Surprise of the century, right?
When Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long announced last night that he had fired coach Bobby Petrino, the rationale behind the move -- knowingly misleading the athletic department about his motorcycle accident with Jessica Dorrell -- was already pretty much known.
What wasn’t known was that Petrino had given Dorrell $20,000 in cash.
Additionally, Petrino provided Dorrell an “unfair and undisclosed advantage” in getting Dorrell her most recent job in the UA football offices; Long said 159 people applied for Dorrell’s position, and Petrino was involved in the hiring process without disclosing his relationship with Dorrell.
According to Long, that relationship went on for a “significant amount of time.”
As we found out today through public phone records, at least as far back as last September 12. The records were released to multiple media outlets. Some of the findings include:
- An exchange of 91 texts between Petrino and Dorrell on Sept. 13, and 84 texts on Oct. 28, the day before a game at Vanderbilt.
- An exchange of 73 text messages on Oct. 17.
- In the week before Arkansas’ loss to Alabama, Petrino called Dorrell four days in a row -- at 5:52 a.m., 6:35 a.m., 5:49 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., respectively.
- Sept. 17, when Arkansas beat Troy, the two exchanged 70 texts.
In all, Petrino and his mistress exchanged more than 4,300 text messages and nearly 300 phone calls. A more detailed meaning of all the calls can be found here.
This was beyond a mistake, or a moment of weakness. This was a deliberate choice on both sides that put Arkansas in a bind. And for that, as if we needed any more confirmation, both Petrino and Dorrell have absolutely merited their termination from UA.