By now, we all know the sad recent history of one Mr. Bobby Petrino.
Basically: Coach has a very successful two years with the Arkansas football program. Coach transforms into something of a hero, makes everyone forget about the shadiness he exhibited with the Atlanta Falcons. Coach sees pretty girl. Coach violates major school rules to give pretty girl special treatment. Coach cheats on wife with pretty girl. (The last two are interchangeable, time-wise.) Coach falls off motorcycle while riding with the pretty girl he gave special treatment to and cheated on his wife with. Coach tries to cover up the accident. Coach fails. Coach no longer a coach.
In a general sense, we all know what happened. Fortunately, the specifics that we weren’t previously aware of are slowly starting to leak out as well. Thanks to the fact that Petrino decided to use a school-purchased phone for all of his communication, we now have records of whom he was going back and forth with, as well as some of the interesting specifics of that content.
Here are some text messages that ESPN was able to obtain where Petrino wonders about his fate as a head coach at Arkansas and how information can be taken off his phone:
"Coach, I know I sometimes aggravate you, but PLEASE listen to me. Does Jeff know EVERYTHING from your standpoint??" Arkansas assistant AD Chris Wyrick asked.
"Yes I believe he does," Petrino responded. "Is the mood to fire me or to keep me???"
"I can't honestly speak to (Long's) pulse on that, but my gut is he wants it to work," Wyrick wrote. "You have done the job and most feel like you are due a mulligan."
Then, perhaps realizing that he had been using a school phone for all his dalliances, Petrino asked some guy named Andy what specifically can be taken off his phone by the folks that eventually took everything possible off his phone:
"I think thy (sic) can only get who you text," Andy replied.
Then there was the text that Petrino sent to Long on the eve of the now infamous press conference where it was announced that he had lied about his accident and affair:
"Jeff I appreciate how you handled last night," Petrino texted. "Let me know if we need to get together again. I'm at your disposal and will do whatever it takes to keep you in my camp and remain your coach."
And the reply:
"Thanks Bobby, I am working through the process. Jeff."
The last available text before Petrino ultimately got axed was this question to AD, Jeff Long:
"Hey Jeff, I'm just sitting around wondering what I should be doing??," Petrino wrote. "I just want you to no (sic) how sorry I am that this all happened!!"
Just a few notes: one, a guy who has just embroiled his university in a major scandal involving sex and all sorts of human resources violations texting everyone like a befuddled kid will never not be funny. Two, apparently Petrino felt like he had a pretty solid shot at keeping his job before ultimately getting the boot. Three, Petrino was not fond of Wyrick. And finally, four, Andy doesn’t seem to know much about modern day technology
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Just going off his text, Wyrick sounds like an absolute tool.