Won’t fight UA firing, Petrino says

Any buyout claim waived; some phone texts released

Eight months after resigning her position on the Arkansas football staff, Jessica Dorrell has landed a new job after moving to South Carolina. She is shown here at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in March.
Eight months after resigning her position on the Arkansas football staff, Jessica Dorrell has landed a new job after moving to South Carolina. She is shown here at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in March.

— Bobby Petrino said late Thursday that he won’t challenge his firing as head football coach of the University of Arkansas.

Petrino’s attorneys — Russ Campbell and Patrick Strong of Birmingham, Ala. — confirmed Petrino’s decision in a note to UA Athletic Director Jeff Long just before midnight Thursday.

The note read, “Jeff, consistent with Coach Petrino’s previous statement, he accepts responsibility for the events that led to the University’s decision to terminate his employment. Although extremely disappointed, he respects the University’s decision and will not avail himself of the University’s administrative appeal process.

“Coach Petrino and his family wish nothing but the best for both the Razorback football program and University of Arkansas.”

University of Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long announces his decision to fire Razorbacks football coach Bobby Petrino on Tuesday.

Jeff Long - Bobby Petrino Firing

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A number of Hog fans gathered at Gusano's in Little Rock to watch Jeff Long announce Bobby Petrino's firing. Watch the video to hear reactions from several of them.

Fans sound off on Petrino firing

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Inside the Petrino Crash

PETRINO STATEMENT: “I was informed in writing today at 5:45 p.m. that I was being terminated as head football coach at the University of Arkansas. The simplest response I have is: I’m sorry. These two words seem very inadequate. But that is my heart. All I have been able to think about is the number of people I’ve let down by making selfish decisions. 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." CONTINUE READING HIS STATEMENT

By not challenging Long’s decision, Petrino gives up any claim to the $18 million buyout that was in his contract.

Long fired the coach Tuesday after revelations that Petrino had hired Jessica Dorrell — with whom Petrino revealed he had had an “inappropriate relationship” — as student-athlete development coordinator for the football program.

Meanwhile also Thursday night, UA released a flurry of text messages that Petrino had sent after he was put on paid administrative leave April 5. They show that he was becoming increasingly concerned about Long’s investigation of him and about his future as the Razorbacks coach.

At one point, he messaged an assistant to ask if texts he had sent before April 5 could be removed from his phone.

Petrino and Dorrell were in a motorcycle accident April 1 along Arkansas 16 in Madison County, and Petrino was injured. He did not reveal to his supervisors — until minutes before a state police accident report was to be publicly released April 5 — that Dorrell was on the motorcycle with him at the time of the crash.

About 8 p.m. Thursday, UA released 30 pages of text messages from Petrino’s university-provided cell phone. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained the records, which it had requested last week, under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The messages include some from Long, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Compliance Jon Fagg and Offensive Coordinator Paul Petrino, who is Petrino’s younger brother.

The records show that around 10 a.m. on April 6, Petrino began making phone calls to people within the athletic department, asking them about the early stages of what Long had said late on April 5 would be an “extensive and thorough review” of Petrino’s accident.

Petrino started the day April 6 by calling Long.

“I appreciate how you handled last night,” Petrino wrote, referring to a hastily arranged news conference in which Long put Petrino on paid leave and fielded questions from the media.

“I’m at your disposal and will do whatever it takes to keep you in camp and remain your coach,” Petrino wrote.

“Thanks, Bobby,” Long replied 30 minutes later. “I am working through the process.”

On Wednesday, a UA spokesman said phone records dating back to September 2011 played a large role in revealing the extent of Petrino’s “inappropriate relationship” with Dorrell. Yet, none of the messages released Thursday contain an exchange between Dorrell, 25, a former UA volleyball player, and Petrino. Telephone records indicate that the two spoke more than 300 times and exchanged more than 4,300 text messages from September to April 5.

Thursday’s cache of messages mostly covers the period from April 5, when Petrino was placed on leave, to April 7, when the Razorbacks went through their second scrimmage of spring practice.

In messages sent over the two days, Petrino asks UA athletics officials for updates on Long’s review and for information about the coach’s standing among boosters and fans.

In a statement Thursday night that accompanied the released text messages, UA officials said they had turned over all messages that could be salvaged from Petrino’s Apple iPhone.

“In the event any additional records are located, we will supplement this response,” wrote Kevin Trainor, UA’s associate athletic director for public relations.

SEEKING MATERIAL

UA has not released Petrino’s termination letter, saying earlier Thursday that Petrino had not informed UA whether he would appeal his firing.

Also, John Diamond, associate vice chancellor for university relations, said UA officials were still working to fulfill requests for other documents — some of which were made last week. He said it is “a much more burdensome assignment than can reasonably and accurately be compiled in a 72-hour period.”

The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requires public agencies to provide access to requested documents immediately unless they are in use or in storage.

If unavailable right away, the agency “shall certify this fact in writing to the applicant and set a date and hour within three (3) working days, at which time the record will be available for the exercise of the right given by this chapter,” Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-105 (e) states.

“Technically, they’re in violation,” Tom Larimer, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said of UA.

Larimer said that simply telling the newspaper that addressing requests was timeconsuming and not providing a day and time when reporters could review and pick up material along with other documents didn’t satisfy relevant portions of the statute.

“They need to be mindful the law is still there, no matter how many requests they’ve gotten,” Larimer said.

“A PETRINO GUY”

After texting Long on April 6, Petrino began a 13-message exchange that spanned the course of the day with Chris Wyrick, who is senior associate athletic director for external affairs.

“I am a Petrino guy,” Wyrick wrote about 10:15 a.m. “My support for you through this will be 100 [percent] unwavering.”

But in later exchanges with Wyrick, Petrino asked Wyrick for information about whether fans, boosters and the UA’s board of trustees were voicing support for Long to retain him.

Around 6 p.m., Petrino asked Wyrick for his read on the situation.

“So how did the day go?” Petrino asked

“Trustees and politicos are leaving Jeff alone, and that is a good thing,” Wyrick wrote. “Those that have your back are behind you 100 percent.”

Wyrick asked Petrino to give Long any information that he may have not previously passed along.

“I know sometimes I aggravate you, but PLEASE listen to me,” Wyrick wrote. “Does Jeff know EVERYTHING from your standpoint.” Petrino, who would later reveal a cash payment to Dorrell of $20,000, said he had nothing more to offer. “Yes, I believe he does,” Petrino wrote.

DORRELL ON LEAVE

Long terminated Petrino via an e-mailed letter at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. Petrino, 51, a married father of four, has acknowledged an “inappropriate relationship” with Dorrell.

Diamond confirmed Thursday that Dorrell and Josh Morgan, an assistant strength and conditioning coach in the athletics department whom Dorrell was engaged to marry in June, are still employed.

However, Dorrell is on paid administrative leave, a UA official said Thursday.

She was placed on leave sometime between when Petrino was placed on paid administrative leave April 5 and his termination Tuesday. UA declined Thursday to specify the reason for her leave.

“Because this situation involves a personnel matter protected under law, we cannot get into any more detail at this time,” Diamond said in an e-mail.

Questions remain about when Petrino gave Dorrell $20,000. Long revealed the $20,000 in Tuesday night’s news conference during which he announced his decision to fire Petrino.

On Wednesday, Diamond said Long believes that the money was given to Dorrell before the April 1 accident and that it came personally from the former coach.

Harold Horton, executive director of the Razorback Foundation Inc., said Petrino didn’t have access to any kind of personal discretionary account.

“We don’t have a discretionary fund for anyone,” Horton said. Petrino’s $3.1 million salary for 2012 made him the state’s highest-paid employee. It was heavily subsidized by the foundation, a private fundraising group for the university’s athletic programs.

WORRIED ABOUT TEXTS

On April 6, Petrino also touched base with Fagg, the associate athletic director for compliance. “So how has the day went?” Petrino asked around 11 a.m. “OK,” Fagg wrote back. “You feeling better.” “Head is better,” Petrino wrote. “Back and ribs and very sore.” Petrino’s next text was to his younger brother Paul Petrino, who is UA’s offensive coordinator.

On leave and unable to attend the Razorbacks’ second spring scrimmage that day, Petrino passed along advice about how to handle a pregame speech to the players.

“Keep your poise and watch your language,” Bobby Petrino wrote at 1:28 p.m. “You will do great!!! Don’t be afraid to use a bunch of no huddle!!!”

As that scrimmage unfolded in the early evening, Petrino asked Andy Wagner, the athletic department’s video coordinator, for updates on the Razorbacks’ performance.

He also asked Wagner about an aspect of Long’s investigation involving the content on his universityprovided cell phone.

“So Andy,” Petrino wrote. “Can they get content off my text.”

“In a legal case maybe,” Wagner replied. “But I think in this instance [they] can only get who you text. Not the subject.”

LONG SEEKS ANSWERS

A review of released phone logs for Petrino’s phone show frequent contact in March between Petrino and Dorrell during the process in which she was hired as student-athlete development coordinator for the football program.

That month there were 61 phone calls and 58 text messages exchanged between Petrino’s university-provided cell phone and Dorrell’s personal cell phone, including two calls and four text messages when she started her job March 28.

Diamond said Long took the phone records into account when he decided to fire the coach. “His decision reflected a recognition that there was a relationship that existed prior to Coach Petrino approaching him about hiring Jessica Dorrell,” Diamond said. At Tuesday night’s news conference, Long said Petrino had engaged in “misleading and manipulating behavior.”

Part of that behavior was participating “in the review and selection process without disclosing his relationship” with Dorrell, Long said.

Petrino informed Long that Dorrell was a passenger on his motorcycle at 3:12 p.m. on April 5, 20 minutes before the Arkansas State Police publicly released the accident report that mentioned Dorrell.

At that time, Petrino also told Long that he had engaged in a “previous inappropriate relationship” with Dorrell, who had worked at the Razorback Foundation since 2009.

The text messages show that Long made multiple attempts to contact Petrino in the days after the accident.

“Bobby, respect your privacy, but would like to hear from you,” Long wrote at 8:56 on April 2, the day after the accident when Petrino was still recovering at Physicians’ Specialty Hospital in Fayetteville.

A day later, Petrino convened a late morning news conference to discuss his accident and reiterated that he was alone on his Harley-Davidson Road King when it crashed.

“I have avoided direct media contact but will need to speak after your [news] conference today,” Long wrote. “Would like to walk in with you and sit in back and take my individual questions.”

“That sounds fine to me,” Petrino responded.

Long sent a message at 3:43 p.m., a little over a half an hour after Petrino had told Long about Dorrell being a passenger on the motorcycle. “Bobby we need to talk sooner,” he wrote while riding on a bus back from a work-related retreat. “I’ll call you when I get back to town.”

Fagg also reached out to Petrino.

“Are reporters already outside your house?” Fagg wrote at 4:32 p.m.

Almost an hour later, Fagg told Petrino to make his way to the Broyles Athletic Center on the Fayetteville campus.

“Call when you can,” Fagg wrote. “We are ready to visit.”

After that meeting, Long told the press about 10 p.m. that Petrino had been placed on administrative leave and that linebackers coach Taver Johnson would oversee the football program during Long’s investigation.

On April 7, at 12:32 p.m. Petrino asked Fagg, “Hey John. Anything I can do??”

“No,” Fagg answered. “I imagine we will talk to you again Monday. We are just working through things.”

Information for this article was contributed by Chris Branam, Caleb Fort, Alison Sider, Adam Wallworth, Bill Bowden and Michael Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/13/2012

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