Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Here’s a fact you’ll see written about a lot between now and Arkansas’ Jan. 4 appearance in the Sugar Bowl: Only three coaches have ever taken two different schools to BCS Bowl games.

Nick Saban did it at LSU and Alabama and Urban Meyer did it with Utah and Florida. Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino is now the third. He took Louisville to a 2006 Orange Bowl and now has the Razorbacks in the Sugar Bowl.

It’s impressive company for Petrino.

Will he be joining Saban and Meyer financially, too?

Petrino is currently ranked fifth among SEC coaches in compensation, according to a post on Mr. SEC that includes information from a USA Today study. Petrino is No. 10 nationally.

As I wrote last week, Petrino is likely in line for a raise. He’s accomplished an impressive feat in getting the Razorbacks to their first BCS bowl game ever. Arkansas hasn’t been to a Sugar Bowl since 1980. Otherwise, it’s been a steady stream of Liberty Bowl, Music City and Independence bowls with the program occasionally peaking for a Cotton or Capital One bowl appearance.

Petrino eclipsed all that in Year 3 and joined Saban and Myer in elite territory.

This isn’t to suggest Petrino needs to be in the $4-5 million range with those guys. And six of the coaches ranked ahead of Petrino are national champions. It makes sense that guys like Texas’ Mack Brown and Ohio State’s Jim Tressel are making more.

Surely, Petrino is worth more than Jim Grobe at Wake Forest, who is making $2.9 million. Grobe, by the way, was once a candidate for the Arkansas job before Petrino was hired.

Petrino deserves some sort of reward. It needs to come before other big-time jobs come open and timing it going into prime recruiting season (Arkansas hosts official visits this weekend) would quell any suggestion Petrino isn’t here for the long haul.

Below Is A Look At The Top 10 paid coaches. Information was complied by USA Today: