Can Bobby Petrino, Jim Tressel travel road to redemption?

During Bobby Bowden's 55 years in college football, he's seen his share of coaches embroiled in scandals. The circumstances aren't the same, but the arc of the story line is familiar: Mistake. Forgiveness. Redemption.

  • Arkansas Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino speaks at a press conference at Razorback Stadium following a motorcycle accident he sustained on April 1.

    By Beth Hall, Beth Hall, US Presswire


By Beth Hall, Beth Hall, US Presswire


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Former Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was fired three weeks ago after he lied to school administrators about a motorcycle accident and an inappropriate relationship with 25-year-old football staff member Jessica Dorrell. In Bowden's view, if Petrino wants to coach again at the highest college level, he'll be on a sideline in the not-so-distant future.

"Winning means a whole lot," Bowden said. "If (Petrino) had been a losing coach, you could forget it. He'd be through. But the guy is a proven coach, and if he can sincerely convince somebody that he made a terrible mistake and will never do it again, somebody will give him a chance. … Of course, you're going to have to have a president or a board of trustees who is willing to forgive you."

In the annals of college scandals, Petrino's fall from grace wasn't unique. Plenty of others already paved the two-lane road that Petrino and his motorcycle traveled. As for his path to redemption?

To be banished (almost) forever, the misdeeds must be severe, as in Dave Bliss severe. The former Baylor basketball coach paid for the tuition of two players, including Patrick Dennehy, who was shot to death by teammate Carlton Dotson. When questions arose about the tuition payments when Dennehy initially went missing, Bliss responded by telling his staff to lie and spread an existing rumor: Dennehy paid for his schooling by selling drugs. Bliss was forced to resign in 2003.

As heinous as his actions were, Bliss is back coaching. He is dean of students, athletics director and boys varsity basketball coach at Allen Academy, a private school about 100 miles southeast of Baylor's Waco, Texas, campus.

This past season, the Allen Academy boys and girls basketball teams for the first time in school history won state championships.

Mostly, the rogue's gallery is full of college coaches whose sins are more of the knucklehead variety. See Mike Price, Jackie Sherrill, Larry Eustachy, George O'Leary, Rick Neuheisel, Rick Pitino. Then there are those involved in recruiting scandals or other NCAA violations, such as Kelvin Sampson, Todd Bozeman, Eddie Sutton and Jim Tressel.

Most commonly, their career arcs went thusly: Mistake. Fired. Forgiveness. Hired at a lesser school. Success. Redemption. Pitino is an exception because he never lost his job after admitting in 2009 to a sordid sexual affair in 2003. Unlike Petrino, who hired his mistress, Pitino did not abuse university funds or policy. Pitino also fessed up to school officials when the scandal began to unfold publicly.

Petrino's past

For Petrino, forgiveness and a second chance could be complicated by his mottled reputation. In 2007, Petrino abruptly left the Atlanta Falcons and took the Arkansas job with three games left in the season. While coaching at Louisville in 2003, he secretly interviewed for the Auburn job before Tommy Tuberville, the coach who once hired him, had even been fired.

"The challenge that Bobby Petrino faces is the 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me' kind of thing," said Peter Finley, a professor at Nova Southeastern University in Florida and co-author of the book Sports Scandals. "At what point do people start to worry about being the next person fooled by Bobby Petrino?"

John L. Smith, who was hired last week to replace Petrino and is a mentor and former assistant, said Thursday that his friend will be back in the game, at the pro or college level.

"If you're an administrator and you want to hire the best coach in the country, I'm going to look at hiring Bobby Petrino," Smith said. "He's the best available coach in the entire country and he's without a job. Can I look past Atlanta? Definitely. Can I look past Arkansas? Maybe not look past it but say, 'I can give the guy a second chance.' Everybody deserves a second chance."

Karen Kessler is an expert in reputation management. Her New Jersey firm, Evergreen Partners, represents politicians and CEOs and is on retainer to two pro sports franchises (she won't say which ones). She is also a consultant on the television show The Good Wife, a legal drama that has the same story lines as the political sex scandals of recent years.

"The strategy is different for every case, but there are certain kinds of principles that transcend whatever field of work," Kessler said. "The overview is confess, contrite and compassion."

Petrino fumbled the "confess" part when he failed to disclose to athletics director Jeff Long that Dorrell was also on the motorcycle at the time of the crash or mention his relationship with Dorrell. Petrino, 51, is married and has four children and two grandchildren.

As for contrition, Petrino issued a lengthy statement after he was fired. "I've taken a lot of criticism in the past. Some deserved, some not deserved. This time, I have no one to blame but myself," he said.

He also mentioned his desire to return to coaching. But Petrino, through an e-mail from his agent, Russ Campbell, declined an interview.

Smith said he hasn't talked to Petrino since the accident. "All I know is we're hoping and praying for Becky and Bobby both that somehow they can work this out because they're part of our family," Smith said.

After a lifetime of listening to cheers, humility doesn't come easy. "The contrition part is often where athletes have the hardest time," Kessler said. "They never had to learn how to ingratiate themselves with people because their athletic prowess usually was enough. Even if they were not stellar human beings in their personal life, most people are able to overlook all of that because they can perform on the field."

Petrino had turned the Razorbacks into a Southeastern Conference power with a 21-5 record over the past two seasons and the hope of a national title run in 2012 behind quarterback Tyler Wilson and running back Knile Davis. Smith was hired to pick up where Petrino left off.

Given Petrino's credentials, and because his downfall was a personnel matter, not an NCAA rules issue, a school looking for relevance and a quick fix might turn to Petrino.

"The thing about Petrino," Kessler said, "in the ladder of shame, sexual relations in a consensual relationship with a heterosexual adult, just doesn't carry the same shock value as it might have years ago. We've all become so accustomed to reading some of these stories. It takes a lot to really rock our world."

Tressel's troubles

Tressel's situation is far more nuanced. After a cash-for-memorabilia scandal at Ohio State, Tressel was forced to resign after he withheld information and lied to keep on the field Buckeyes players who had accepted improper benefits from the owner of a tattoo parlor. He subsequently received an NCAA show-cause penalty, all but banning him from coaching for the next five years.

Monday, Tressel began his first full day as vice president of strategic engagement at Akron.

Bowden's son, Terry, just happens to be the new Akron football coach. After his own bit of controversy at Auburn in 1998, Terry left coaching for 10 years before landing at North Alabama in 2009. After a successful stint there, he was hired by Akron.

Bobby Bowden said Tressel "deserves another chance" if he wants to get back into coaching. "But he's had so much success, he may have had his fill of coaching. I'm not sure Coach Tressel would want to get back into coaching at his age."

After a brief purgatory and more contrition, Bowden said he expects Petrino follow the path of so many others. "Time solves everything," Bowden said. "And one thing about it, we all sin and my religion believes in forgiveness. A lot of times, a guy makes a mistake and he learns from it."

Contributing: Andy Gardiner

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