Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Bobby Petrino will coach again.

Petrino is too good with Xs and Os not to be on a sideline in 2013. It’s debatable if he is hireable for a major program right away, but it seems inevitable that he will run a BCS-conference program again.

What Louisville and Arkansas did with Petrino running the show was too impressive for him to be banished to some remote outpost forever. Petrino will probably make it back to the big-time ahead of mentor Mike Price, who has toiled in obscurity at UTEP since 2004. Price had a scandalous departure at Alabama before he ever coached a down.

Petrino wants to get back to big-time football. He’s missing out on a lot of money by sitting out this season. Plus, football is what drives him. Although texting a girlfriend on game days and during practice might have killed the “all he thinks about is football” myth, Petrino is no doubt driven to succeed on the field. Football is a priority.

ESPN’s interview with Petrino on Thursday was a reminder to athletic directors and university administrators that he will be available should their coaches not work out in 2012. While the camera time with Joe Schad was billed as an apology and opportunity to clear the air, it was primarily a pre-job interview.

What stood out above anything else in the clips that aired and the story Schad wrote for ESPN.com was Petrino mentioning how the incident will make him a better coach. He was 21-5 the last two seasons with a pair of Top 10 finishes. In taking the Razorbacks to a Sugar Bowl to end 2010, he joined Urban Meyer and Nick Saban as coaches to lead two teams to BCS bowls.

Hard to imagine what could make him “better,” right?

Allow Petrino to explain in his own words:

“I now know that I’m going to coach the person as much as the player and help the person when he has made mistakes and help him understand that he’s not going to be defined by the mistakes he’s made and how he reacts to it and overcomes it.”

What does that mean? What exactly is Petrino saying?

This seems to be Petrino acknowledging another common criticism of his: he doesn’t know how to treat people. Not only is he remorseful for cheating on his wife, losing what the called his “dream job” and lying to his bosses, he is reevaluating how he approaches his players.

There is so much more to the profession than drawing up plays and watching film. Petrino seemed to acknowledge that when talking with Schad. He’s at least saying the right things about changing his ways.