At that point, Arkansas launched an investigation and later that night, Long held a news conference announcing Petrino had been placed on administrative leave with pay. As Petrino was exiting the room, a media member approached him and asked if he was alone on the motorcycle, and Petrino said he was.īut then, minutes before an Arkansas State Police report was scheduled to come out April 5, Long said Petrino acknowledged that Jessica Dorrell, a 25-year-old female staff member Petrino had hired and was having an affair with, was also on the motorcycle. On April 3, Petrino insisted on holding a news conference - against the wishes of Long and others - in which he appeared in the now-infamous neck brace. The then-Arkansas athletic director got a call April 1, 2012, that his football coach had been in a motorcycle accident, sliding off a winding two-lane road near Crosses, Arkansas.īased on what Petrino told school officials, Arkansas released a statement saying the accident "involved no other individuals," Long said. JEFF LONG THOUGHT it was a bad April Fool's joke. They know what happened when I was fired at Arkansas and how poorly I handled everything, and that's what sticks with them." But a lot of those people don't really know me. "I wish it was more positive, but it's probably more negative and a lot of that's on me. "There's instantly a reaction when you hear my name, whether it's negative or positive," Petrino said. "Unfortunately, I will always get to carry that with me, how it ended there," Petrino told ESPN.īetween the end at Arkansas and a previous reputation for job-hopping and profanity-laced tirades (along with a whole lot of on-field success), Petrino knows there's not much middle ground when it comes to his reputation. Now, 10 years after the accident and the national embarrassment that followed, Petrino is returning to Arkansas to face the school he took to the doorstep of playing for a national championship in 2011. Petrino is well aware the first thing that pops up when doing a Google search of his name is the picture of him with a battered red face and neck brace after the motorcycle wreck that set off a chain of events leading to his dismissal at Arkansas and turning him into a punchline. 5 in the latest FCS poll, makes the 120-mile trip to Donald W. But this week, Petrino's past, and not his present, will be the focus when his team, ranked No.
The job he's done in resurrecting a moribund Missouri State program and turning the Bears into FCS title contenders speaks for itself. He has been called many things over the years, but he is not naive.
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