Steve Spurrier reacts to Sam Pittman firing, interim tag for Bobby Petrino

Like many college football fans around the country, Steve Spurrier was at a loss for words to see Bobby Petrino as the acting head coach at Arkansas. The Razorbacks made the announcement Sunday that Petrino would take over in the interim for the remainder of 2025 after they fired Sam Pittman.

It’s common for a coordinator to adopt the interim tag when a coach is fired midseason, but Petrino’s history with the program makes this situation feel a bit unbelieveable. Nevertheless, it is reality and Spurrier gave his thoughts on the move.

“They named Petrino the coach,” he said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “He’s already fired almost all the defensive guys. We’ll see how that turns out.”

Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson in the latest moves after being appointed interim coach. It seems that he is hoping to prove himself by turning things around this season and potentially keep the job past 2025.

He’ll have a lot of work to do, as Arkansas is coming off of three straight losses. That includes a 56-13 blowout against Notre Dame last week that perhaps explains the recent defensive changes.

Even if the Razorbacks do find some semblence of success, there is a strange air around the whole thing given Petrino’s past. He was the coach at Arkansas from 2008-11 before infamously being let go after it was discovered he was having an affair with a former Razorbacks volleyball player Jessica Dorrell, whom he had also hired to work for him.

The affair was discovered after Petrino got into a motorcycle accident and it later came out that Dorrell had been with him. This resulted in the coach later showing up to a press conference to discuss the incident wearing a neck brace, a now iconic image in the college football world.

That’s why it was so shocking to many when Petrino was offered the offensive coordinator job in 2024. Now it seems like there is a legitmate possibility he could land the head coach job again after athletic director Hunter Yurachek said Petrino will “have that opportunity.”

Petrino was successful on the field during his previous tenure in Fayetteville, going 34-17. That included back-to-back double digit win seasons in 2010 and 2011, his final two years at the helm.

Arkansas has shown it is willing to put the past behind it when it comes to Petrino for this season. We’ll have to wait and see how the coaching search plays out, but it’s certainly one of the more interesting storylines of the current moment.