But there is that niggling little question about character. Referring to the hiring, a columnist for SI.com used the words “sleazeball,” “snake” and “slimy.”
Petrino’s most widely publicized transgression came to light last April, when his motorcycle crashed on an Arkansas highway. Following the accident, he told police, a lady flagged down a passing car to summon help. The truth, but not the whole truth. The lady, it turned out, was his passenger, a 25-year-old woman with whom the 51-year-old married coach was having “an inappropriate relationship.” The relationship included, but was not necessarily limited to, giving her a $20,000 “Christmas present.”
Although the scandal was juicy and led to Arkansas firing him for a “pattern of misleading and manipulative behavior,” it wasn’t the first time Petrino’s behavior was questioned.
In 2006 he signed a 10-year contract to continue coaching at the Louisville. Six months later he deserted his team to coach the Atlanta Falcons. With three games still to play in his first season there, he abandoned them as well, leaving notes in the lockers of his players to inform them he was accepting $3.5 million a year to coach at Arkansas.
Now he’s under contract to coach at Western Kentucky for four years. Give or take.
Some people find it admirable for a university to hire someone who has made mistakes and may be a better man because of them. He’s apologized and deserves a second chance, they insist, because we’re a nation that has forgiven everyone from Tiger Woods to Bill Clinton. And, oh yeah, did we mention he’s a winner?
To others, it’s an issue much bigger than college football, if there is such a thing. A feeling that yet another school has sacrificed its soul on the altar of football glory. What kind of message, they wonder, does the hiring of a man found guilty of misleading and manipulative behavior send?
The Times story, unfortunately, did not include what conclusions those Western Kentucky philosophy students came to concerning the connection between social responsibility, citizenship and college football.
If any.
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