Rumor Mill: Will Bobby Petrino end up with a job in Arkansas after all?

The answer to the question may just be a ‘yes’, but should it happen it won’t be with any team you are thinking of.

By now, most college football fans have heard about the shocker Petrino’s old bosses pulled off in bringing Bret Bielema in from his cushy job at Wisconsin, so there is no chance Petrino heads back to Fayetteville.

However, there is another school in the state, one who just so happens to be playing at a championship-caliber level and one who just so happens to be in the market for a new head coach.

Now that Gus Malzahn has returned to Auburn as the head man after holding the program’s offensive coordinator duties from 2009-2011, Arkansas State needs to find themselves a new coach.

In his one season in charge, Malzahn led the Red Wolves to a 9-3 record and a Sun Belt title.

Yes I said it, and no I’m not making it up. Bobby Petrino HAS contacted #ArkSt with interest in their job.

— Luke Matheson (@LukeMatheson)

Petrino and Malzahn share the same agent, so such a move by Petrino may really happen. Heck, if a man who took the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs (which is not any easier than parting the Red Sea) in Butch Davis was forced to contact the Florida International athletic department, then Petrino very understandably could make the move to the Sun Belt.

Obviously, he had been hoping to get back into the SEC with four jobs within the conference available. However, Kentucky found one of the nation’s top defensive coordinators in Mark Stoops to head up its program. After Bielema and Malzahn were brought aboard, respectively, the only remaining vacancy was at Tennessee.

After a flailing coaching search resulted in several rejections, the folks in Knoxville finally found their man in Cincinnati’s Butch Jones.

Hey, Arkansas State’s not so bad. There are probably lots of totally empty dirt roads to go motorcycling on. And there’s a women’s volleyball team, of course.

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