Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels Make Big Splash with OC Hire

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After weeks of speculation that Bobby Petrino was going to be the Tar Heels next offensive coordinator, the football program made his hire official on Friday afternoon.

Petrino comes to Chapel Hill from his second stint with the Arkansas Razorbacks where he started as the offensive coordinator before taking over as the interim head coach this season. Last year, as the offensive coordinator, the Razorbacks averaged 30.9 points, 459.5 yards of total offense, 274.7 passing yards and 184.8 rushing yards for a team that would finish the season 7-6. This year didn’t go nearly as smoothly for the Razorbacks, as they finished 2-10, but the offense was still a strength of the team under the direction of Petrino. The Razorbacks averaged 454.8 yards of total offense, 262.9 yards passing and 191.9 yards rushing per game for a group that averaged 32.9 points per game.

Prior to his time at Arkansas, Petrino was the Texas A&M offensive coordinator for one season under Jimbo Fisher. Once again, he was a part of the staff where the team fired their head coach, but his offense was far from the reason why. The Aggies averaged 406.9 yards of total offense, 270.8 yards passing and 136.2 yards rushing for an offense that averaged 33.3 points per game despite having to rotate through four different quarterbacks.

Before that, Petrino was a head coach in four different destinations, starting with Louisville back in 2003-06. He posted a 41-9 record with the Cardinals before he took the head coaching gig with the Atlanta Falcons for the 2007 season. Following a 3-10 start, Petrino would resign his position to take the head coaching job with Arkansas where he would spend the next four seasons.

In his four years with the Razorbacks, he would compile a 34-17 record, improving every season that he was on the job and boasting one of the nation’s better offenses during that time. Petrino was heavily credited for the success and development of guys like the late Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson, Joe Adams, Cobi Hamilton and Jarius Wright.

On April 1st, 2012, Petrino was involved in a motorcycle accident with a former Arkansas volleyball player, Jessica Dorrell, on the back of his bike. Just nine days later, it was announced by athletic director Jeff Long that Petrino had been fired following an investigation into the relationship between him and Dorrell.

After sitting out the 2012 season and issuing many public apologies, Petrino would land the head coaching gig with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in December of 2012. In his lone season with the team, he would put together an 8-4 season.

That offseason, he would get a second stint with the Louisville Cardinals as a head coach and would spend the next five years with the program, posting a 36-26 record. The highlight of this tenure was the development of Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and one of the top offenses in the two seasons with Jackson as the full-time starter. Following Jackson’s departure after the 2017 season, things would take a turn for the worst, as the Cardinals would start the next season 2-8, leading to the firing of Petrino after reportedly losing the locker room.

Petrino would get one last head coaching opportunity with the Missouri State Bears at the FCS level and would post an 18-15 record with the team before he took a job as the UNLV offensive coordinator, a job he would hold for 21 days before he would take the Texas A&M offensive coordinator gig.

This was the type of hire that the Tar Heels needed to make at offensive coordinator and it’s a relief that it is now finally official. The hope is that Petrino, who has already reunited with some of his former players, will be able to find enough talent to help the offense find the type of success that it lacked this season.