Bobby Petrino and the Arkansas Razorbacks may be trying things again for a second time.
After Arkansas canned head football coach Sam Pittman on Sunday morning, current offensive coordinator and twice-former head coach Petrino already put his hat in the ring.
Petrino “has expressed his desire to be a candidate for the full-time job” to Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek after being named Pittman's interim replacement, according to CBS national college football reporter Brandon Marcello.
Petrino became the offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2024 after a one-year stint as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He made his way back to Power Five football after a long string of controversies and leading Missouri State to a 18-5 record in three seasons as head coach from 2020 to 2022.
The former Arkansas head coach declined a head coaching offer from Charlotte in December 2024 to remain with the Razorbacks this season.
He last coached a power conference team in 2018, when he went 2-8 to close off his second stint as head coach of Louisville. He had a 77-35 record over the course of five seasons, winning at least eight games in the remaining four seasons.
Petrino became head coach of Arkansas for the first time after resigning from the Atlanta Falcons late in the 2007 NFL season. He inked a five-year deal that paid him $2.85 million per year and led the Razorbacks to a 5-7 record and a 2-6 SEC record in his first year.
He led Arkansas to a winning record in each of the next three seasons. The Razorbacks went 8-5 in 2009, then won at least 10 games in each of the next two seasons. In 2010, they went 10-3 and lost in the Sugar Bowl. The following season, Petrino led the Razorbacks to a 11-2 record and a win in the Cotton Bowl.
Petrino was fired prior to the start of the 2012 season after he was involved in a motorcycle crash on April 1, 2012 with former Arkansas All-SEC volleyball player Jessica Dorrell. He hired Dorrell as a student-athlete development coordinator, but it was later discovered that he was having an affair with her and he was subsequently placed on administrative leave.
