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Against The Grain by: Andy Sullivan

Monday morning, just three days after Willie Taggart hopped a flight to South Florida to run with the Bulls, Western Kentucky hired former Louisville and Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino.  If you follow my blog, or just live in the area, you probably already know that.  Athletic Director Todd Stewart texted Petrino mere hours after Taggart bolted for the Bulls.
A contract was discussed on Saturday and Petrino flew to Bowling Green Sunday, with the hire coming on Monday.  Even Stewart was surprised at the speed of the deal.  If there is still anyone who doesn’t know Bobby Petrino, here are some stats.  He was Louisville head coach from ’03-’06, after some ill-fated time with the Atlanta Falcons, he returned to college at Arkansas from ’08-’11.  His record in that time is a sterling 75-26.  He won the Orange Bowl in 2006 and took the Razorbacks to the Cotton Bowl in January of 2012.  At season’s end, they’d compiled an 11-2 record. 
“We need to consistently-every year-go to a bowl game”.  He cited Boise State as to what Western can do.  I agree with that assessment.  Regardless of your personal feelings towards Petrino’s past transgressions (and that is the drawback), there’s no denying that the man wins football games.  That is something that, quite frankly, WKU did not do a lot of under Willie Taggart, at least up until this bowl year.  He at least left Western in the Little Caesar’s Bowl-December 26 at 7:30 on ESPN.  The hire of Petrino, however, has folks dreaming of much bigger and better things.  By the way, Petrino will not coach the bowl game.
At 4 years-$850,000 each year, an extra $250,000 if named Coach of the Year, $10,000 per semester if team posts g.p.a of 3.0 or higher, and $300,000 if the Tops reach a BCS bowl game, let’s hope he produces.  Let’s hope that he stays his allotted four years.  At least none of his former teams were put on probation because of him.  As long as he wins and keeps his nose clean, we’re good.  Alright, I smiled knowingly when I typed “keeps his nose clean”.  After all, it IS college football.
Hello, my name is Andy Sullivan. I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in May 2009. I began writing for Beech Tree News in July 2009.  I enjoy playing guitar, the occasional Wii game, writing, and listening to music. I write a sports blog that can be found at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com
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