In the Southeastern Conference, where it just means more, this is a seismic move. Bobby Petrino is reportedly back in major conference football, and he has Jimbo Fisher to thank. The new Texas A&M offensive coordinator is apparently going to be one of the most recognizable names in the sport.
Maybe it works. Maybe it won’t. Either way, the Aggies will be fascinating. This is a union of two desperate men. That’s life in the SEC, where coaches are often a two-game losing streak away from being on the hot seat. Texas A&M was college football’s biggest and costliest disappointment last year. Ranked No .6 in the AP preseason poll, the Aggies finished 5-7, winning as many games as (yikes) Vanderbilt. Fisher, 39-21 in five seasons at College Station, might have been booted right out of town if not for his colossal salary.
This was a huge embarrassment for Fisher. So a desperate coach reached out to another desperate coach.
Enter Petrino. The brilliant but problematic schemer was so eager to get back into the national spotlight that he left UNLV less than a month after being hired there. Coaches switching jobs so quickly isn’t unusual in college sports. However, normally, there are special circumstances like returning to an alma mater or the sudden retirement of a former boss.
It’s rarely that brazen for an assistant to flat-out quit a program that took a chance by bringing in a controversial figure. But Petrino isn’t interested in optics. He wants back into the game to salvage his on-the-field reputation. As for his off-the-field reputation? There probably isn’t a way to repair that.
You can write a screenplay about all the shady ways that Petrino has drawn the ire of his employers and fans. From a secret airport rendezvous with Auburn while he was still the coach at the University of Louisville, to abruptly quitting before the end of the NFL season with the Atlanta Falcons by leaving a locker room note, to his infamous motorcycle accident at Arkansas that led to the discovery of an extra-marital affair. As ridiculous as all of this sounds, it’s even more striking how Petrino returned to Louisville. After a successful 1-year stint at Western Kentucky, the Cardinals brought him back for Petrino 2.0.
The good news: he developed Lamar Jackson into the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner.
The bad news: once Jackson left, the program imploded and Petrino was fired.
Petrino had been coaching in exile, working at FCS Missouri State in recent years. His record was only 18-15, but he went 14-8 in the highly competitive Missouri Valley Conference. Last fall, his Bears almost upset then-No.10 Arkansas, leading 27-17 in the fourth quarter until the Razorbacks rallied to win 38-27.
He’s been biding his time hoping for another FBS chance. He initially got it with UNLV, but that was just a rest stop on his way to Texas A&M. There are few better jobs in college football than being an offensive coordinator at an SEC school. If you do well, it’s an automatic springboard to becoming a head coach. Petrino, 61, knows this is his best path back to running his own FBS program.
Fisher and Petrino don’t care what anybody outside of College Station thinks. They know that the only thing that matters is results. Texas A&M had the second-worst scoring offense (22.75) in the league and was No. 101 in the nation. Petrino should be able to fix that. At the height of his powers, his first stint at Louisville (2003-2006), he was arguably the country’s best play-caller. Nobody was better at exploiting matchups and keeping defenses guessing.
Petrino might not be that guy anymore, but he has always been exceptionally bright. Missouri State was No. 10 in the FCS in scoring (34.2) in 2021. With access to better athletes, the transfer portal, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) money, the Aggies could return to prominence quickly. Fisher is taking a calculated risk that Petrino still has some of his old mojo. The former national championship coach at Florida State is eager to prove that the game hasn’t passed him by.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. And these guys might be the most desperate men in the SEC.
