New Guy in Fayetteville

The big news in the world of sports is that the Arkansas Razorbacks have found their new football coach. It was announced yesterday that Atlanta Falcons coach Bobby Petrino was leaving Atlanta and the NFL to become the new guy in Fayetteville. One would assume that it was not his something less than stellar 3-10 record as the Falcons front man that won him the job. No, it was his something more than stellar 41-9 record while at Louisville where he was the offensive genius that produced some of the highest-scoring teams in the country. It has been awhile since Arkansas has had an offensive genius for a coach… like never.

This is something of a “history-repeats-itself” deal. In 1976, Lou Holtz coached the New York Jets for 13 games, going 3-10 before he left the team before the end of the season. He quit to become the head coach at Arkansas. I hope this is history repeating itself. Arkansas went 11-1 in Holtz's first season, including a New Year's rout of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The big obstacle in the way of a Holtz-type debut for Petrino is that Darren McFadden (most certainly) and Felix Jones (most likely) will be leaving Arkansas early and with them goes 98% of the Hog’s offense. It is hard to be an offensive genius without an offense!