They may only win 4 or 5 this year (and they play in the awful ACC) and he blew one big time to FSU yesterday. Oh, and Uk is really good, now, so the natives are really restless after he has underachieved in his 2nd go-round at Louisville.
Louisville: Is there a worse nightmare for this program than sinking to the bottom of the ACC while Kentucky, the in-state rival it could always laugh at, becomes America’s sweetheart? There’s only one person to blame for Louisville’s current predicament. Bobby Petrino stacked his coaching staff with relatives (a son and two son-in-laws) and trusted his defense to Brian VanGorder, which is historically a shaky proposition. As usual, his mediocre recruiting has left a roster bereft of the kind of talent needed to win in the ACC. What’s different now, though, is that Petrino’s playcalling is also failing him. His decision Saturday to call a first-down pass as Louisville was about to salt away a win over Florida State is an all-time mind-boggler. Instead of running clock, Juwon Pass tossed an interception that turned sure victory into a 28-24 loss. The heat on Petrino is ramping up in Louisville, and he deserves every bit of it.
There was scrutiny on him coming into the season for the nepotism, and it was thought that a poor season might make him vulnerable because Tom Jurich is no longer the AD.
I thought someone - I can’t remember who - made an interesting point the other day, that this is the first time Petrino has ever been anywhere five seasons, or long enough to coach an entire roster that he and his staff evaluated, committed and signed. They actually have played well enough to win on defense this season, but the offense is just awful. They were 124th nationally in total offense coming into the week - sixth from last in all of FBS.
I’ve said it before. The only time he has had success is then he has inherited some defensive talent and/or a proven DC who hasn’t had time to leave.
Once he is anywhere for very long his methods and recruiting show themselves on the depth chart and on the field. He’s in major trouble. That’s a really bad team and his Jurich has already been run out of town.
Those who claim we should have kept him despite his behavior always justify it by presuming he would have continued to be successful. I think their values are screwed up, but I also think their premise is wrong. After he left we all started hearing about how our players were telling recruits how he treated them. We heard about his behavior at the Cotton Bowl. No one doubts he’s a great offensive mind, but the idea that we’d have continued to be good for the next 2 years is very suspect. I have no doubt we’d have been better in 2012, but after that, it’s a lot more questionable.
No doubt his motorcycle wreck put us on a downward spiral. The 2012 team had no discipline & desire & we followed up by hiring a coach we now know was a bad hire. Only time will tell if Morris is a good or bad hire, but I have no doubt BP was about to lead us down, too.
“The only time he’s had success”. Really? Was his last team at Arkansas that finished 11-2 and top 5 successful? Was that defense “inherited talent” from Nutt? (5 of 22 on 2 deep inherited). Was that defensive coordinator (Willy Robinson) “proven but hadn’t had a chance to leave yet”?
Must be fun just making stuff up to make your point.
I watched the melt-down against FSU last night with interest and great surprise at the pass attempt/interception while a simple running play was the obvious coaching move. I never liked Petrino, but respected him as a coach. Now, I am beginning to question even that.
Count me among those who think he has a relatively short “shelf life” - 5 years at most. Several of my Razorback buddies swear that we would have continued to improve and subsequently win SEC West championships had “the incident” not have occurred. Of course, no one will ever “know”. But I was greatly disappointed by the performance of the team he left behind. Of course, the fact that there was a different coach, who that coach was, and the knowledge he was only there for a year was a large factor. But I thought that a talent regression was exposed as well, and we saw it the next year - year 1 of the Bielema reign. I think that what we are seeing at Louisville may be the ultimate exposure of Petrino’s limited effectiveness as a “new” head coach.
On another note . . . I find it interesting that his DC is Brian VanGorder. I hadn’t paid that close attention to his staff. VanGorder was his DC in Atlanta when he jumped the Falcons to take our job. If you will remember, there was a LOT of anti-Petrino stuff coming from the Falcons at that time. Kind of surprised to see VanGorder come back to his staff. Wonder if that’s a reflection that he can’t get a good job with anyone else but Petrino? And/or that Petrino can’t attract a DC other than a journeyman retread?
There were those of us who were worried about 2013 and beyond while BP was still here. Tyler Wilson and Knile Davis were going to be gone, along with people like Jake Bequette on the other side of the ball, and there had not been adequate recruiting to replace them. One more reason recruiting rankings are baloney: If you load up on four-star receivers, say, but don’t fill your other needs, the ranking will be inflated (and, conversely, if you fill your needs with 3 star talent and coach them up, the ranking will be too low).
Let’s not forget playing at home with heisman trophy winner lost to an unranked UK team…Go back and look…Bret had to start two true fresmen on O-line and had no receivers to speak of…
Lol. Nice try Swine. Here is a link to bleacher report with 2 deep for KSU game. Of the 22 players listed on Hog defensive 2 deep, 5 were not part of a Petrino recruiting class: Jake Bequette, Bret Harris, Jerry Franklin, Isaac Madison and Greg Gatson. Keep trying.
I don’t claim to be an expert on player evaluation, but our QB is much better than his, not that ours is very good. His is eaten up with stupid where as ours may not be the most gifted athlete, he’s certainly not stupid.