Bobby Petrino, former head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, seemingly had it all. Unfortunately, like so many in such a position, he has lost it very quickly. Petrino was able to help Arkansas rise to prominence and success in the NCAA, including their first BCS Bowl and most recently, a Cotton Bowl victory.

Things were looking pretty good for him on the field. Off the field, however, quickly became a different story. It turns out Petrino, who is married with four adult children and a grandchild, was having an affair with a former collegiate volleyball player, Jessica Dorrell (pictured above). Not only was the older Petrino seeing Dorrell, but he also hired her as the student-athlete development coordinator. Their relationship had gone on prior to the hiring, but no one was informed about it. Also, Dorrell received a $20,000 cash gift from Petrino.

So not only are you engaged in a relationship with a woman, you’re giving her a job and paying lump sums of cash? What part of the game is that, Petrino?

Of course, none of this came out until the two decided to take a motorcycle ride and the thing crashed, leaving Petrino all bruised up. At first, he lied and said there was no one with him on the motorcycle, but he eventually confessed that Dorrell was with him. Petrino was suspended with out pay and subsequently fired.

Was firing Petrino the right thing to do here, given all of his success? Could he have been severely punished without being completely removed from his coaching position?

Wins and records aside, an organization has to be able to trust its members and especially its leader. If he’s willing to hire his sidepiece, fail to mention that she was on the bike with him, and give her undisclosed amounts of money, it must have been real good it is obvious that he has jeopardized the team and is willing to do so in the future. Thus, the proper thing to do is probably to get rid of him.

Furthermore, other teams thinking about courting the embattled coach should take the same argument into consideration. However, with the amount of money available to everyone but the players in college football, there is probably a coaching position for Petrino out there right now.

Soiled reputations can mean pay cuts and/or a loss of respect and livelihood just ask Terrell Owens while the loss of trust in a long-standing relationship can mean losing one’s entire family. On top of that, by spending money to keep a pretty young thing, Petrino placed a cap on his own worth and devalued himself and his game. While Tiger Woods has somewhat shown us that redemption is possible, it does not come without long battles and exponential losses. That’s why the old nonsensical saying ‘it ain’t trickin’ if you got it’ is laughable. Besides the fact that you can’t spend or ‘trick off’ money that you don’t have (hence it’s only trickin’ when you’ve got it), you always end up losing more than you originally planned to pay.

At the end of the day, it just isn’t worth it.

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