Unless he bolts for another gig before Louisville can schedule a press conference, it's all but a done deal Bobby Petrino will return to coach the Cardinals.
Petrino, the Harley riding horn-dog from Montana who has coached at 12 different schools/teams over a 30-year coaching career, will be taking his 5th head coaching job in the last 11 years.
His head coaching career started at Louisville back in 2003 as Petrino went an impressive 41-9 over four seasons before bolting for the Atlanta Falcons after having entertained numerous other overtures during his tenure. Despite his five year, $24 million contract, Petrino didn't even finish a full season in the ATL as he quit via a laminated note left in each player's locker and made tracks to Arkansas. That seemed pretty shady at the time but his exit from Arkansas some four years later would break new ground.
A few months after his fourth year in Little Rock Fayetteville culminated with just Arkansas' third 11-win season in 119 years, Petrino dumped his motorcycle with his mistress in tow – the 20-something one he'd given $20k to and arranged for her hire in the football office – and lied and/or failed to disclose any of it to his family or school officials up until just minutes before a damning police report was about to be made public and even held a presser with a face that lost a fight with a cheese grater and neck brace in which he stated he was alone. Fired days later, teams took a year off from Petrino and he eventually landed in Western Kentucky guiding the Hilltoppers to an 8-4 record.
Now, with Louisville dumped by Charlie Strong but yearning to continue harvesting the spoils generated by being somewhat relevant in football, AD Tom Jurich has apparently convinced the BOT that a second marriage with Petrino is the best course of action. This, of course, has the internet in an uproar but though it will likely result a greasy dumpster fire at some point in the not too distant future, is it really that far-fetched?
The school is hardly alone in chasing the dollars that come with wins and they are essentially choosing a proven winner over a handful of up and coming assistants, (ie. unproven head coaches) knowing full well they're dancing with the devil. Quite simply, this is the type of gamble a marginally relevant football program is increasingly likely to take in today's sports ecosystem. Yes, the school has upgraded facilities and upgrades to the ACC this season but while I don't necessarily support the decision, I get it. You should too. Just be glad your college football fandom is aligned in such a way that you don't have worry about it.
Plus, Rick Pitino now as a new kick-ass wingman and who knows what deliciousness could evolve from that scenario in the coming minutes/days/weeks.
YOUR MOVE, URBAN. Michigan made headlines yesterday afternoon when it was announced offensive coordinator Al Borges was being shown the door just a month after Brady Hoke announced he had no plans to alter his staff for the 2014 season. If not for Hoke's comments the move would have been of little surprise though Michigan's encore came with much more shock value as it was reported last night Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier would leave Nick Saban's staff for the same post in Ann Arbor.
The knee-jerk reaction is that Saban wouldn't lose an assistant to a lateral move elsewhere unless he was okay with it but Nussmeier has built a solid resume over the years.
Under Nussmeier's guidance, Bama set records for offensive touchdowns scored (68), total points (542), total offense (6,237) and passing touchdowns (31) in the 2012 season--his first with the Crimson Tide. Despite a rebuilt offensive line, Bama ranked No. 6 in the nation this season in yards per play (7.15) and were ranked third in the nation in that stat in games against ranked opponents (7.59).
Of course, it could be that Alabama simply didn't want to match the asking price for Nussmeier's services given the report Michigan guaranteed he'll be among the five highest-paid coordinators in the college game and Saban wasn't exactly thrilled with the Tide's offense this season, going so far as to bring in Lane Kiffin to brainstorm with Bama's staff for a solid week in December.
Either way, I don't think it can be argued Nussmeier isn't an upgrade over Borges whether he's worth upwards of $850k or not.
Speaking of coaching coin, it was reported Everett Withers will make $325k to lead James Madison. He made $580k at Ohio State last season. Go ahead and connect the dots on that one.
THREE PIECE SUIT? In an interview yesterday with ABC, Patricia Carroll, an attorney for the co-ed who claims Jameis Winston raped her said she "absolutely" plans to file a civil suit against Winston, the Tallahassee Police Department and maybe even Florida State University.
Carroll said she "wants heads to roll" and that law enforcement must be held accountable for their negligence which led prosecutors to drop the case.
Whether justice wasn't originally served when Winston avoided charges or if this could be a money grab by the alleged victim, the situation Winston and the school hoped was put to bed might be something that lingers over the national championship for months to come.
Bobby's batting .735 as a college head coach (83-30)JFF TO NFL. Until about two weeks ago, I'd always found Johnny Manziel to largely be a punk that received way more attention than he deserved to the point I'd rather hear about Tim Tebow but with his amateur career finally over as he announced yesterday his intentions to enter the NFL Draft, I've continued to slowly come around just a bit.
Maybe it's because I realized there's a really solid chance my college career would've played out similarly if I could write the script or maybe it's because while I hate Tusca-Lucifer, I respect the hell out of his football acumen, and to see him gush over Manziel's competitive nature completely unsolicited on the set at the BCS national championship was an eye-opener for me.
Now that he's gone, I can more easily appreciate his hair-on-fire approach to the game even if he probably deserved a severe ass-kicking on a weekly basis.
I'm still not sure if I think he was a good teammate or not but he was at least smart enough to play the exit-game correctly as he penned a note to all his friends in Aggieland following his announcement.
The only real downfall to this news is that there seems to be about a 67% chance that ESPN is going to ram Manziel and his pro prospects down our throats for the foreseeable future.
SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE, TELL IT LIKE IT IS. Yes, the basketball Buckeyes fought back Wednesday night in East Lansing, recovering from a 17-point deficit before eventually falling in overtime, but I'm glad to hear Aaron Craft enjoys a good moral victory about as much as I do:
“This doesn’t happen to a good team (speaking of the slow start). As much as we like to think we’ve been together and been in the battles, we haven’t done it with this team. It goes to show we really haven’t done much this year...”
“The Big Ten is a whole other animal. You can’t come in lackadaisical or come in not connected or things like this happen. We lost the game in the first half.”
As I've written before, offensive slumps are the reason I don't see Ohio State winning the league this year but escaping East Lansing with a victory is a tall task even if the Buckeyes are putting up points.
At this point, what's important is Thad Matta gets this team to turn the page as they welcome a sneaky good Iowa team to the Schott on Sunday for an afternoon tip on CBS. Protecting home court is a must in the rugged B1G so nursing a Sparty hangover is not an option.
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