Report: Paul Petrino to leave Arkansas for Illinois, similar position
Paul Petrino, Arkansas offensive coordinator, is seen at a scrimmage at Willard & Pat Walker Pavilion.
Originally published December 13, 2009 at 4:06 p.m., updated December 13, 2009 at 5:15 p.m.
Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino is expected to accept a job as the offensive coordinator at Illinois, according to a report Sunday.
Petrino, the brother of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino, has served as the offensive coordinator at Arkansas for the last two seasons. News of his expected departure was reported by The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill.
Petrino, who also serves as the Razorbacks' receivers coach, helped lead an offense ranked near the top of several national categories. Going into the postseason, the Razorbacks have the eighth-best scoring offense and is 14th in total offense and 10th in passing offense nationally.
Petrino interviewed for the head coaching job at Western Kentucky in November but removed his name from consideration.
Illinois Coach Ron Zook fired four assistants Friday after a 3-9 season. Among them was offensive coordinator Mike Schultz, who departed after one season on the job. Zook also demoted his co-defensive coordinators to positional duties on the staff.
Zook reportedly received an emergency waiver from the University of Illinois' human resources department to move forward with hiring replacements as early as this week.
Stay with WholeHogSports.com and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.
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RazorRandy says...
Paul, all the best wishes and thanks for everything you've done for THE program. I'll root for you, unless you play us....Game On!
December 13, 2009 at 10:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cajunhog says...
I hate to see P.PETRINO leave the U of A. I am sure if he wants to be a head coach of a major program one day he needs to seperate himself from his brother & make his own name out of the shadows of Bobby P. Best of luck to you Paul, you will do well.
December 14, 2009 at 4:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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