The 2008 Draft

[Electric Falcon]

Looking forward as to who the Falcons are gonna get you have to take into consideration like it or not the current status of the Falcons.

I mean they are going to have to get one heck of Head Coach for players to even want to play or be drafted to play for our Falcons here.

What I am getting at is a QB like Brohm probably still has ties to Petrino and they probably speak from time to time for one thing, and I am sure that Petrino is telling him there is no way he would come to Atlanta if he were Brohm along with many louisville players coming outa the draft.

That being said the question I am asking is : "Do we boycott any players formerly coached coming outa the draft by Bobby Petrino from louisville???" Good or not, they do come with an influence that we are trying to rid ourselves of as Falcons Fans of. I'm sure they will look to Petrino for advice if they played for him for a while given the fact he was here for a short time.

I don't think you get any player from Louisville period, and that's sad, yeah the players they shouldn't be punished for having a former idiot coach but you have to consider their mentor and influence and who they seek out for advice.

This isn't just a QB question I am talking about any players from louisville, there is already another thread about QB's on here and I hope this one doesn't turn into that.

What do you think?

Do we boycott all louisville players in the draft and don't even consider them because of their "Bobby Petrino" influence????

[Demetrius Dew]

Louisville players will turn to Petrino for advice on the front office and other players and they will come in with bias towards certain veterans, if we draft any players from Louisville. I think we should not touch a Petrino coached player for at least 2 years.

[tkizzleATL]

freeze1st (12/13/2007)

---

Looking forward as to who the Falcons are gonna get you have to take into consideration like it or not the current status of the Falcons.

I mean they are going to have to get one heck of Head Coach for players to even want to play or be drafted to play for our Falcons here.

What I am getting at is a QB like Brohm probably still has ties to Petrino and they probably speak from time to time for one thing, and I am sure that Petrino is telling him there is no way he would come to Atlanta if he were Brohm along with many louisville players coming outa the draft.

That being said the question I am asking is : "Do we boycott any players formerly coached coming outa the draft by Bobby Petrino from louisville???" Good or not, they do come with an influence that we are trying to rid ourselves of as Falcons Fans of. I'm sure they will look to Petrino for advice if they played for him for a while given the fact he was here for a short time.

I don't think you get any player from Louisville period, and that's sad, yeah the players they shouldn't be punished for having a former idiot coach but you have to consider their mentor and influence and who they seek out for advice.

This isn't just a QB question I am talking about any players from louisville, there is already another thread about QB's on here and I hope this one doesn't turn into that.

What do you think?

Do we boycott all louisville players in the draft and don't even consider them because of their "Bobby Petrino" influence????

not like there are any players in louisvile that are good

[Electric Falcon]

Demetrius Dew (12/13/2007)

---

Louisville players will turn to Petrino for advice on the front office and other players and they will come in with bias towards certain veterans, if we draft any players from Louisville. I think we should not touch a Petrino coached player for at least 2 years.

Thanks for the info.! I agree! I'd like to hear more opinions though just to see what everybody else thinks about it.

Just think, we have to look at Arkansas players in 2009 that is if Petrino last all year for the Razorbacks also.

[MSalmon]

That being said the question I am asking is : "Do we boycott any players formerly coached coming outa the draft by Bobby Petrino from louisville???" Good or not, they do come with an influence that we are trying to rid ourselves of as Falcons Fans of. I'm sure they will look to Petrino for advice if they played for him for a while given the fact he was here for a short time.

I don't think you get any player from Louisville period, and that's sad, yeah the players they shouldn't be punished for having a former idiot coach but you have to consider their mentor and influence and who they seek out for advice.

This isn't just a QB question I am talking about any players from louisville, there is already another thread about QB's on here and I hope this one doesn't turn into that.

What do you think?

Do we boycott all louisville players in the draft and don't even consider them because of their "Bobby Petrino" influence????

---I think it is shortsighted and borderline idiotic to place any sort of blame for Petrino's actions upon a Louisville squad, who essentially got sh it upon by him just last year. After a 12-1 year, Petrino promptly signed a 10 yr. deal told all of Kentucky that he was a Cardinal man forever and secretly met w/ Blank and fled the roost. How many incoming freshman and returning seniors (Brohm included) felt betrayed? Just like our team does right now. The guy is a con man, and he's burning bridges left and right. And you better believe that the Louisville players and administration now believe he simply took the Falcons job to get out of Louisville and wait for any major college jobs. He had no intention to stay w/ either Louisville or the falcons. He was simply checking his bet, by signing long-term deals that allowed him to bolt when he got the JOB he wanted.

So no, you don't penalize either the Louisville players, or us (we could miss out on talent) by punishing them for their con-man ex boss.

BTW this past year at Louisville all types of cover-ups by Petrino came out and led to a team that had a horrible year.

[g6773a]

Petrino quit on those Louisville players the same way he quit on the Falcons. There was an interesting article by Pat Forde on Petrino. It talked about how every year Petrino was the Louisville coach, he flirted with other programs. I honestly think that most of his former would be unaffected by anything Petrino said. If I can find the Forde story, I will post it.

[g6773a]

here is the Forde article.

By Pat Forde

ESPN.com

In the coming days and weeks, the disingenuous drifter will say what Arkansas fans want to hear.

He'll look at them with blank shark eyes and tell them, in a monotone voice, how excited he is to be the coach of the Razorbacks. He will tell them how impressed he is by the tradition and the fan base. He will tell them that the Southeastern Conference is the place he always wanted to coach (and that might be the one true thing he'll say, given how many times he's tried to land a job in the league).

It will be a trumped-up stump speech, as sincere as a politician's pledge to cut taxes. It will simply be the latest pack of lies in a career full of them.

But it will be what Arkansas fans want to hear, and the poor saps will be desperate to believe him. During their arduous search to replace Houston Nutt, they've been used and abused by one-fourth of the coaches in the ACC -- first Butch Davis, then Tommy Bowden, then Jim Grobe. Auburn's Tommy Tuberville flirted for a minute as well.

So hiring a guy with a 41-9 college record will get the blood pumping. But those Arkansas fans ready to embrace their new hotshot coach and his pretty ball plays need to understand one thing:

Bobby Petrino gave Louisville fans plenty of reasons to smile by going 41-9 from 2003-06.

The disingenuous drifter doesn't love you or any other fan base. He doesn't love any school or any NFL franchise. He loves himself, his playbook and his bank account.

That's it. Don't expect it to change.

Bobby Petrino will return your embrace, Hog fans. But while he's hugging you he'll be looking over your shoulder, scanning the terrain for his next hook-up.

Even in a profession rife with dishonest posturing, Petrino is singularly mercenary. Loyalty, allegiance, commitment and honesty are foreign concepts to him. It must be a sad existence.

I apologize to Alabama's Nick Saban -- last year I named him president of the Liar's Club. He's been impeached and replaced by the disingenuous drifter.

Petrino's old boss at Louisville, Tom Jurich, took the high road when asked Tuesday night about the drifter's latest change of address.

"He's a great football coach," Jurich said, adding that he spoke to Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long about Petrino last week and "said nothing to discourage him" from hiring his old coach.

But Jurich did allow that he's "not totally surprised" Petrino would move on less than a year after leaving Louisville for a $24 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

"He's five for five," Jurich explained.

What he meant: this is the fifth straight year Bobby Petrino has tried to get another job. Every single season he's been a head coach, he's ended it by pursuing something else.

Follow the grease stain that is the disingenuous drifter's career path:

" In 2003, his first year as a head coach at the University of Louisville, Petrino went behind the back of his employer and his onetime boss, Tuberville, to negotiate a deal replacing him at Auburn. He held a clandestine meeting across the Ohio River from Louisville in southern Indiana with Auburn officials, two days before both the Tigers and Cardinals played their final regular-season games.

It was, by any rendering, a spectacular bit of philandering by both interested parties.

Petrino lied about having any contact with Auburn officials -- until two reporters for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal confronted him with documentation of the private plane that brought the university president and athletic director into Petrino's backyard. I was one of the two reporters. And even when faced with the evidence, Petrino resisted telling the truth until Auburn issued a statement owning up to the whole affair.

Boxed into a corner, Petrino asked forgiveness and chalked it up to the inexperience of a "young coach." Louisville forgave him because he was 9-3 and his offense blew up scoreboards.

It wouldn't be the last time Petrino toyed with the school's loyalties, or the last time he was forgiven for doing so.

" In 2004, Petrino interviewed for the Notre Dame job and had discussions with Florida and Mississippi about their jobs. Then, on Dec. 7, he pledged his loyalty to Louisville.

"I want to make it clear that I'm not interested in any other coaching jobs, and am happy at the University of Louisville," Petrino said. "& I'm very excited about our move into the Big East, the opportunity to play in a BCS bowl game and the chance to compete for a national championship. [school president] Dr. James Ramsey and Tom Jurich, through their hard work and dedication, have made this the best job in the country. As I've stated before, Louisville is the perfect place to raise a family and I plan for all four of my children to graduate from high school in Louisville."

On Dec. 21, Petrino signed an enhanced contract to stay with the Cardinals.

On Dec. 26 -- well before the Petrino children had graduated from high school -- he interviewed with LSU to replace Saban. On Jan. 1, 2005, when it became obvious that he'd lost out to Les Miles, Petrino pulled out of consideration.

On the inside, several Louisville administrators were disappointed they had to keep him. They were sick of the game -- but there was no firing a guy who just went 12-1.

Bobby Petrino lost more games (10) in a partial NFL season than he did in four full seasons as a college head coach.

" In 2005, Petrino interviewed with the Oakland Raiders. That's after telling people for years that he had no interest in coaching the pros -- college was where he wanted to be. He ultimately turned down the job and professed his commitment to the Cardinals again.

" On July 13, 2006, Petrino signed a 10-year contract worth up to $25 million -- a staggering deal for a school of Louisville's modest football heritage and fan base. The day he signed it, Petrino vowed again that Louisville was home. He made a point of insisting that a $1 million buyout provision be put into the contract, putting his money where his dissembling mouth is.

"We did want to make a statement," the disingenuous drifter said that day about the buyout. "& I wanted to make sure everyone understood -- I know I've said it -- that this is where I want to be, where my family wants to be. But I want everyone to really believe it."

Sure, he wanted everyone to believe it. Not because it was true, of course. Just because he was tired of answering questions about his wandering eye.

Five months later, he was gone to Atlanta.

Even this time around, there have been recent pronouncements of commitment to the task at hand and the people who write his checks.

On Nov. 26, Petrino told the Associated Press that he was staying in Atlanta. "I haven't given it [college coaching vacancies] one bit of thought," he said.

Shockingly, that didn't hold up, either.

Early in his career, Rick Pitino was famously called Larry Brown on training wheels. Petrino isn't Larry Brown on training wheels; he's Larry Brown in a Maserati.

The good news for Arkansas is that it might be the last school willing to give this guy anything more than what he deserves: a one-year contract and a monitoring device on his ankle. The NFL certainly will never give him another chance as a head coach, not after fleeing with three games left in the season and undercutting an owner like Arthur Blank. And every college in the country should know by now how fickle Petrino can be.

Even in what appears to be a major rebuilding year for the Hogs in 2008, I predict Petrino will do better than expected. He's that good as a coach -- for my money, the best offensive game-planner and tactician since Steve Spurrier's heyday at Florida. That will be a welcome dynamic at a school that struggled to diversify its offense beyond Darren McFadden and Felix Jones the past two years.

But a little success can be a dangerous thing. It might tempt some deluded and desperate school to offer Bobby Petrino a job -- and that's a temptation the disingenuous drifter is powerless to resist.

[capATL]

I was more concerned about drafting a Louisville player when Petrino was the coach. My fear was that we would draft Brohm because he knew the system and the coach was comfortable with him [like Spurrier got ex-Florida QBs in Washington--yeah, that worked out well].

Now if we draft Brohm, I will feel a whole lot more comfortable that he was the best fit/value for our team rather than him being Petrino's boy.

[cpm]

how about sean bailey?

[Carter]

I think it's ridiculous to think Louisville players have kept ties to him. Brian Brohm is likely the only player who keeps in touch with him simply because the Brohm family is so prominent in the UofL community and they formed a relationship with Petrino and his family. Brohm has been noted to have kept in communication with him and actually said that he was not surprised to see Petrino back in the college ranks already.

As for the other players, I don't think they respect him much. He lied to Amobi Okoye and told him that if he was available, he would be an Atlanta Falcon. Pick 8 comes, pick 8 goes, Amobi Okoye is playing in Houston. He told Brian Brohm that we were looking into moving up to take him and anyone with any sense knows that by moving up in this draft we would only be looking to secure Darren McFadden or Glenn Dorsey.

Point is, Petrino left Louisville much the way he left Atlanta... he just did it when their season was over. He told everyone that he was staying there, then bolted for Atlanta the same way he just bolted for Arkansas.

Players from Louisville that I consider prospects with potential in this draft.... Art Carmody, Brian Brohm, Gary Barnidge, and maybe Harry Douglas.

[Mr. Offseason]

Demetrius Dew (12/13/2007)

---

Louisville players will turn to Petrino for advice on the front office and other players and they will come in with bias towards certain veterans, if we draft any players from Louisville. I think we should not touch a Petrino coached player for at least 2 years.

what about art carmody?

doesnt seem like it would be a problem with him.

[turbo]

I would still take brohm.Its not fair to hold a college player responcible for his ex-coaches actions!