Bobby Petrino -- Quitter? or Smartest Guy Out There?
I'm tired. Not because I only got three hours of sleep last night. Not because it's exams week that is causing me to lose my mind. No, I'm tired because of these college coaches being villanized for deciding to be college coaches. For some reason, everyone thinks that being an NFL coach is "the life" or somehow the dream of every coach out there. I have to be honest. If it were me, I think I would rather be labeled a loser that worked hard to win, than to be labeled a quitter. But I'd also rather be doing something I love than to go out there, getting my butt kicked not only by those that put out the media but by my players as well. Before we start accusing a coach of giving up, ask yourself a couple questions:
First, have you ever quit a job you really didn't like? I mean really, how many people get jobs, thinking it'll work out and be okay, and then it turns out their coworkers are just lame, and their boss was stuck hiring a bunch of over-the-hill dopes that they must rely on to get a positive job performance (exaggeration, i know, but look at Petrino). Think about it!
Second, have you ever had a job where no matter what you did, the work just wasn't personally fulfilling? It's a known fact that money alone is not a good enough motivator for someone to enjoy a job. It just doesn't work that way!
Third, have you ever done something in your life that actually was fulfilling? And would you take the opportunity of doing it again if given the chance? Keep thinking about it.
Nick Saban was not the first college coach to come to the NFL and decide he is really a college coach. Bobby Petrino won't be the last. I don't blame them for leaving. These two coaches are teachers. They're workers. They want to be heard, understood, listened to on their own terms. Do you think it's easy to teach a professional who thinks he knows all he needs to know? Do you think it's easy to teach a professional who's been in the league longer than you have? Who wants to listen to an "amateur?"
Pete Carroll is a good example of a coach who was okay on the pro level, and worked there for many years as an assistant and coordinator before becoming a head coach in New York with the Jets and in New England with the Patriots. A combined 33-31 record as a head coach wasn't good enough to keep his job as he was fired after one season with the Jets (after a 6-10 season and his subsequent firing, the team went 3-13 and 1-15 in the two years following his departure) and after three with the Patriots (two playoff appearances and a 27-21 record). His return to college football, where he got his start in 1973 as a graduate assistant at Pacific, turned out to be one of the best decisions of his coaching career. After a slow start his first season at USC in 2001, Carroll has won two national titles and nearly a third, while leading USC back to national prominence.
I doubt that Bobby Petrino will win a national title at Arkansas in the immediate future. In fact, I doubt that he'll finish higher than 15th in the nation next year (yeah, I know, that's not really a struggle, but expectations will be high as he will be taking over a program that finished 8-4 this year, with a win over LSU, a two-year starter at quarterback returning, and most likely a running back that topped 1,000 yards two seasons in a row in impressive fashion--and I'm NOT talking about Darren McFadden; check it out). But I also know that Bobby Petrino is a winner...in college! That way he doesn't have to put up with a GM or team owner that brings in bad apples. That way he can recruit his own players, and deal with the bad apples himself. That way he can be a GM of sorts, be a teacher, and not have to deal with being questioned by his own players in the public spotlight. When a college coach is being valued at nearly $3 million a year, he pretty much has the option to get things done his way.
So what that he went 3-10 and now his NFL career is officially over? He decided to move on to something better. I don't blame him. And I guarantee he doesn't finish 3-10 at Arkansas this coming season.
First, have you ever quit a job you really didn't like? I mean really, how many people get jobs, thinking it'll work out and be okay, and then it turns out their coworkers are just lame, and their boss was stuck hiring a bunch of over-the-hill dopes that they must rely on to get a positive job performance (exaggeration, i know, but look at Petrino). Think about it!
Second, have you ever had a job where no matter what you did, the work just wasn't personally fulfilling? It's a known fact that money alone is not a good enough motivator for someone to enjoy a job. It just doesn't work that way!
Third, have you ever done something in your life that actually was fulfilling? And would you take the opportunity of doing it again if given the chance? Keep thinking about it.
Nick Saban was not the first college coach to come to the NFL and decide he is really a college coach. Bobby Petrino won't be the last. I don't blame them for leaving. These two coaches are teachers. They're workers. They want to be heard, understood, listened to on their own terms. Do you think it's easy to teach a professional who thinks he knows all he needs to know? Do you think it's easy to teach a professional who's been in the league longer than you have? Who wants to listen to an "amateur?"
Pete Carroll is a good example of a coach who was okay on the pro level, and worked there for many years as an assistant and coordinator before becoming a head coach in New York with the Jets and in New England with the Patriots. A combined 33-31 record as a head coach wasn't good enough to keep his job as he was fired after one season with the Jets (after a 6-10 season and his subsequent firing, the team went 3-13 and 1-15 in the two years following his departure) and after three with the Patriots (two playoff appearances and a 27-21 record). His return to college football, where he got his start in 1973 as a graduate assistant at Pacific, turned out to be one of the best decisions of his coaching career. After a slow start his first season at USC in 2001, Carroll has won two national titles and nearly a third, while leading USC back to national prominence.
I doubt that Bobby Petrino will win a national title at Arkansas in the immediate future. In fact, I doubt that he'll finish higher than 15th in the nation next year (yeah, I know, that's not really a struggle, but expectations will be high as he will be taking over a program that finished 8-4 this year, with a win over LSU, a two-year starter at quarterback returning, and most likely a running back that topped 1,000 yards two seasons in a row in impressive fashion--and I'm NOT talking about Darren McFadden; check it out). But I also know that Bobby Petrino is a winner...in college! That way he doesn't have to put up with a GM or team owner that brings in bad apples. That way he can recruit his own players, and deal with the bad apples himself. That way he can be a GM of sorts, be a teacher, and not have to deal with being questioned by his own players in the public spotlight. When a college coach is being valued at nearly $3 million a year, he pretty much has the option to get things done his way.
So what that he went 3-10 and now his NFL career is officially over? He decided to move on to something better. I don't blame him. And I guarantee he doesn't finish 3-10 at Arkansas this coming season.
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