Another Vehicle Accident Derails A Career

Bobby Petrino is expected to be fired from his position as head football coach at the University of Arkansas.  While the move is highly expected, there is a bit of a moral dilemma surrounding the case.

Before we delve into the moral of the situation, it is important to first explain the entire situation.  Petrino recently crashed his motorcycle while riding along with an Arkansas football employee, identified as Jessica Dorrell.  Although Petrino was not cited for any infractions as a result of the crash, he did not mention that Dorrell was involved in the crash to university officials.  Petrino, who is married with 4 kids, has also said that he had an affair with Dorrell.  New details have emerged, citing that Petrino paid Dorrell $20,000 under the table, which I am assuming is "hush money."

That being said, the issue at question is whether or not he should have been fired.  First of all, Petrino is not the first older gentleman in a position of power to have an affair with a younger subordinate (see Clinton, Bill etc.).  Although this is an extreme abomination considering he took the vows of marriage, I see no way, shape, or form that this prevents Petrino from performing his duties as head football coach.  Call me crazy but I feel that this ordeal will not impact the football program.  The issue is how Petrino represents the football program.  I can only imagine the creative chants that other schools would come up at games, in addition to the negative press that the university would receive for employing a known adulterer.  Given the lack of success of recent post affair apologies (see Woods, Tiger), I understand why the university would not want to deal with the media firestorm surrounding the situation.  Since he also picked Dorrell from a pool of 159 applicants, it's easy to speculate that she got the job because she was porking Petrino, pardon the pun.  Although I had previously stated that Petrino should keep his job, as new details emerge, it is impossible for me to defend Petrino anymore.  The lying and cash deal make the situation an absolute dumpster fire for Arkansas.  

It will be interesting to see how this affects the program this coming year.  Many people predicted Arkansas to have a shot at the national championship.  Will a new coaching staff who will implement a new program while learning about the players still have the same chance as success?  This will definitely be a situation that many will follow throughout the coming season.