Louisville Cardinals Banking $30.6 Million over Seven Years on Bobby Petrino
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
As the rising demands to pay head collegiate football coaches big money continues, some schools are willing to take a bigger risk than others. Louisville took a risk on rehiring Bobby Petrino going into the 2014 season and announced a $30 million-plus seven-year gamble on Thursday with the oft-embattled head coach.
Two things that are undeniable about Petrino, he is an offensive wiz and he is a winner at the collegiate level. Whether agreeing with his personal philosophy or social demeanor, one thing that cannot be disputed is his win-loss record. Since becoming a head coach at Louisville his first time around in 2003, the Montana native has posted a 100-39 record spanning four seasons with the Cardinals, four with the Arkansas Razorbacks, one with Western Kentucky, and the last two back with Louisville.
Petrino caught Conference USA and then the Big East Conference by storm winning 41 games against just nine defeats in his first four years as a head coach. A forgettable 2007 season with the Atlanta Falcons aside, Petrino came back to the college level with the Hogs in 2008 posting his only losing season going 5-7 trying to adapt Houston Nutt’s pro-style offense to his spread attack. In 2009, the Hogs were bowling again and by 2010 notched the first of back-to-back double-digit win seasons. All literally came crashing down during a spring motorcycle accident for both Petrino and Arkansas exposing an affair with an assistant. The Hogs went into a two-year downward spiral, having just come up for air under Bret Bielema. The incident forced Petrino to sit out the 2012 season waiting for another opportunity.
Western Kentucky rolled the dice knowing Petrino might not be there for long, and that is exactly what happened. When Charlie Strong left to become the head coach for the Texas Longhorns, Petrino went back to Louisville after one year with the Hilltoppers finding his way back at the helm of another Power Five Conference team just two years after a major scandal.
Petrino has gone 17-9 in his first two seasons back with the Cardinals and athletic director Tom Jurich is laying down the cash to keep his winning coach. Reports have Petrino seeing a pay raise from $3 million in 2015 to $4.35 million per year over the duration of a seven-year deal.
Jurich commented on the deal stating, “I’m thrilled with the job that Bobby has done here, and it’s been great to have his wife Becky, their children and three grandchildren back in the city of Louisville.”
Critics and fans alike can raise various questions to the timing of the deal and if it was a wise decision on Jurich’s part. Petrino still had five years left on his previous seven-year deal that extended through the 2020 season. Some big jobs might be up at the end of the 2016 season, so hopefully Jurich padded the deal with a big buyout clause to help keep his nomadic head coach. The previous deal held a $10 million buyout stipulation.
On the scale of other coaches’ salaries based on last year’s numbers, Petrino was No. 32 in the nation at $3 million. His new contract would have placed him in between LSU head coach Les Miles ($4.388M) and Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze ($4.3M) who ended the 2015 season at No. 9 and No. 10 in the nation respectively. Louisville finished third in the ACC Atlantic Division behind Clemson and Florida State, two powerhouse teams he will have a very hard time toppling in the near future.
Photo credit: thecardinalconnect.com; Bobby Petrino on the Louisville sidelines.