Business Decision (Opinion)

College football is a business.

It’s been written, said and spoken so many times over the years we’ve come to accept it unflinchingly. When University of Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long fired football coach Bobby Petrino following just the latest Razorback-related scandal, though, many praised him for looking beyond dollars and cents.

Long no doubt deserved the kudos. He did the right thing, national championship dreams be damned. Firing Petrino took courage, conviction and character, all of which seemed to be in short supply in the coach himself.

 Aside from the hit the Hogs stand to take by not having Petrino on the sidelines, much also has been made of the financial impact the coach’s departure will have on the program. According to a Forbes report in December, the UA ranks as the eighth most valuable football program in the country. Forbes valued Arkansas’ program at $89 million, a whopping, two-year increase of 59 percent.

There’s no denying the fact the on-field success of Petrino’s teams made much of that possible. People love a winner, and will pay dearly to support one.

As a leader, though, Petrino was doomed to fail, and we’re not just talking about his being 0 for Alabama. At some point during this whole mess, we were reminded of a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review. The aim of the study was to identify 10 fatal flaws that derail leaders.

Not surprisingly, Petrino avoided a lot of them. He did not lack energy and enthusiasm, didn’t accept his own mediocre performance, resist new ideas, fail to collaborate or fail to develop others. Petrino certainly didn’t lack a clear vision and direction.

What Petrino did lack, though, were interpersonal skills. He also showed poor judgment and didn’t learn from mistakes, namely a failure to tell the truth.

Above all, though, Petrino didn’t walk the talk. He set standards and expectations of behavior, only to violate them.

Add all of those up, and Petrino’s winning percentage as a leader was .600. In the end, Long decided that wasn’t high enough for Arkansas.

We think it was a good decision, business and otherwise.