Bobby Petrino was fired yesterday after four seasons as the head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The move came 10 days after the 51 year old Petrino crashed his motorcycle and suffered four broken ribs, a cracked vertebra in his neck and numerous abrasions on his face.
Petrino said following the crash that the sun and wind caused him to lose control on a two lane highway about 20 miles southeast of Fayetteville. Petrino did not tell the public at his initial press conference two days after the crash or the Razorback administration that he was not alone at the time of the crash. 25 year old Jessica Dorrell, a former Arkansas volleyball player who had been hired by Petrino just weeks earlier to a job within the athletic department, was a passenger on the motorcycle at the time of the crash.
Petrino, a married father of four, only notified Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long two days after his press conference of a long term extramarital affair with Dorrell and of her presence during the accident once he learned that the accident report would be released, which happened 20 minutes after his confession to Long.
Long said at a press conference yesterday that Petrino misled the Razorback administration in the days following about the details of the accident and his relationship with Dorrell and that was grounds for his firing.
Because Petrino was fired “with cause” he will not see any of the $18 million buyout his contract called for.
Petrino hired Dorrell after she was one of three finalists out of 159 applicants and got the job after a time frame he said was shorter than usual. He had also given her $20,000 at some point during their relationship, but Long would not disclose the details of the payment other than to say the money was Petrino’s, not the university’s.
Long has declined comment when asked about Dorrell’s job status.