Do or Do Not.

Wow, Bobby Petrino, way to see a commitment through.  You just made Nick Saban look like Tom Landry.  Way to go.

Petrino quit as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons after a thirteen-game stint which featured as many starting quarterbacks as it did wins (three of each).   He’s ditching the Falcons to take the head coaching gig at the University of Arkansas, which might actually be a step up in prestige — even if he’s taking a million-dollars-a-year pay cut.  (Let that number sink into your head for a minute.)

The man’s got the right to change his mind, of course; from all accounts, he simply wasn’t a good fit for the NFL.  He wanted to be able to treat his players in the same dictatorial fashion he did at Louisville, but it turns out that treatment doesn’t work out quite as well with multi-millionaire 28-year-olds as it does with 18-year-olds.  My main gripe with his decision was that he should have known before he took the job that the pro game works differently than the college game and that the players have more power — hell, he could have called Saban and asked him about his aborted two-year experiment as the Miami Dolphins head coach.  Or called Steve Spurrier or Dennis Erickson or Pete Carroll or any number of coaches who’ve gone back to the college ranks after terms in the pros.

I feel bad for Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who seems to be a good guy who truly wants to put a winning — and high-character — team on the field.  He keeps getting burned by people he trusts to make that happen:  he gives Michael Vick the largest contract in NFL history, and Vick decides to spend that cash on finding new ways to execute dogs, lies to the feds and gets himself sent to federal prison; he gives Jim Mora Jr. his first opportunity to be a head coach, and after taking the Falcons to the NFC title game, Mora openly lusts for the University of Washington coaching job in a radio interview; he gives Petrino his shot as an NFL head coach, and he leaves town even before his rookie season is finished.

Hey, Arthur, here’s an idea I’m sure has already been floated there at Falcons headquarters in Flowery Branch:  Atlanta’s not too far from Raleigh.  Maybe you can convince Bill Cowher to make the relatively short commute…?