The point of college football media days, if you’re a coach or a player, is to talk without saying anything. If you make headlines for what you said at media day, then it’s probably not a good thing. There are exceptions of course. Maybe you said something quirky, or innocently weird, or wholesomely provocative. The last thing you want to say is something offensive and/or stupid, but Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman did both when he referred to his offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino as “a good man.”
At first glance, it’s easy to just dismiss that remark as only media days press conference boiler plate. It’s the usual pointless cliches, “hey, he’s a good guy!”
However, you really can’t do that here.
This is just too ridiculous.
After all, Bobby Petrino literally works at the same exact school that fired him 13 years ago, due to a scandal that wrecked the program so badly, they still haven’t recovered from it.
Let’s flash back in our coverage of this supposed “good man.”
Petrino, a married father of four, had a female passenger with him when he crashed his motorcycle back in the spring of 2012.
This crash was first covered up, but eventually Arkansas state police revealed the details, and the female named in the report was Jessica Dorrell, a student/volleyball player, who was engaged to another man at the time.
(It almost feels a little like the incident which is the most viral of all videos right now- the tech CEO caught with his mistress/company’s HR director, at the Coldplay concert).
She became an internet sensation back then, as she’s engaged, and got harassed online so badly that she had to shut down her wedding guestbook and registry.
According to reports, Dorrell and her fiance went ahead with the marriage.
She left the University of Arkansas, was never charged with any crime and went into a career as a volleyball coach.
Jessica Dorrell never conducted a single interview pertaining to the extramarital affair, motorcycle crash or subsequent cover up.
As for Bobby Petrino, well he bribed Dorrell twice to try and keep this all under wraps.
He gave Dorrell hush money, which would technically qualify as taxpayer funded, as he was then, and he is now, employed by the state.
Bobby Petrino bribed Jessica Dorell in another way, by using his pull at the university to get her a patronage job that was pretty much impossible to get, unless you knew the right person.
But yeah, ok, Mr. Pittman, tell me how this is “a good man.”
Pittman is obviously feeling the pressure, as there is a lot of speculation he could get sacked before season’s end. It’s also been speculated that Bobby Petrino could replace Pittman, if/when that happens.
So maybe Pittman just said something bone-headed like this because of all the pressure he’s under right now.
There are a million things that Pittman could have said, but didn’t when it comes to Bobby Petrino- “he’s a great coach/offensive mind/tactician/Xs and Os guy/football mentor to our players.”
Anything would have been better than “a good man.”
Because he is literally an adulterer, who used public funding to bribe his mistress, and went to great lengths to cover it all up.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter