Petrino To Arkansas

Mean Green 93-98 · December 12, 2007

Did you watch the clip with DeAngelo Hall? He was not happy with Petrino at all.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · December 12, 2007

Here we go again with the holier-than-thou attitudes about how someone else leaving an employer. Go read the collective bargaining agreement for the NFL. Owners can terminate anyone's contract at any time for any reason.

So, if the owners can cut a player or coach a year or two into a five year contract, why can't the player or coach walk as well?

Don't be judgemental about what happens in these contracts. Either side backs out - and, these days, they usually do.

Not every coach or player signed for three, five or however many years gets those contracts honored. If they fail to love up to expectations, they're out, contract or not. Even if they do live up to expectations, they are sometimes let go for "business/salary cap" reasons.

Players and coaches should get the same latitude publicly that owners get. Hey, owners sit with these guys' agents and make promises, too. When Petrino arrives, he best player get arrested and jailed and he's stuck with Joey Harrington. I'm sure that's not what he bargained for.

So, he leaves. It's his right to do so just as much as it would be for Blanke's to fire him after one season on a five-year deal if he wanted to.

Quit your belly-aching over it. Sports is more business these days than anything else. Or, maybe you didn't notice Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell shilling for the NFL Network so more games can be taken off "free television" and forced onto subscription medium. And, Jones and Goodell actually acted like they were doing this for the fans? What a joke. If it's for the "fans" leave the games on network television - something basic cable already has in its package. Jackasses.

And, you guys want to sit around and sympathize with the owners over a coach leaving? Give me a break. Those guys don't give a crap about anything but the bottom line. How you think and feel, or how their own coaches and player think and feel rarely factors into owners decisions anymore.

Edited December 12, 2007 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

Monkeypox · December 12, 2007

And, you guys want to sit around and sympathize with the owners over a coach leaving? Give me a break. Those guys don't give a crap about anything but the bottom line. How you think and feel, or how their own coaches and player think and feel rarely factors into owners decisions anymore.

I'm not sympathizing with an owner on this, I'm calling Petrino a whiny little **** who can't hack it and knows it. And it would be one thing if this were something he'd done ONCE, but he has a history of doing it, and it's funny to me anyone actually wants to defend him.

Life is unfair. So what. Petrino is a punk and a quitter. I'd have much more respect for the guy if he actually tried to stay in Atlanta and get things righted, even if he ended up failing, because that takes guts.

I wouldn't touch him with a 10-ft pole, because every year this guy loses credibility.

greenminer · December 12, 2007

Here we go again with the holier-than-thou attitudes about how someone else leaving an employer. Go read the collective bargaining agreement for the NFL. Owners can terminate anyone's contract at any time for any reason.
So, if the owners can cut a player or coach a year or two into a five year contract, why can't the player or coach walk as well?
Don't be judgemental about what happens in these contracts. Either side backs out - and, these days, they usually do.
Not every coach or player signed for three, five or however many years gets those contracts honored. If they fail to love up to expectations, they're out, contract or not. Even if they do live up to expectations, they are sometimes let go for "business/salary cap" reasons.
Players and coaches should get the same latitude publicly that owners get. Hey, owners sit with these guys' agents and make promises, too. When Petrino arrives, he best player get arrested and jailed and he's stuck with Joey Harrington. I'm sure that's not what he bargained for.
So, he leaves. It's his right to do so just as much as it would be for Blanke's to fire him after one season on a five-year deal if he wanted to.
Quit your belly-aching over it. Sports is more business these days than anything else. Or, maybe you didn't notice Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell shilling for the NFL Network so more games can be taken off "free television" and forced onto subscription medium. And, Jones and Goodell actually acted like they were doing this for the fans? What a joke. If it's for the "fans" leave the games on network television - something basic cable already has in its package. Jackasses.
And, you guys want to sit around and sympathize with the owners over a coach leaving? Give me a break. Those guys don't give a crap about anything but the bottom line. How you think and feel, or how their own coaches and player think and feel rarely factors into owners decisions anymore.

I love having your perspective and input on the board, even if most of the time you get blasted.

You must throw your hands up in the air a lot at what comes from this board. If everyone followed your logic, what would the purpose of a message board be? Sensibility? nah... Rationalism? nah...

This is where everyone goes for ridiculous stadium banter, Plumm rants, and knee-jerk holier-than thou baseless reactions and assumptions.* That's where the fun is.

_{*And Dude-isms.}

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 12, 2007

I'm not sympathizing with an owner on this, I'm calling Petrino a whiny little **** who can't hack it and knows it. And it would be one thing if this were something he'd done ONCE, but he has a history of doing it, and it's funny to me anyone actually wants to defend him.
Life is unfair. So what. Petrino is a punk and a quitter. I'd have much more respect for the guy if he actually tried to stay in Atlanta and get things righted, even if he ended up failing, because that takes guts.
I wouldn't touch him with a 10-ft pole, because every year this guy loses credibility.

Easy to say, until of course it is one of your teams - promise you, if Petrino wanted to come to UNT at this time last year with DD on his way out, you would have opened the doors for him.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 12, 2007

we get it, you're a hog fan...

I am. At the end of the day though, I am not a "big" money booster type so since I have absolutely no impact on who gets hired or who doesn't, I don't really allow myself to get worked up over who they hire or who they don't. I really don't think Petrino will be there for more than 4 years, but it is better than Nutt, so I am happy. I don't like the way he left Atlanta, but I can also see the other side of it too - they could fire him at anytime, so it does go both ways.

Monkeypox · December 12, 2007

I don't give a rat's crack about contracts and who can fire who and who has a responsiblity to whom. The fact of the matter is the guy's a crappy coach. If people don't like the situation in the NFL where you can get let go at any time, they're more than welcome to go work at Arby's instead of making millions of dollars.

Petrino came in and did nothing but make a bad situation worse and show how ill-equipped for the job he was. Once it was painfully obvious to everyone (like week 3), he clammed up even further and let the problems in the team erode and spill over into the media. Once the meltdown was complete, he bolted, knowing he is incapable of actually fixing the situation, because he doesn't have the stones.

December 12, 2007

I agree with Lonnie on this one.

I wouldn't want this to happen to me, so I wouldn't do it to anyone else.. but we see it every year that business is business. NFL is business. It isn't family. Petrino could have as easily been put out on his butt after this season (without pay out, over the phone, mid season, etc).

I really couldn't care less about how he broke up with the Falcons. It allows him to start his role as a recruiter and coach at his new gig. It also allows the Falcons to start preparing for their next year (and they need as much time as they can get).

rcade · December 13, 2007

Here we go again with the holier-than-thou attitudes about how someone else leaving an employer. Go read the collective bargaining agreement for the NFL. Owners can terminate anyone's contract at any time for any reason.

If Petrino left one NFL team for another, I think you'd have a good point. But he's back in college, and in college his players can't leave without losing a year. So I think it's fair to slam him for disloyalty and failing to keep his word. College players are completely depending on their coach's word when they join a program.

rcade · December 13, 2007

Easy to say, until of course it is one of your teams - promise you, if Petrino wanted to come to UNT at this time last year with DD on his way out, you would have opened the doors for him.

I wouldn't want UNT to get a coach who already had his eye on the door the minute he showed up. What's the point? One or two years of Petrino -- or another coach with as big a name -- wouldn't make a dent in the long-term success of the program. Four or five years, sure.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

I wouldn't want UNT to get a coach who already had his eye on the door the minute he showed up. What's the point? One or two years of Petrino -- or another coach with as big a name -- wouldn't make a dent in the long-term success of the program. Four or five years, sure.

Exactly. Petrino would do nothing for the long-term success of this program, because as soon as he had a season like Todge just had, he'd leave to go coach high school in week 9 or something.

December 13, 2007

If Petrino left one NFL team for another, I think you'd have a good point. But he's back in college, and in college his players can't leave without losing a year. So I think it's fair to slam him for disloyalty and failing to keep his word. College players are completely depending on their coach's word when they join a program.

Until he harms a student athlete by leap frogging around the NCAA, you can't really criticizing him for how he handles his NFL job by college standards.

That is why when a student athlete is picking which scholarship, they should love the school as much as the coach. This is the real world and in the real world there is turnover in employment.

Like I learned early in college, what are you going to do if the person you are talking to today gets hit by a bus and can't follow through with the promises? I can't be mad at my former manager for taking a better position at another company, which in turn caused my product date to slip, employees to run crazy in power struggles, I didn't get the raise that he promised I would get the next quarter... Hell, I would have left too.

I just think it is really easy to not give coaches the benefit of doubt, when this is there JOB and there CAREER. This isn't a family. Sometimes you know that you are in the right spot and you can pick another one. If it is were family, you couldn't choose.

December 13, 2007

Exactly. Petrino would do nothing for the long-term success of this program, because as soon as he had a season like Todge just had, he'd leave to go coach high school in week 9 or something.

Hardly a valid comparison.

He is making more money at Alabama. And there is a guaranteed contact at the college level. In the NFL, he could get canned at the end of the season and end up jobless for the next season.

As far as never wanting a coach like Petrino. I can see how it could work out very well...

He *could* come in here, get some hot shot recruits that want to play with a man with NFL contacts, get some hot shot young assistant coaches that want to play for peanuts (and the opportunity to play for a coach like him). The young assistant coaches know they will be in line to take over (a la Avery Johnson style, or the new Navy coach) and also know Petrino doesn't really plan to stick around too long.

That situation COULD work out. I would take a big named coach like Petrino any day (even if it were two/three years). And with that risk, I would take it.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

Until he harms a student athlete by leap frogging around the NCAA, you can't really criticizing him for how he handles his NFL job by college standards.
That is why when a student athlete is picking which scholarship, they should love the school as much as the coach. This is the real world and in the real world there is turnover in employment.
Like I learned early in college, what are you going to do if the person you are talking to today gets hit by a bus and can't follow through with the promises? I can't be mad at my former manager for taking a better position at another company, which in turn caused my product date to slip, employees to run crazy in power struggles, I didn't get the raise that he promised I would get the next quarter... Hell, I would have left too.
I just think it is really easy to not give coaches the benefit of doubt, when this is there JOB and there CAREER. This isn't a family. Sometimes you know that you are in the right spot and you can pick another one. If it is were family, you couldn't choose.

It doesn't have anything to do with college or the NFL being a family. It has to do with a guy not being a competitor and rolling over when things are difficult. The REAL problem is this quitter is the same guy who's supposed to be teaching young athletes how to deal with adversity. His message is "RUN AWAY!"

Petrino didn't get hit by a bus, and he didn't get a better position. He got one he thinks he can handle. But trust me on this, in ANY business, not just football, if you get a reputation for leapfrogging and your resume is filled with a bunch of broken promises, it's gonna get harder every time to find work. Petrino is lucky Arkansas is so desperate.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

That situation COULD work out. I would take a big named coach like Petrino any day (even if it were two/three years). And with that risk, I would take it.

He wouldn't stay here 3 years.

If he wanted a guaranteed contract, he should've STAYED in college football. Everyone around here quotes Hawkins all the time on his infamous rant. How about:

THIS IS THE NFL! IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT, GO COACH AT ARKANSAS!

It's not a mystery what life is like in the NFL. Petrino ran away like a little punk, pure and simple.

December 13, 2007

Petrino didn't get hit by a bus, and he didn't get a better position. He got one he thinks he can handle. But trust me on this, in ANY business, not just football, if you get a reputation for leapfrogging and your resume is filled with a bunch of broken promises, it's gonna get harder every time to find work. Petrino is lucky Arkansas is so desperate.

I would consider Arkansas a better job. By my standards: long term future (college coaches last longer), collegiate life style, more pay, guaranteed contracts, dealing with amateur athletes and being a teacher. I would say Arkansas a better job.

Resume FILLED with a bunch of broken promises? Puhlease. He left one job for another. ONE. I hardly consider that "filled."

And certainly, when I interview people for positions with my company, I look for people with a good work record.. and a one year gig at a company doesn't look great, but it far from a deal killer. When I ask them about it, if they say it ways the right fit, didn't feel they could grow in the company, left for a serious pay raise, etc. I understand.

I don't throw them out and call them weak and unfit to be in my presence.

December 13, 2007

Petrino ran away like a little punk, pure and simple.

He wasn't fighting a war. He wasn't saving lives. He isn't doing anything *that* important. The Falcons will survive.

Maybe having a crappy job with a crappy outlook (for YEARS to come) isn't good for his home life. His health. His family. Maybe it was all too much ... and he took a lifestyle change job. If that is being a punk, then I am a punk, because I would do it.

I wouldn't stick around my job if it were making me miserable, just because I told my manager I would be a lead on a project. No way.

He didn't "know" what he was getting into. He had one of the best athletes in the NFL, he had some weapons on defense.. He didn't know that everything would go up in flames the way it did. He had never dealt with adult professional athletes... that he had to fine and suspend. Now he knows. So he corrected it.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

I would consider Arkansas a better job. By my standards: long term future (college coaches last longer), collegiate life style, more pay, guaranteed contracts, dealing with amateur athletes and being a teacher. I would say Arkansas a better job.
Resume FILLED with a bunch of broken promises? Puhlease. He left one job for another. ONE. I hardly consider that "filled."
And certainly, when I interview people for positions with my company, I look for people with a good work record.. and a one year gig at a company doesn't look great, but it far from a deal killer. When I ask them about it, if they say it ways the right fit, didn't feel they could grow in the company, left for a serious pay raise, etc. I understand.
I don't throw them out and call them weak and unfit to be in my presence.

If they did it on TV and you saw how they lost control and had no idea what they were doing and looked like a deer in the headlights, I'd hope you wouldn't even give them an interview.

FACT: College is a huge step down from the NFL.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

Maybe having a crappy job with a crappy outlook (for YEARS to come) isn't good for his home life. His health. His family. Maybe it was all too much ... and he took a lifestyle change job. If that is being a punk, then I am a punk, because I would do it.
I wouldn't stick around my job if it were making me miserable, just because I told my manager I would be a lead on a project. No way.
He didn't "know" what he was getting into. He had one of the best athletes in the NFL, he had some weapons on defense.. He didn't know that everything would go up in flames the way it did. He had never dealt with adult professional athletes... that he had to fine and suspend. Now he knows. So he corrected it.

He's a coach. Yeah, it gets harder, but the life is the life. He didn't know what he was getting into, he should find another profession. He got rid of some of his weapons and he grossly mismanaged a good number of the rest of them. He had a hand in dealing with all these tragic and horrible events that befell him, and, AS THE HEAD COACH, it was his responsibility to deal with it.

If he's having health and family problems, he should take some time off, not leapfrog to a big-time SEC program.

As for Vick, I would've probably thought it okay if he resigned right when it happened, but he went through week 13 without him. What? Did he not know it would be hard without Vick? What if Vick had gotten hit by a bus? Should he quit then?

Seriously, should Todge quit? If Petrino didn't know what HE was getting into, then Todge surely didn't and y'all would all support him if he'd run out the door and back to high school.

I don't even like the Falcons. I just think the guy is a wuss and can't compete, and when things were difficult he turned tail and ran. I'm SURE it was all too much for him, because he's a wuss.

Good riddance.

December 13, 2007

FACT: College is a huge step down from the NFL.

Not everyone wants to be a world beater. Petrino bit off more than he could chew and he got out.

So tell me this, would he have been less of a "coward" and more of a "man" if he just worked out his 5 year deal with the Falcons. Mailing in the seasons, not really excelling, and just taking Blank's $24 million dollars. He would be robbing these athletes 5 "good" years of their lives/careers. When he could have stepped down, taken a job elsewhere and given the Falcons the chance to hire a coach that would care more and help them.

I guess that would make him more of a man and less of a punk.

December 13, 2007

I don't even like the Falcons. I just think the guy is a wuss and can't compete, and when things were difficult he turned tail and ran. I'm SURE it was all too much for him, because he's a wuss.
Good riddance.

You know what I think makes good people (um) good?

Empathy. It makes almost anyone a better person if they can empathize. Nothing really is black and white.

There is a difference of how *I* would react if were *my* head coach and how I would take it personally. I would probably sound like you right now (for about 24 hours). However, I have empathy for any family man in a situation that they aren't completely in control of. If I were in a bad spot, I would hate to be judged so harshly for doing what I felt was best for my family life.

It isn't an easy decision to leave the position he was in. However, he made the decision and now must deal with it.

Maybe you have some fear the Dodge does turn tail and run? And this is why you are so reactive to this story? I really can't figure it out. All in all, this is the best for all parties.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

Not everyone wants to be a world beater. Petrino bit off more than he could chew and he got out.
So tell me this, would he have been less of a "coward" and more of a "man" if he just worked out his 5 year deal with the Falcons. Mailing in the seasons, not really excelling, and just taking Blank's $24 million dollars. He would be robbing these athletes 5 "good" years of their lives/careers. When he could have stepped down, taken a job elsewhere and given the Falcons the chance to hire a coach that would care more and help them.
I guess that would make him more of a man and less of a punk.

No, because then he's not trying, which is basically what's wrong with him anyway. Gotta take the easier road.

If he wanted to be a man, he would've come in and said (with sincerity and NOT while he was looking for his next gig), that he was gonna come in and turn the thing around. That tomorrow it would be a new team because he was gonna make it happen. Maybe he'd fail at it because he doesn't know what he's doing, but it wouldn't be from lack of effort. I don't know if you've heard, but football is a competitive sport. COMPETITION is the name of the game. If you don't wanna be a world beater, go work at Starbucks.

Right now, he's a potentially good coach who lacks the stones to compete, which is worse to me than a terrible coach who tries his best and honors committments.

This year he was a terrible coach who saw the writing on the wall, because he helped with the punctuation.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 13, 2007

If Petrino left one NFL team for another, I think you'd have a good point. But he's back in college, and in college his players can't leave without losing a year. So I think it's fair to slam him for disloyalty and failing to keep his word. College players are completely depending on their coach's word when they join a program.

What is the difference in his disloyalty and the kids that he signs that sign for 4 years, but leave after their junior years? Where is the loyalty there?

I wouldn't want UNT to get a coach who already had his eye on the door the minute he showed up. What's the point? One or two years of Petrino -- or another coach with as big a name -- wouldn't make a dent in the long-term success of the program. Four or five years, sure.

You are kidding yourself if you think that if TD had come in here, went to a bowl this year with 10 wins and then followed that up in the next two years with 10 more each of them - that with a major college comes in and offered him more money that he wouldn't leave. But he signed a 5 year deal, so does that make him disloyal to us? What about Boise State - would you not like to be like them? They get coach, he gets good, and leaves to go to the next program and the next one steps in.

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

You know what I think makes good people (um) good?
Empathy. It makes almost anyone a better person if they can empathize. Nothing really is black and white.
There is a difference of how *I* would react if were *my* head coach and how I would take it personally. I would probably sound like you right now (for about 24 hours). However, I have empathy for any family man in a situation that they aren't completely in control of. If I were in a bad spot, I would hate to be judged so harshly for doing what I felt was best for my family life.
It isn't an easy decision to leave the position he was in. However, he made the decision and now must deal with it.
Maybe you have some fear the Dodge does turn tail and run? And this is why you are so reactive to this story? I really can't figure it out. All in all, this is the best for all parties.

You know what would make a terrible doctor? A guy who runs out of the room in the middle of an operation because he realizes it's way hard and he can't hack it. I'd call him a wuss, too. Even if he sucks at his job, he better hang in there and at least TRY to save the guy's life. But we already said, football's not really that important, not like doctoring at all, which is a weird thing to say on a board where people are ridiculed if they put other things in their lives above being at every UNT sports game.

I like how you've already determined he's doing this BECAUSE he's a family man and decided it was best to uproot his family again so he could take another job.

I have no fear that Dodge turns tail and runs, because you can see the guy is a competitor and wants to win. If things keep going south with him, and he eventually resigns because he realizes it's just not gonna work, then I have no problems with it. I don't consider that a weakness, because the guy's ALREADY put in more effort than Petrino did in Atlanta. Dodge didn't give up in week 3, coast for a while, and quit in his first season after saying he was gonna turn the program around. He didn't come out 30 minutes before and start talking about what he was gonna do. He didn't sit down with RV and say "I'm still your guy" and then turn in his resignation 24 hours later.

And I hope Petrino doesn't think it's gonna be all wine and roses at Arkansas. Has anyone told him he's lost 5 starters on defense, their two best WR, DMac, AND Jones? RUN, BOBBY, RUN!

Monkeypox · December 13, 2007

You are kidding yourself if you think that if TD had come in here, went to a bowl this year with 10 wins and then followed that up in the next two years with 10 more each of them - that with a major college comes in and offered him more money that he wouldn't leave. But he signed a 5 year deal, so does that make him disloyal to us? What about Boise State - would you not like to be like them? They get coach, he gets good, and leaves to go to the next program and the next one steps in.

What if TD came in here, said what he said, had the season he had, yesterday said "I'm gonna take care of it," and then today said "Sorry, guys, I'm gonna go back to coach high school?"