L’ville fires Petrino after ugly 2-8 start

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s seven-game skid was bad enough. Worse were the large margins of defeat and opponents’ apparent ease in lighting up the scoreboard.

That combination spelled the end of coach Bobby Petrino’s second chapter with the Cardinals.

Louisville fired Petrino Sunday morning with two games left in a spiraling season that includes five blowout losses in which the Cardinals allowed at least 50 points.

Athletic director Vince Tyra said at a news conference he considered a number of factors in Petrino’s status, but noted that the three games since Louisville’s bye showed no progress.

“It was clear the players weren’t responding,” he said. “The coaches’ and the players’ efforts have to go in the right direction, but I didn’t feel it was going that way.”

Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, a former Louisville quarterback who later became an assistant under Petrino, has frequently been mentioned as the top candidate to replace him.

For now, second-year safeties coach Lorenzo Ward, 51, would coach Louisville on an interim basis.

Also let go were quarterbacks coach Nick Petrino, the coach’s son; linebackers coach Ryan Beard and defensive line coach L.D. Scott, Petrino’s sons-in-law; and fifthyear director of football operations Andy Wagner.

Louisville (2-8) lost 54-23 at No. 12 Syracuse on Friday night, dropping to 0-7 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Petrino, 57, departs with a 77-35 mark in two stints with Louisville, including 36-26 since returning in 2014. His exit will be expensive for Louisville, which owes him $14 million under terms of his contract extension signed in April 2016. Tyra said Petrino would receive the full buyout.

The school was left with little choice but to release Petrino with Louisville struggling and sections of empty seats at Cardinal Stadium recently after opening a new north end section in a $63 million renovation project.