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Bobby Petrino is, yet again, the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks football program, and it sounds like Petrino is already making major changes within his first 48 hours in charge.
Petrino was named the program’s interim head coach after they fired Sam Pittman following an embarrassing 56-13 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But the foundation had already been laid for Petrino, who coached Arkansas from 2008-11 before being fired following his infamous motorcycle crash with staffer and former Arkansas women’s volleyball player Jessica Dorrell.
According to reports, Petrino, who returned to Arkansas as the offensive coordinator in 2024, had been angling for the head coaching job even while Pittman was still employed.
However, if the Razorbacks wanted to fire Pittman before the season ended, they would need to pay him an extra $3M in buyout money. This led some to believe that Arkansas would wait until the end of the season to make a move.
As it turns out, that wasn’t the case. The Razorbacks parted ways with Pittman on Sunday and immediately announced Petrino’s role as the interim head coach.
“I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me an indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said of the move.
Bobby Petrino Wasted No Time Overhauling Arkansas Coaching Staff
According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thames, Petrino immediately made his mark on the program after taking the interim role.
Thamel reported that Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson.
“Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position, and he will have that opportunity,” Yurachek said of his new head coach. “But we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at the same time.”
The 64-year-old 34-17 in his first run with the Razorbacks, including consecutive seasons with double-digit victories in 2010 and 2011.