By Aaron Smith
Dear Bobby,
First let me apologize for not writing this sooner – in fact I have been meaning to write this to you since April 26, 2008 when the Atlanta Falcons took me with the #3 pick in the draft.
I wanted to ask you what you thought about Atlanta? Why did you leave after thirteen games in 2007? I’m kinda afraid of the answer.
Dude, what happened?
Was it the Michael Vick fiasco?
Did you miss college football that much?
Do you know guys still make fun of you for leaving during the season, right?
Were you worried that you were going to get a rookie quarterback? Wait, that would have been me. I understand dude – truly I understand.
Did you know that in my redshirt freshman year and then my sophomore year.. Ha, ha, ha… Sorry, I can’t help myself. Writing sophomore, I can hear Keith Jackson saying, ” He is a All-American soph-o-more”… Ah, I miss Keith Jackson- before I started playing at Boston College, I loved watching games when he was announcing.. And now the Gatorade commercials – Sorry, I am kinda getting off the subject.
Well, in both of those years, I kept losing my starting job to Quinton Porter. Yeah – it wasn’t until my sophomore year that Coach Tom Ryan made me the starter. Can you imagine having to fight for your starting job against a guy named Quinton?? I am kidding of course.
But getting back to you – was it the fact that you lost 10 of your first 13 games at Atlanta? I mean you had a lot of success with Louisville in the 4 years you were there going 41-9 – man, that is impressive. Did you think it was going to be easy?
Did you know that we went 11-5 this year? The new coach Mike Smith was awesome – he really believed in me and the guys. Yeah, most people didn’t expect us to do well – in fact I think most people were expecting us to win 3 or 4 games. But owner Arthur Blank and GM Thomas Dimitroff really had his back. They signed my main man Turner from San Diego and he just about led the league in rushing yards.
Did you think that maybe Arthur Blank didn’t have your back? I can understand that when you were left with Joey Harrington as your quarterback, but Michael was sentenced to 23 months in jail. What was he gonna do? Just pull a QB out of his hat? But did you look at life without Michael Vick and start to cry?
I think Rick Pitino did the same thing in Boston when he didn’t get Tim Duncan.
In fact I almost left after my junior year when Coach Ryan left. But Coach Jagodzinski got me to stay for my last year. Plus, I felt I needed to stand for committment and integrity. You know of those things, right? Personally I would have been asking myself what I did wrong if I had to have Joey as my starting QB for an entire year – but maybe that wasn’t it.
Anywho, so how are things going at Arkansas? You guys had a little bit of a rough 2008 season going 5-7. I saw that Alabama dropped 42 on you, and then Texas put up a 50 spot on you the following week. That must have been frustrating -almost as frustrating as having a running back rush for 4 touchdowns on you.
M.T. – that is what I call him – rushed for 4 against the Carolina Panthers. Man, he makes my job so much easier. But you even lost to South Carolina.. Wow even Steve Spurrier got the best of you.. but oh yeah, you did beat LSU. But then again, who hasn’t right?
Well coach, I gotta get going. I have a couple of trophies to dust off, starting with my Rookie of Year award. Plus, I have to make some travel arrangements as I have to go to Honolulu for the All-Pro game. But I do have one more question – when you convince guys to come play at Arkansas – do you talk about commitment and the willingness to build a winning program? Just wondering, because if you do – how do you do it with a straight face?
Best of luck,
Matt Ryan
****** This letter is strictly ficticious************
The thing about Petrino is the guy can’t sit still. He spent four years at Louisville which on the surface looks okay. But at the end of every season he interviewed somewhere. The guy even secretly interviewed for the head position at Auburn while his old boss Tommy Tubberville still had the job – talk about treachery. Wow! This guy has it down pat. In light of his recent struggles in Arkansas Bobby P. might have to stay put for a while.
Matt – you might be lucky you didn’t have to deal with Petrino.
Two things Pa always taught me were honesty and loyalty. He said speak the truth and be truthful and at the end of the day you can look yourself in the mirror and know you done right. Of course he then added honesty and loyalty also get you some of Aunt Bea’s pie after dinner.
All of us down here in Commodore country sure were bummed when we didn’t get a chance to put a pastin’ on Bobby P. and his suhhhhhhhhhweeeeeet pigs.
We’ll get ’em next season.
Yipee aye ohhhhhh!!
Yipeee aye ehhhhhh!
Yipeee aye ohhhhhh!!!
It’s the Commodore wayyyy!!!!..
Lots of rumblings that Jon Gruden will become ND’s coach to replace Charlie Weis. Pretty sure they’re just flat out rumors and BS cast around by other colleges trying to dissuade ND’s recruits. I’m almost positive Weis will continue to be the head coach unless the Irish fail to win at least 9 regular season games in ’09. He’s already replaced half of his assistant coaches since the end of the season … probably part of his agreement with new AD Jack Swarbrick to keep his job. Hope it makes a difference.
I’m trying to figure out the difference between Petrino and the situation at Boston College with now deposed coach, Jeff Jagodzinski. I know it seems like BC made a drastic move by firing the coach after he interviewed, but they really sent a message to all the Bobby Petrinoes of the world: forget about applying if you are going to use our program as a stepping stone.
I really hate this era in coaching where the grass is always greener elsewhere. Coaches like Jagodzinski and Petrino are reprehensible, but so are the owners and GMs looking for a quick fix. I heard today that a quarter of the NBA coaches have already been fired this season. What the heck does that say about your hiring tactics? You think a guy is that bad that you want to can him before the halfway point? And when did having a bad seson suddenly become grounds for firing. Jerry Sloan has missed the playoffs in his tenure. Teams will have down years, but it’s how you think the guy you hired will rebuild from that that matters. There’s no identities to these organizations anymore. Sparano, Smith, and Whittinghouse (Cardinals coach?) are beloved now, but guess what happens to them in three years if they suddenly post a 5-11 season.
I think these college guys miss the control of recruiting. They can’t get the guys they want or do any type of courting to get them in professional sports. Perhaps Petrino hated that. Still, if you sign your name to something, take the challenge and finish out.