Moral of the story…motorcycles are dangerous

Jeff Long made it official last night, Bobby Petrino’s last ride as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks wasn’t on the shoulders of his players after that ellusive SEC Championship, but instead it was on his motorcycle his wife bought him as a gift, with his mistress on the back, traveling down a rural stretch of highway east of Fayetteville.  That act alone wasn’t the reason that Petrino got fired.  It was the lying, misleading, and covering up that followed.  It was the shell game he tried to play with his own boss.  It was hiring his mistress for a position on his staff even in the face of 159 other applicants for the same position.  It was the $20,000 he then passed her under the table after he hired her.  It was all of that…and probably more that we don’t know…yet.

Here’s what we do know:

• Jeff Long was a straight up boss last night.  [SBNation]
• Bobby Petrino came across just as you might expect in his press release last night…like kind of a dick [Ark360]
• Arkansas had no choice in the matter [SI.com]
• In the richest of ironies, Petrino was notified of his firing via letter [Chris Bahn...who, by the way, has done mad work during this whole thing]
• Bobby Petrino thought he was bigger than the program…he was not [Register-Guard]
• As of late last night, Petrino hadn’t talked to his staff [CoachingSearch]
• Now who does Jeff Long go after as Petrino’s replacement? [ArkExPats]
• Jessica Dorrell is still listed on the Arkansas web site as a member of the  football staff. [Arkansas]
• Jessica Dorrell’s fiance, however, doesn’t seem to be with the swimming and diving team any more [TBL]
• Recruits are starting to jump ship following the news [ESPN]
• You can relive the entire Bobby Petrino era at Arkansas…if you are in to that sort of thing [Arkansas360]
• God chimed in on the whole situation this morning [Twitter]