Bobby Petrino reportedly out at Arkansas...

[Jerm]

It's making the rounds now...Joe Schad is saying it's official.

Hilarious.

7:15 p.m. press conference.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

[C-Mac]

Probably repost but....

"Just found out from a good friend. His wife works at XNA and said yesterday Bobby left on a Dallas Cowboys jet. Not sure if that means anything other than they are talking but there ya go."
April 13, 2012, 10:36

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=468939.0

[NewChief]

Good article on how nutty our fans are and why..

Petrino saga latest in swirling soap opera that is Arkansas football
Story Highlights
Since losing 1969 Big Shootout, Arkansas football has been in state of chaos
The Razorbacks are the one unifying force for the nuttiest fans in the nation
Bobby Petrino probably thought he could do, and get away with, anything



Texas' 15-14 comeback win over Arkansas in the 1969 Big Shootout left an indelible scar on the psyche of an entire state.
Neil Leifer/SI
Bobby Petrino Scandal

Frank Broyles was certain he knew the reason, all those years ago. His Razorbacks had somehow lost the Big Shootout -- their biggest game ever, before or since -- and he returned home to learn why things had gone so terribly awry. The old coach's explanation still makes as much sense as anything else for, well, almost everything that has happened since.
To understand the Fall of Bobby Petrino -- which is just another laugh-while-they-cry episode in the swirling soap opera that is Arkansas football -- we need to start with the bigger picture, in another era, when the Hogs' last, best chance for ultimate glory was ripped cruelly away.

In a time with a new, Armageddon-arrives theme for each and every week of the football season, it's hard to explain just how big the Big Shootout actually was on Dec. 6, 1969. It was made-for-TV when there was very little college football on TV. It was unbeaten No. 1 vs. unbeaten No. 2 in the last game of the regular season. The president flew in to Fayetteville to watch. A future president was there with him. Billy Graham showed up and gave the invocation. As the nation watched on ABC, the Longhorns pulled off an amazing fourth-quarter comeback.

Texas 15, Arkansas 14 left an indelible scar on the psyche of an entire state. Arkansans have been waiting for anvils to drop from the sky ever since. And sure enough, they keep falling. It's enough to drive anyone mad. Right now, we're all transfixed by Petrino's sudden, spectacular demise, which started when the Boss Hog drove his Harley into a ditch, and unraveled from there. Each new revelation has been more stunning. A blonde beauty was along for the ride. Petrino had just hired her to work in the football office. And who is this other woman with the title "Miss Motorcycle Mania"? Who knows what else might be coming?

No one who knows the Razorbacks should have been surprised. When it comes to Arkansas football, the steady state is chaos.
Did you see the on-campus rally of fans for Petrino last Monday night? Maybe 200 people showed up. They called the Hogs and waved signs with messages like "What's Wrong With Scoring In The Offseason?" Also, someone brought a dog, painted cardinal and white. Really, someone painted a dog. (This is not the canine we should be concerned with, but we'll get to that later.) But Monday was not the pivot point that tilted everything toward madness. Nor was Tuesday, when Petrino was fired (which prompted a couple of guys on scooters to circle campus with blonde blow-up dolls riding along; we're not sure whose side they were on, but the battle continues to rage).

Sure, you can call the Hogs crazy -- fans, coaches, the entire scene -- but this is simply business as usual. It's just that usually, no one outside the borders notices (and yeah, that's part of the reason for this beautiful mess, too). Arkansans care as deeply as any fans in the country. Maybe more, considering the meager return on their investment. With apologies to Gus Malzahn and his Arkansas State Red Wolves, there's no competition. As a friend told me: "It's all we have." Everyone is a Razorback, and almost everyone is desperately engrossed in the cause.

That's the only unifying principle, though. Everything else is up for vigorous debate. Without a rival, the Hogs fight with each other. Even after athletic director Jeff Long's carefully laid-out reasons for firing Petrino, a very vocal segment of the fan base still believes he should be coaching. "Forgive, forget and win," one of those protestors said.

Before Petrino, there were Nutts and Anti-Nutts, and people were either on or off the Gus Bus (which, of course, is the last time many of you paid attention). Always, there's the ongoing Great Stadium Debate between Fayetteville and Little Rock. And if you want a good fight, start a conversation about changing the uniforms.

There's always something simmering, some serious schism, with potential for more. We'll just go ahead and say it: More Razorback fans are nutty -- and nuttier -- than anywhere else. Other schools' fans track planes during coaching searches. But if you haven't attempted to create a coaching search by filing FOI requests for your guy's phone records, please sit back down and keep reading. Not you, Mr. Updyke. But everyone else, please understand: A Best of Finebaum show can erupt at any moment.

It's hard to know whether the atmosphere is a direct result of all of the disappointments, or the disappointments are byproducts of the atmosphere. Probably both, and it might have started with the Big Shootout. The Hogs' lone football national championship came in 1964. They almost won it all again in 1965. But since that loss to Texas in 1969, the never-ending story has been falling short. And when they've gotten close, falling hard.

Lou Holtz won big, but when he said stuff like Fayetteville was "15 minutes from Tulsa ... by phone," you knew the honeymoon wouldn't last for long. Ken Hatfield, a favorite son if ever there was one, preached but wouldn't pass, and couldn't win the big one. Jack Crowe lost to The Citadel and got fired the next day. Danny Ford couldn't get it done, either. Each situation was different, but the theme was consistent. (Maybe it's not just football: Even the 1994 national championship in basketball ended a few years later with the best coach in school history fired, and suing the school.)

And Houston Nutt -- well, after a promising start, the program slowly disintegrated. He was eventually done in by a weird, compelling mixture of self-inflicted wounds and fan discontent that, in the most extreme cases, turned from talk to active sabotage. It's probably when many outsiders first recognized just how, uh, nutty Arkansas is.

Then Petrino arrived. While the national storyline was the way he left the Atlanta Falcons, the local news has been how he was rebuilding the program into a power. After 21 wins in the last two years, a top five finish last season and with a loaded team coming back for a run at real glory next fall, Razorback fans were daring to believe. No wonder everyone finally seemed to be on the same page. There wasn't even much carping when they decided to move the LSU game from Little Rock to Fayetteville; anything for Bobby. A billboard along I-40 read: "Thanks Coach Petrino for bringing winning and excitement back to Razorback football."
In a way, the unity explains Petrino's demise. He probably thought he could do anything, and get away with everything -- and he almost could. But the big picture requires a deeper explanation, and more powerful forces. That billboard also included a quote from Petrino:
"Make no mistake about it -- it's our turn."

The mistake was in not looking into the sky, right then, for the next anvil. That Petrino's wreck occurred April 1 only reminds us how foolish it was to think anything had changed. But again, the question is: Why? For that, we must go back to Broyles.
The root cause of the continuing chaos was not the Big Shootout. According to Broyles, that terrible loss might simply have been the first byproduct of a very unfortunate incident. That morning before the game, Graham, the famed evangelist, had brunch at Broyles' home in Fayetteville. Though the coach wasn't there -- he was with the team -- by all accounts it was a pleasant visit. Except for one thing.
"Our dog," Broyles told me a few years ago, "bit his son."
Ned Graham, Billy's 11-year-old son, was nipped by Lady, the Broyles' usually gentle German shepherd. The injury wasn't serious. There's no indication the evangelist was insulted. But Broyles was mortified.
"That's why we lost," he said.

He seemed very serious. And given everything that has happened since, we should seriously consider the Big Bite Theory. Sure, it's crazy.

It fits right in.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1sE9l73AC

[vailpass]

Lou Holtz won big, but when he said stuff like Fayetteville was "15 minutes from Tulsa ... by phone,"

[Saulbadguy]

Good article, NewChief.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Without a rival, the Hogs fight with each other.

Chiefsplanet says hello.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by notorious

Chiefsplanet says hello.

Not even in the same ballpark.

[Predarat]

She quit, below is a hillarious tweet

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2012/a...-pub/?breaking

@JPatrickWard
Jessica Dorrell was offered a first class ticket out of Arkansas after resigning today. She said "No thanks I'd rather ride coach"

[Predarat]

Hahah she only got 14K in the settlement, she is going to have to turn to Pron now.

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Predarat

Hahah she only got 14K in the settlement, she is going to have to turn to Pron now.

She's 25?

Better get a jump on it. Her best years are already behind her.

[NewChief]

In good news for UofA athletic fundraising, we lost 14k on the payout to Dorrell, but gained 1.25 million from the Reynolds foundation today. That's a net gain of... a bunch:

http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/201...-of-jeff-long/

Reynolds Foundation announces $1.25 million gift to UA Athletics in honor of Jeff Long
By Dustin Bartholomew, Flyer staff
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 · Leave a comment

The pledged gifts will help fund a planned Student-Athlete Success Center.
UA Athletics
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for University of Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, but he got some good news this week.


Jeff Long
Courtesy photo
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation today announced it will donate $1 million in honor of Long’s recent leadership regarding the firing of head fooball Coach Bobby Petrino. The foundation’s chair, Fred W. Smith, added an additional $250,000 as a personal donation.

“The courageous leadership demonstrated by Jeff Long in the course of recent events has further affirmed our confidence in his leadership and his vision for intercollegiate athletics at the University of Arkansas,” said Smith. “Mr. Long acted with integrity and with the best interests of Razorback student-athletes and the University of Arkansas in mind.”

The gifts have been earmarked for the planned Student-Athlete Success Center, a multipurpose study center and dining hall for use by the university’s 460 students participating in intercollegiate athletics, and to rename the university’s existing student-athlete development program as the Jeff Long Student-Athlete Development Program.

“When Chancellor Gearhart called to tell me that the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and Fred Smith had made substantial gifts in my name to our university, I was surprised and truly humbled,” said Long. “I am extremely grateful to the Reynolds Foundation and the Smith family for their continued investment in the lives of Razorback student-athletes and the University of Arkansas. They have been long time advocates of the Razorbacks, the university and the entire state of Arkansas.”

The Student-Athlete Success Center is one of the proposed facilities outlined in the recently released Razorback Athletic Master Facility Plan. The center will house academic support facilities, including group and individual tutorial rooms, study hall areas, a large auditorium, computer labs, multi-media, career planning, service learning and community service areas.

The center will also include a dining facility that will provide a training table for all 460 student-athletes competing in 19 sports. The dining facility will cater to the nutritional needs of student-athletes while providing the flexibility to meet dining needs of student-athletes on weekends and during other irregular schedules. The facility will also help student-athletes in the efficiency of meeting the many demands of student-athletes by providing a training table located near practice and academic areas.

[KCBOSS1]

Dang. I can totally see BP as the OC for Dallas. Jerry will not only not care about the affair but will probably hire ms dorrell as a package deal.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by NewChief

In good news for UofA athletic fundraising, we lost 14k on the payout to Dorrell, but gained 1.25 million from the Reynolds foundation today. That's a net gain of... a bunch:

http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/201...-of-jeff-long/

So this was a "congratulations on showing integrity by firing the snake that you hired knowing that he was a snake" gift?

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

So this was a "congratulations on showing integrity by firing the snake that you hired knowing that he was a snake" gift?

That's the way we roll.

[Fish]

Petrino on his way out of Fayettville....