It was a quick fall for Petrino. He just finished a two-year period during which he won 21 games and took the Razorbacks to their first BCS bowl. Heading into next season, Arkansas was expected to start the season ranked in the top 10.
A lot of the supporters and detractors of Petrino missed the point about his recent actions. Petrino had a motorcycle accident on April 1. Four days later, news came out that he had Jessica Dorrell, a woman who was not his wife, on the motorcycle with him.
Petrino, who had hired Dorrell recently for a position on his staff, admitted to an inappropriate relationship with Dorrell.
While infidelity is certainly bad enough, that is not a fireable offense, but lying to your boss is.
So is hiring a person you have a personal relationship with without telling your boss about the relationship.
Petrino initially told his boss that he was alone on the motorcycle. He told Long the truth about Dorrell only when he was tipped off by the Arkansas State Police that the report about the accident was about to be made public.
Petrino's hiring of Dorrell leaves Arkansas in a vulnerable position. Dorrell might put in a sexual harassment claim. Or some of the other 159 people who applied for the job might sue the university because obviously the hiring process was fixed.
Busy week
This has been a busy week in the area already with the Peach Belt Conference golf championships being played at Callaway Gardens the past couple of days.
That was just an appetizer to a big buffet of events this weekend:
Georgia, Auburn and Alabama will hold their annual spring football games Saturday.
In the past few years, Alabama has drawn enormous crowds of 90,000 or more for its spring games. CSS will televise the Tide's A-Day game live at 3 p.m.
CSS will show Georgia's and Auburn's games on taped-delay basis at 5 p.m. and at 9 p.m.
The annual Hardaway Larry Gaither Invitational tees off Friday at Follow Me Golf Course at Fort Benning.
The high school golf tournament draws some of the best teams in the Southeast. Brookstone finished third and Columbus High was fifth last year.
The Georgia High School Association state riflery championships will be held Saturday at Fort Benning. Northside and Columbus are the local high schools that have earned their way into the championships. Northside won three straight state titles from 2005-07.
Smiths Station will host the annual J.D. Evilsizer Panther Invitational track meet Friday and Saturday. Columbus and Russell County are the other local teams in the meet.
Kevin Price, kprice@ledger-enquirer.com, 706-320-4493.
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