Sources: Petrino consents to be next Arkansas OC

• Chris Low Close Chris Low ESPN Elder Writer College football press reporter Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007 Graduate of the University of Tennessee Pete Thamel Nov 28, 2023, 05:54 PM

• ET Bobby Petrino has actually concurred
• to end up being the next offensive coordinator at Arkansas, and the

  2 sides are

settling the deal, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.The previous Razorbacks head coach is slated to be on campus in Fayetteville on Wednesday.Petrino invested this season as the Texas A&M offensive planner but wasn’t kept by new coach Mike Elko after Jimbo Fisher was fired previously this month. The Aggies defeated the Razorbacks 34-22 on Sept. 30

. Petrino’s return would mark an amazing full-circle minute, as he left Arkansas in 2012 after being fired in the wake of a scandal that saw him employ his fan and misinform his employers about their relationship. That all

came to light after a bike mishap, and the story rocked the college sports world and ended Petrino’s career at Arkansas after he ‘d gone 21-5 the previous 2 seasons.The hiring of Petrino is expected to require presidential approval, as he was fired for cause throughout his last stint there. In the school’s termination policy, it specifies that “an employee who has actually been dismissed for cause, or who has been designated by their school or department

as not eligible for re-hire will not be eligible for reemployment within any of the University of Arkansas System’s campuses, systems or divisions. “Editor’s Picks 2 Related Petrino was head coach at FCS Missouri State before taking the Texas A&M task, and Missouri State nearly beat the Razorbacks throughout the 2022 season in Fayetteville. Arkansas rallied in the 4th quarter for a 38-27 win.Petrino, 62, had been seriously thought about by school authorities leading up to the hire

, and sources told ESPN

that he had actually

indicated in the recruiting space that he remained in the mix for an SEC organizer job.Earlier this month, Arkansas chose to restore head coach Sam Pittman amid a 4-7 season that ended with a loss to Missouri last week.Over the past two decades, Petrino has developed a dual reputation as one of the sport’s most gifted playcallers and somebody who has actually discovered debate at almost every stop. Because his firing at Arkansas, and in addition to Missouri State, he has operated at Western Kentucky and Louisville.Petrino’s stay with the Aggies showed benign, as sources said he avoided personnel strife and the Texas A&M offense played well, ending up No. 25 nationally in scoring.Arkansas fired offending coordinator Dan Enos in October throughout a puzzling season in which Pittman’s name continued to surface on lists of coaches on the hot seat.The school would have owed Pittman more than $16 million, and athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement that it wasn’t the”season that any of us prepared for.”The allure of Petrino the tactician is undeniable. He coached Lamar Jackson in his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2016 with the Cardinals, and has long been

regarded as a high-end playcaller, as his final two seasons at Arkansas ended in trips to the Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl.Petrino’s off-field concerns outside of his spiral at the end of his Arkansas tenure included a secret conference with Auburn authorities in 2003 that backfired when it was revealed openly due to the fact that coach Tommy Tuberville still had his job. Petrino quit his NFL head-coaching task with the Atlanta Falcons after 13 games to take the Arkansas task and left a note for the players in the locker room.After his stint at Missouri State, he left for the offensive coordinator job at UNLV, only to leave for Texas A&M a couple of weeks later on.