In the end, Arkansas probably had no choice but to fire Bobby Petrino as football coach. But when another second-tier program is looking for a coach to elevate their program to the big time, they will have a hard time ignoring what Petrino did on the football field.

At the college level, Petrino has led his teams to at least nine wins in six of his eight seasons as a head coach. And outside of his brief stint with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL, his teams have been what a lot of programs hope to become.

Here's a year-by-year breakdown of his winning percentage as a head coach...

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See Also:

• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer
• Arkansas Football Coach Bobby Petrino Gave His Mistress $20,000 Before He Got Canned

Back with a take on the Bobby Petrino situation are the Taiwanese animators at NMA.tv.

And if you are looking to get caught up on the ugliness at the University of Arkansas — or just want a good chuckle — here's the entire affair from one hog (the Harley) to another (the pig).

Here's the video...

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See Also:

• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School
• Arkansas Football Coach Bobby Petrino Gave His Mistress $20,000 Before He Got Canned
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer

Since Arkansas fired Bobby Petrino on Tuesday, the former coach's cellphone records have been made public. As it turns out, he texted more than anyone you've ever met.

The two big revelations:

1. He and his 25-year-old mistress Jessica Dorrell exchanged 4,300 texts over a seven-month period. That's one text per hour for seven months, calculates Darren Rovell. They also traded more than 300 phone calls in that time.

Petrino already admitted to an "inappropriate relationship" with Dorrell. So these phone records don't mean a whole lot in that respect. But on the other hand, how exactly does the head coach of an SEC football program have so much time to sit around and text?

2. In addition to the Dorrell texts, Deadspin dug through the records and claims that Petrino exchanged more than 200 texts over a two month period with Alison Melder — a 26-year-old senate assistant for the Arkansas Republican Party (according to her LinkedIn page) who also won the "Miss Motorcycle Mania" modeling competition in 2008.

There are also allegedly seven picture messages from Melder to Petrino.

Neither Melder or Petrino has commented, so the reason for these texts remains unknown.

We'll give you more updates from the Phone Records Of The Century when they leak out.

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See Also:

• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer
• Arkansas Placed Its Football Coach On Leave After He Got Into A Motorcycle Accident While Riding With A 25-Year-Old Female Employee

Nerlens Noel is the number one high school player in the country, and he chose a unique way to announce his intention to play basketball at the University of Kentucky.

The 6-foot-10 Noel, from Everett, Mass., went on ESPN, and when he was asked which school he had chosen, he first proved that not everybody was annoyed by LeBron James' "The Announcement."

Noel, looking into the camera, said "I'll be taking my talents, for college, to..." At that point, Noel spun around and revealed the Kentucky logo shaved into the hair on the back of his head.

And then the sports world rolled their collective eyes...

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• During Biggest Month Of His Career, An Alabama Running Back Will Take Time To Escort A Leukemia Patient To Her Prom
• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• Steve Spurrier Can't Help Himself, Takes Shots At Nick Saban

Fired Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was scared people would find out the content of the thousands of text messages he and his 25-year-old mistress Jessica Dorrell exchanged, based on a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press.

Petrino texted an individual only identified as "Andy" about the whole situation.

"Can they get content off my text."

"I think thy (sic) can only get who you text," Andy replied.

Keep in mind, there are rumors out there that Petrino may have sent some explicit photos to Dorrell during their seven-month relationship.

The exchange with Andy happened April 6, the day after the University of Arkansas put Petrino on paid leave, and at the same time he received assurances from assistant athletic director Chris Wyrick that it was unlikely he would get canned.

Petrino: "Is the mood to fire me or to keep me???"

Wyrick: "I can't honestly speak to [athletic director Jeff Long's] pulse on that, but my gut is he wants it to work. You have done the job and most feel like you are due a mulligan.

It was also discovered that Petrino made it very obvious to the athletic department that he wanted Dorrell, not anyone else, to be hired as a recruiting coordinator, according to documents released by the university regarding Dorrell's hiring.

"I would like to offer to this candidate. Out of the candidates, she had the best experience and we felt like she would be the best fit for this position."

Four days later those assurances fell flat, as the the school fired Petrino with cause with the most egregious finding probably being that he gave an undisclosed $20,000 gift to Dorrell.

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• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer

The University of Arkansas has put Bobby Petrino's mistress Jessica Dorrell on paid leave, according to the Associated Press.

University spokesman Steve Voorhies confirmed Dorrell's leave Friday morning, saying the school would issue no more details because the situation is a personnel matter.

Petrino was fired earlier this week after details of his secret affair with Dorrell became public and it was also discovered that Petrino abused his position and power to hire Dorrell as a recruiting coordinator for the football team.

Their affair included an undisclosed $20,000 gift from Petrino to Dorrell.

Dorrell and Petrino exchanged thousands of texts over their seven-month affair. It's since been revealed that Petrino is very afraid that the content of those many text messages will become public.

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• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer

With less than two weeks to go until the 2012 NFL Draft, you would understand if Trent Richardson was declining all requests in preparation for the biggest night of his career.

But even though most project Richardson as a top-five pick, and with millions of dollars on the line, Richardson will take one night off to escort a young lady with Leukemia to her senior prom.

In a video report at AL.com (via CBSSports.com), Shon Coleman, a senior at Hueytown High School in Alabama, talks about how she was diagnosed with Leukemia as a junior and was unable to attend her junior prom and was without a date for her senior prom.

That's when her uncle, who apparently has some connections at the University of Alabama, asked around to see if anybody would be interested, and Trent Richardson accepted the offer.

Good for you Mr. Richardson, good for you.

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See Also:

• Steve Spurrier Can't Help Himself, Takes Shots At Nick Saban
• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School

Bobby Petrino was so desperate to have his mistress Jessica Dorrell as part of his football staff he went around University of Arkansas protocol to get her hired, according to documents obtained by SI.com

Petrino requested a waiver to go around the school's affirmative action policy requiring every job opening to be posted for at least 30 days before interviews can begin, the report states.

Here's what SI.com's Freedom of Information Act request revealed:

The job opening for a football player development coordinator was posted March 4.

Athletic director Jeff Long pushed for Petrino's request to be approved on March 9.

Dorrell's interview happened before the waiver was even granted.

Toward the end of the process, Dorrell was one of three finalists out of a pool of 159 candidates.

Dorrell was given the job despite NOT having a few of the "minimum qualifications" for the position, specifically a "master's degree in a related field" and "two years of prior experience within a football program."

The two other finalists for the job were leaps and bounds more qualified for the job Dorrell was given and actually had football experience.

That was obviously of no concern to Petrino, who despite these shortcomings said that out of all three candidates, Dorrell "had the best experience and we felt like she would be the best fit for this position."

After initially being put on paid leave, Petrino was fired a few days later.

Dorrell's employment is also in paid leave status as of Friday.

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See Also:

• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School
• Arkansas Fires Bobby Petrino For Hiding Inappropriate Relationship With Female Staffer

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has never been one to shy away from taking a shot at rival schools and coaches. And in a recent Q&A with ESPN.com (via CBSSports.com), the Ole Ball Coach was up to his old tricks.

When asked about having South Carolina's game against Georgia moved to later in the year, Spurrier explained why he was against the move...

"I don't know. I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended."

And later, he took a shot at the success Nick Saban has enjoyed at Alabama, and even Kentucky's John Calipari gets caught in the cross-fire...

"He's got a nice little gig going, a little bit like (John) Calipari. He tells guys, 'Hey, three years from now, you're going to be a first-round pick and go.' If he wants to be the greatest coach or one of the greatest coaches in college football, to me, he has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they've always won there at Alabama."

Just don't go to South Carolina. Even the best coaches can't win there.

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See Also:

• Taiwanese Animation Speculates On What Really Happened During Bobby Petrino's Motorcycle Accident
• During Biggest Month Of His Career, An Alabama Running Back Will Take Time To Escort A Leukemia Patient To Her Prom
• SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Bobby Petrino's Success Will Eventually Catch The Eye Of Another School

Alison Melder, the former Arkansas Republican party aide and motorcycle model who exchanged more than 200 texts with fired Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino, is denying the entire claim.

Melder released a statement through her lawyer via email to Deadspin:

"Unfortunately, my client has been drawn into a firestorm that is simply sad. While she did meet Coach Petrino last fall and kept in touch; the truth is that Alison has never in her life been alone with Coach Petrino. She is not a public figure, and any suggestion that she was involved in an extramarital affair with Coach Petrino is false. And it is actionable."

Deadspin has reached out to Melder's lawyer to get more information, but he hasn't responded.

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The photo below comes from Tony Gerdeman (via Twitter). The scene is Ohio State's spring practice in which head coach Urban Meyer opened the field to more than 3,000 fans. But not only did the fans get to watch practice, they also got to participate.

According to Graham Watson of Yahoo! Sports, during field goal drills, Meyer decided a good way to add a little pressure to the situation was to have the fans and fellow players crowd around their kicker as he attempted to make a field goal.

Yep, that probably added a little pressure...

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An investigator in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case was led to other alleged victims by just reading Sandusky's autobiography, according to a Deadspin excerpt from a recently released book.

Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Culture of Silence is out today and details how Corporal Joe Leiter of the Pennsylvania State Police was able to find more alleged victims after initially interviewing a 15-year-old boy in 2008 who claimed that Sandusky had abused him over a four-year period.

From Deadspin:

Leiter read Sandusky's own words about how his intense love for children had inspired him to start The Second Mile. He learned that the coach was proud of the way he reached out to help kids. One particular passage that jumped out at Leiter was Sandusky's admission that he relished engaging in risky behavior.

The book included "the first names of about a dozen young participants in The Second Mile," which Leiter used as a starting point for his investigation. He went door-to-door to see if there were more victims. Leiter asked every child he met with if he had seen or heard of any inappropriate behavior, which led to even more names.

Finally, a young man who answered the door had critical information to share. "How did you find me?" he asked.

Leiter explained the process of picking up clues in Sandusky's autobiography. The young man had never told anyone about his physical relationship with Sandusky, and he had hoped to keep the shameful episode buried forever. Even recalling the abuse to the detective meant reliving all the pain. Still, he opened up about trusting Sandusky as a loving and caring father figure before he was betrayed.

In other words, Jerry Sandusky unknowingly left clues for investigators in his own book.

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Bobby Petrino's mistress Jessica Dorrell quit her job with the University of Arkansas athletic department Tuesday.

Dorrell was given a $14,000 settlement as part of her resignation.

Here's what Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement:

"While Ms. Dorrell had a legitimate right to apply for and accept a position within the football program, the circumstances surrounding the former coach's decision to hire her compromised her ability to be effective in such a position. She and I believe she should have the opportunity to move on."

This comes just a few days after the school put her on paid leave for the cover up she and Petrino were a part of regarding her unfair employment.

Petrino was fired last week after the university realized he had not disclosed his relationship with Dorrell, making her employment a conflict of interest.

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Anthony Davis and the other four starters from Kentucky's national championship squad have declared that they will enter the NBA Draft.

Davis, a freshman, is expected to be the first pick in the draft. Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and sophomore Terrence Jones are also expected to be taken early in the first round. Most also believe freshman Marquis Teague will be a first-rounder, while sophomore Doron Lamb is the only one from the group that might fall to the second round.

In total, the Wildcats have now lost seven players from their title-winning squad that also included two seniors.

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Mark Schlabach has a piece in the latest ESPN The Magazine highlighting the awful problem big time college football programs face as more and more of their student-athletes get caught smoking marijuana.

The ominous sub-heading reads: "A cloud of pot busts lingers over college football -- and the smoke isn't clearing."

It details the pot-smoking issues that have taken over the news cycle at programs like the University of Georgia, TCU, and LSU (LOLZ-worthy emphasis is ours).

NCAA statistics show a bump in the number of stoned athletes. In the NCAA's latest drug-use survey, conducted in 2009 and released in January, 22.6 percent of athletes admitted to using marijuana in the previous 12 months, a 1.4 percentage point increase over a similar 2005 study.

The article does its best to sound the alarm on this supposedly immense epidemic.

What it fails to point out is that the numbers are likely up because players are no longer lying about their marijuana use. Likewise, a 24/7 news cycle doesn't allow school administrators to hide athlete indiscretions like they used to decades ago.

College students doing drugs is not new. It's a given.

The difference here is that college athletes, especially college football players, are held to ridiculous standards and have their every move chronicled in the media.

So while the folks at Yahoo! Sports are uncovering serious recruiting scandals, the boys in Bristol have chosen to focus on a "trend" that's actually been going on for a very long time.

Way to go guys.

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Long time Tennessee Lady Volunteers head basketball coach Pat Summitt will step down, according to the Washington Post.

The school will announce Summitt is stepping down later Wednesday afternoon after she gets a chance to speak to her players.

Assistant Holly Warlick will take over the head coaching duties, while Summitt will be part of the staff as "head coach emeritus."

Summitt leaves as the winningest head coach in college basketball, men or women's, with 1,098 wins. She also led Tennessee to eight national championships.

The news comes just a few months after Summitt revealed she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

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Former University of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino "never thought the gift was a problem or the relationship," according to athletic director Jeff Long's handwritten notes from the investigation he conducted resulting in Petrino's firing.

They were obtained by the Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The documents show Petrino and former athletic department employee Jessica Dorrell began an intimate relationship at some point last fall, but exchanged 326 phone calls and 7,228 text messages since April 2011.

Here are a few other details obtained from Long's notes:

• Petrino and Dorrell's affair began with a kiss over lunch
• Petrino and Dorrell claim they ended their intimate relationship as soon as she informed the coach that she was interested in the job because he wanted her to "earn" it. Long didn't see how that made any sense if the motorcycle accident took place so recently
• On top of the $20,000 gift Petrino gave Dorrell for her to purchase a car and use on wedding and vacation expenses, he also sent her Hot Tamales candy
• Dorrell initially hid the money under her mattress
• Dorrell's fiancee, athletic department employee Josh Morgan, thought the $20,000 were simply a bonus because the job required having a car
• Through it all, Long truly wanted to keep Petrino as head coach, but he had no other choice other than firing him after he repeatedly failed to disclose his relationship with Dorrell

Dorrell eventually quit her job and was given a $14,000 settlement.

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The Oregon Ducks football program generated $29.5 million in revenue during the 2010-11 season. And while that sounds impressive, that only ranked 34th in all of college football, and was $64.4 million less than what the University of Texas football team generated.

Then again, Texas, and the rest of college football, is not as close to Nike CEO Phil Knight as the Ducks. And maybe that's why the Oregon football locker room looks more like country club.

Below is a tour of the locker room. A couple of our favorite features are the ventilated lockers (so it doesn't smell like a locker room), and gameday lighting that simulates sunlight (so players' eyes won't have to adjust leaving the locker room on game day).

Here's the video (via The Big Lead)...

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The Arkansas Razorbacks will reportedly name John L. Smith as football coach today to replace the fired Bobby Petrino.

The Associated Press is reporting that Smith will serve as an interim coach for the 2012 season. However, reports on 103.7 in Fayetteville say Smith will not be an interim coach. Rather, his contract is just for one season with no guarantees.

Smith was recently named the head coach at Weber State, after serving as an assistant under Petrino since 2009.

Prior to that, Smith was the head coach at Michigan State where he went 22-26 in four seasons.

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The BCS will include a four-team playoff starting in 2014 after the current television contract runs out, according to Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports and others.

Word of this pending change had been ruminating for a while, but the BCS has officially endorsed the idea.

Conference leaders have been meeting in Florida all week to hash out the details of the future of college football's postseason the last few days and released their plans today.

There will also be no more automatic qualifying conferences in the championship formula.

The AQ non-AQ nonsense is primarily what's kept teams like Boise State and Utah from playing in the National Championship Game.

To the dismay of the most ardent playoff advocates, eight and 16-team options are completely off the table, however.

The four-team model still has some ironing out left, including:

• Will the semifinals be played at campus sites, existing bowl games, or neutral sites?
• Will the four teams simply be taken from the top four of the final BCS standings, or will they be selected by a committee like the NCAA basketball tournament?
• Who will broadcast these games and how will the money be distributed?

Conference officials will present the four-team playoff idea to their member schools in the coming weeks and months.

BCS President Bill Hancock, a huge supporter of the archaic bowl system who previously dismissed any playoff discussion, was seen smiling as he discussed the changes.

"This is a seismic change for college football and commissioners are aware of that."

When asked why now, Hancock replied, "They are listening to the fans. They get that they want something different."

So we won, folks.

A college football playoff is here!

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