Bobby Petrino reveals how he feels about coaching rumors surrounding Arkansas amid his candidacy

It’s been a season to forget for the Arkansas Razorbacks, which opened the season with two wins but has now dropped nine consecutive games following Saturday’s 52-37 loss to No. 17 Texas. Head coach Sam Pittman was let go following the program’s 56-13 loss to Notre Dame on Sept. 27, which promoted offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to interim head coach.

As interim head coach, Petrino has led the Hogs to an 0-6 record. Four of the six losses have come by a field goal or less, although Saturday’s game was a complete blowout. This marks Petrino’s second stint as the lead man for Arkansas, as he was previously in the role from 2008-2011 (34-17 record).

During a media opportunity on Monday, Petrino was asked about focusing on coaching while rumors of a new head coach swirled around the program. He has previously let administration know that he’d like to be considered for the full-time head coaching role, but that doesn’t appear to have any steam.

Petrino says taking over Arkansas mid-season has been ‘difficult’

“I haven’t thought about it,” Petrino responded. “I’m just trying to work on making sure we finish this thing right for the players and assistant coaches.

“It’s been difficult, I can’t say (assuming head coaching duties mid-season) hasn’t been difficult. There’s a staff that was already in place. There’s guys already in the building that you didn’t hire. You’re trying to make it so everybody has a good experience. You’re trying to go out on the field and compete and find ways to win.

“We haven’t been able to do that, but we’ve gotten very close a number of times and just didn’t follow through with it. So it hasn’t been like the funnest thing I’ve ever done in my life, I can tell you that. But, you know, we just tried to make it about the players and encouraging them to do well.”

Arkansas closes out its regular season on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Missouri. If the Hogs fail to steal a win in CoMo, they will finish without a win in SEC play for the fourth time since 2013. For a once proud program, the past decade-plus for Arkansas football has been extremely shaky. It will take a strong hire — whether it’s North Texas‘ Eric Morris, Memphis‘ Ryan Silverfield, USF‘s Alex Golesh, or somebody else — to turn the tide on some rough football in Fayetteville.