 2012 02:05 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Arkansas
Tags: Bill Clinton, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis, Dallas Cowboys

Aside from Jon Gruden, Bobby Petrino might be the hottest name in the SEC this offseason. The ex-Arkansas coach who crashed his motorcycle and his career this past April, is getting mentioned in connection with the open job at Kentucky, potential jobs at Auburn and Tennessee, and even at — wait for it — Arkansas.

Ex-Razorback player, ex-Dallas Cowboys coach and current FOX analyst Jimmy Johnson told Jack Arute and Gino Torretta on SiriusXM radio yesterday that perhaps it’s time for Arkansas to re-hire their ex:

“Some people might laugh but I’m serious about it. If they want an outstanding coach they ought to bring back (Bobby) Petrino or hire Butch Davis (and ex-Johnson assistant and Arkansas native). And people say, ‘How in the world can you bring back Petrino?’ I said, ‘Listen, you forgave Bill Clinton.’ Forgive the man. Forgive the man for making a bad decision. Give him an opportunity to coach again…

He wants to get back into coaching and he’s a great coach and he made a mistake. This whole country, it’s build on forgiving people and giving them second chances. And I think the fanbase would love to bring him back. But if they don’t bring him back? Butch Davis, give him an opportunity.”

For the record, Davis would be a bit of a reclamation project, too, considering the mess at North Carolina that took place on his watch.

This writer’s all for forgiving Petrino. He messed up. Millions of us mess up everyday and many mess up in the same exact way Petrino did. I’m not big on casting stones at “sinners.”

But the problem is this — If you’re Arkansas AD Jeff Long and this guy could have cost you your job with his actions, would you be quick to hire him and trust him again? Oh, I don’t think so. Long might forgive Petrino, but that doesn’t mean he’ll bring him back to Razorback Stadium anytime soon.

That’d take more than forgiveness. That’d take a near miracle.

Then again, if a few Hog boosters get involved…

« AU’s Slade Provides UGA’s Jones With Some Added Motivation

Thought Of The Day – 11/8/12 »

7 comments

Newest | Oldest

narreng9

The ex-Arkansas coach who crashed his motorcycle and his career this past April, is getting mentioned in connection with the open job at Kentucky, potential jobs at Auburn and Tennessee.

tryagain

Shut up Jimmy Johnson. If Long hired him back now how pathetic would that look for both him and the University. I'm a hog fan and Bobby was a good coach but so what- he can be replaced.

SevierVol

Jimmy Johnson has been breathing too much hair spray. Rehiring Petrino would be like taking a big gulp of milk and discovering it has soured, then putting it back in the fridge and expecting it to taste better the next time.

wdh1962grad

John, I agree...forgiveness is to be given (where would any of us be without it?)....trust is to be earned and that takes a little time of proven changes in a person's choices/decisions..

beingtimfreeman

Even if we did 'forgive' Petrino, it wouldn't do anything to change the fact that his re-hiring will unleash the dogs of war - i.e, attorney's - who would have burned down the University had they not fired him in the first place. Petrino wasn't fired because of the affair, he was fired because hiring Jessica Dorrel constituted discrimination. He passed over 154 other applicants for the job to hire HIS MISTRESS. That's a massive tsunami of litigation waiting to destroy everything, and everyone, in it's path. Jeff Long would have been named a co-defendant.Now what would YOU do?I can't believe that nearly a year later, people still can't figure this out.

RAB83

1 Like

Wow. I always thought Jimmy Johnson was smart. What a stupid notion. Ignoring the morality of the situation, a supervisor having sex with an employee is an invitation to a lawsuit that the university would lose. This is why any employer would take the same action as Long.

---------------------------

Boss: I'm going to get right to the point. It has come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?

George: Who said that?

Boss: She did.

George: Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices and I tell you people do that all the time.

Boss: You're fired.

George: Well you didn't have to say it like that.

bradleygator

Here's the question: is Long more likely to get fired if he hires Petrino back, or if he doesn't hire Petrino back? Arkansas should have just kept him and dealt with the heat. Johnson's right. If Clinton can sex up a white house intern and thrive and Kobe and Rothlisberger can ball their way past rape allegations, hiring your mistress shouldn't register a blip.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Homepage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.