Well this is a bit of a reversal of roles.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino decided after 13 games there is no way short of hell freezing over he could ever clean-up the colossal mess left by the loss of Michael Vick to the Federal prison system. Instead of going through the motions over the next two plus years and getting fired anyway well short of Atlanta actually winning a significant number of games and go to Arkansas where he can match wits in arguably the best college football conference in the country.
Now I have heard and read a variety of comments castigating Petrino for "quitting" on the Falcons before the season even ended. And while there might be some truth to that, I also think this guy is a human being and prone to look after his own interests ahead of anyone else. I also think he got royally screwed by Michael Vick being the dumbest person on the face of the planet. Petrino took the job believing he would have Vick and a chance to run an offense with a running QB. Granted what happened to Vick is really no different than a career ending injury but the day he was served with a Federal indictment the ouster of Bobby Petrino was inevitable. And while people will criticize Petrino for leaving Atlanta, I am not sure you can blame him too much. His choices were stay in Atlanta where he was not liked by the players and wait to be fired which would have happened or take a job in the SEC and get back to the level of coaching he was obviously very successful. I just think before people throw Petrino under the bus, they should consider what they would do in the same situation.
And as I sit here and watch the press conference where they are actually doing the school cheer I can say (1) these people in Arkansas are insane. No offense intended to Butch Davis because he is from there but sweet Carolina their fans are nuts and (2) While a tad bit crazy these fans are excited to have Petrino on board and while the national media alongside the Atlanta talking heads will rip him to shred, the opinions that matter to him most now are the ones held by the supporters of the University of Arkansas. For all the embarrassment Arkansas experienced up to this point their AD Jeff Long got it all back with one swing of the bat.