Is Bobby Petrino Headed to Arkansas State?

Bobby Petrino could get back into coaching and may be the next head coach at Arkansas State.

The former coach of Arkansas and Louisville is the most proven coach on the market right now and would be an excellent selection to continue their dominance in the Sun Belt.

https://twitter.com/BFeldmanCBS/status/277413275229093888

Petrino left Arkansas is disgrace following his extra-marital affair with a staffer on the Arkansas athletic department, but you cannot deny his ability to recruit, coach, and win on the collegiate level.

https://twitter.com/ClayTravisBGID/status/277449786280534017

Having a familiarity with the state after spending four years in Fayetteville winning 34 of 51 games, Petrino would be able to step right in and recruit the same schools he used to have success at Arkansas.

On the other hand his transgressions off-the-field will draw the ire of many boosters who would want nothing to do with Petrino and would rather hire someone without a checkered past.

Former Arkansas State head coach Gus Malzahn is now the head coach at Auburn, a place that was rumored to have interest in Petrino at one point–even if it was a passing interest–after winning the Sun Belt after he took over for Hugh Freeze who left for Ole Miss.

After missing out on bigger openings in the SEC, Petrino can go to a school with less exposure and use it as the proverbial stepping-stone job to rehab his image and in a year or two follow Freeze and Malzahn into the SEC.

Would Mississippi State be an option if Dan Mullen takes a bigger job elsewhere? That’s just pure speculation, but there likely won’t be many openings in the near future in that conference.

However, if Arkansas State and Petrino can be a match and that is the hire, then he undoubtedly would have success and have many schools inquiring about his services in the coming years.

It’s a win-win situation for both parties.

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

Patrick is a diehard Chicago sports and an avid college football fan, and the host of “The Wake-up Call,” a weekly sports show on Sportstownchicago.com airing live on Wednesday mornings from 8-10. View his show’s website here.