What Bobby Petrino said about his Arkansas defensive staff changes

Bobby Petrino made the moves he made on Monday, firing three Arkansas defensive coaches, because he believed that’s what was best for the Razorbacks moving forward. 

“Whenever you make a decision, you base it off of, No. 1, what’s best for the team,” Petrino said on Monday, “and No. 2, what’s best for the individual players.”

Arkansas fired head coach Sam Pittman on Sunday, following a third straight loss in a 56-13 home blowout to Notre Dame, and promoted Petrino to interim head coach. Petrino on Monday then fired defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and co-defensive coordinator Marcus Woodson. 

“I felt it was in our best interest to do what we did this morning for our players to improve individually,” Petrino said, “get a little bit more motivated, and I think it will help our team overall get out on the field and compete and find ways to win the game.”

Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee vs. Arkansas, October 11

Arkansas promoted assistant defensive line coach Chris Wilson to defensive coordinator and running backs coach Kolby Smith as offensive coordinator. Petrino will continue calling plays from the sideline as interim head coach.

Arkansas (2-3, 0-1 SEC) is on a bye week this week, before going to No. 15 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1) next Saturday (4:15 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network).

Petrino said on Monday that he’s considering additions to the Arkansas staff after making the three firings. 

“We think there’s a possibility that we might need to add somebody to the staff for one of the positions,” he said. “We’re looking into that and certainly going to move as quick as we possibly can, but you want to make sure it’s the right person.”

For now, it’s back to the basics on defense. In the 56-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Arkansas gave up 42 points and 420 total yards in the first half. A week earlier the Razorbacks gave up a 28-10 lead in the first half in the 32-31 loss at Memphis.

“We’re looking right now at really finding out what our base defense is going to be from here on,” Petrino said, “and then build the package out of that and simplify a little bit. If we simplify and play faster and full-speed, then we’ll have a better opportunity to stop people.”

‘We’ve just got to get together and become one’

Arkansas started the season with a 52-7 win over Alabama A&M and a 56-14 win over Arkansas State. The Razorbacks lost 41-35 at Ole Miss on September 13, starting the losing streak that cost Pittman his job. 

“We’ve all got to learn that there’s change and there’s things that happen,” Petrino said. “I think in football, you have to always talk about courage and being courageous. And I think that’s part of what we have to do now as a team is understand that we all have to take the arrow in the forehead. 

“We didn’t win Saturday. We didn’t perform like we needed to offensively. We didn’t do it defensively. Didn’t come up with any big plays on special teams. So it’s all of us, and we’ve just got to get together and become one.”