Bobby Petrino's no good, very bad week.

1,578 days of Bobby Petrino's career at Arkansas went according to plan. He had the Arkansas football program at a level of prominence the program hadn't dreamed of in nearly 50 years. Petrino had just about everyone coming back for the 2012 season including Heisman candidate Tyler Wilson and a host of others fit to make the offense a juggernaut and the team a national title contender.

Bobby Petrino, however, isn't going to get the chance to find out what his team would've done this season. Petrino was fired from Arkansas on Tuesday evening amidst a scandal involving 25 year-old co-worker Jessica Dorrell. The affair was uncovered after Petrino wrecked his motorcycle nine days earlier. Originally, it was reported that Petrino was alone at the time of the accident. Just four days later, it was discovered that he was not the only one involved and that Jessica Dorrell, the student athlete development coordinator for the football team, was with him at the time of the accident.

There are so many problems with that last tidbit of information. What the hell was Bobby Petrino thinking? It was bad enough that he was having an affair with a girl half his age, but to do it with a girl that he had hired to his staff just weeks before? Come on man.

The worst part about this was how much Petrino defended Dorrell when he hired her stating that she was the best applicant for the job, praising her work. Little did we know that he had been carrying on an affair with her since September and that he had given her thousands of dollars under the table.

It gets worse. Petrino's phone records were released a couple of days ago. The record's showed that Petrino and Dorrell exchanged more than 4,300 text messages (some of which were video and picture messages) and over 300 phone calls. I'm sure they were just sending each other pictures of their dogs.

Petrino clearly thought that he was above the law. Jeff Long, the Arkansas AD, had no choice but to fire him even amongst discretion from the fans. However, I believe Long made the right decision. How can you endorse and promote a man that cheats on his wife? Not to mention with an employee of the University of Arkansas. I cannot imagine how his four kids are handling the situation, but I would think not well. Jeff Long stood tall and made a difficult decision to fire a man that had brought Arkansas football to its highest level nationally. That takes some guts.

Things were going so well for Petrino. Most believed that Arkansas was on the right path to an SEC title and even a national championship in the coming years. The Razorbacks finished the 2011 season ranked in the top 5 for the first time in 35 years. The pitch of football in Fayetteville was certainly at its highest going into the 2012 season.

Petrino made a mistake that may have cost him his family, and ultimately his career. I don't know how long he thought he could get away with his transgressions, but it is now clear that Petrino was April's biggest fool.


--GM