Battered coach ‘very fortunate’

FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Petrino demands toughness from his football players.

The Arkansas Razorbacks coach showed some of his own Tuesday.

Two days after being thrown from his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in a wreck, and less than five hours after being released from the hospital, Petrino talked to members of the media for 10 minutes and then watched his team’s practice from the press box at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Sporting a neck brace, significant bruising on his face and a busted lip, Petrino managed to smile on occasion while telling a packed room of reporters about his accident.

“I am very fortunate and feel very lucky to be here,” said Petrino, who was released from Physicians Specialty Hospital in Fayetteville at about 11:30 a.m., roughly 40 hours after his arrival Sunday evening.

Petrino, 51, said he sustained four broken ribs in his upper chest and a chipped or broken C2 vertebrae, which is the second bone in the upper neck. He said he remains on pain medication and will be in the neck brace for a week or two, but he intends to get to work early today to get back in the spring football groove.

Asked if he felt like himself, the fifth-year Arkansas coach flashed a bit of humor.

“Yeah, I don’t think I have any brain damage,” he said. “That’s yet to be seen. If I start not punting at all in the games or something, then we have a problem. I feel great, though. I feel alert.”

Petrino said he had consumed no alcohol Sunday and was not wearing a helmet when his motorcycle went off the road in a turn on Arkansas 16 near Crosses, about 23 miles southeast of Fayetteville.

Petrino said he spent much of the day working at Beaver Lake with his wife, Becky, and actually debated wearing a helmet before going on one of his occasional rides.

“It’s something that really puts a scare in you,” he said. “I can’t say I am not going to ride a motorcycle again because I might do that.

“The ironic thing is that we are sitting there in the kitchen, Becky and I, and I have two helmets out. And I say, ‘This one is really going to be heavy and hot and this one makes me look like a conehead. I think I’ll just go with the hat.’ ” Several players and others associated with the team weren’t surprised to see Petrino return so quickly.

“I would not question his toughness,” Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said. “And I’m sure his players don’t either.”

Said tailback Knile Davis: “That shows how tough he is, and he expects that from us.”

Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said he wasn’t surprised at all to see his brother back at the Broyles Center less than 44 hours after the wreck.

“He’s a Petrino. Tough,” he said. “I never had a doubt he was going to be here. Most people wouldn’t have been, but there was never any doubt he would be here.”

Weber State Coach John L. Smith, who had Petrino on his staffs at Idaho, Utah State and Louisville and then worked for him the past three years at Arkansas, sent his best wishes to Petrino.

“I don’t see this having any effect on him at all,” Smith said. “He’ll bounce back right away. That’s the way he was raised. He was raised as a tough guy by a tough guy, and that’s what he is — a tough guy.

“He was raised in Montana. If the horse throws you to the ground, you get back up. You don’t stay on the ground.”

Petrino said his recollection of the accident was a bit murky, though he remembers turning northwest around a curve and thinking the sun would be in his eyes for the rest of the ride when a gust of wind kicked up.

“Then it got to the point where I was not going to be able to maneuver the turn,” he said. “It seemed like 15 seconds where I said, ‘Oh, no,’ and I went into the ditch. Right as I came off the pavement, I remember hitting the brakes and trying to lower the bike and lay the bike down and take a little leap.”

Petrino said he didn’t recall losing consciousness but that as he got to his feet in the ditch, he had trouble seeing.

“I was definitely dinged a little bit,” he said.

Petrino said as he came out of the ditch, a woman had flagged down a car and a man in the passenger seat told Petrino to hop in and they would take him to the hospital. He said he got the indication the three people in the car, who have not been identified, did not know who he was.

Petrino said his first phone call was to team surgeon Dr. Chris Arnold, who arranged to have a team of physicians ready to work on him upon his arrival. State trooper Lance King, who has a security detail with the football team, met the vehicle Petrino was riding in somewhere along the route and transported him the rest of the way to the hospital.

Long was at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament in New Orleans when he received a call regarding the wreck at about 1 a.m. Monday. Long said his advice to Petrino was to make sure he felt OK before returning to work.

“Obviously he’s strong, and I guarantee you that he’s masking a lot of the pain that he’s in here,” Long said moments after Tuesday’s news conference. “He wanted to be part of the team. He wanted to talk to the team today, and I admire him for it.”

Petrino said he was able to get permission from doctors to attend Tuesday’s practice and that he would meet with them afterward.

“I love coaching and I love watching us practice,” Petrino said. “I want to see our players improve.”

Petrino said Sunday’s wreck was his first such spill on a big bike and that he constantly talks to his team about exercising caution on motorcycles and the motor scooters that are popular among football players.

Petrino said he normally rides to Elkins High School and then turns around and heads back for Fayetteville, but he extended the trip Sunday.

Petrino had some simple advice for fellow motorcycle enthusiasts.

“I think you really have to know what you’re doing, really know the way of the bike,” he said. “I thought I did but obviously made a mistake when I was driving. I will wear a helmet from now on.”