Fans rally behind Petrino
A group of Arkansas football fans rallied in support of embattled coach Bobby Petrino on the university campus Monday, hours after a memo released by the Arkansas State Police revealed that the trooper assigned to protect Petrino on the sidelines said he took a call from an unidentified woman to come and get the injured coach after his April 1 motorcycle crash.
Arkansas State Police Capt. Lance King also said in the memo that he called Petrino shortly before the release of the police report that led to the coach being placed on leave.
The fans’ group, which calls itself “Team Save Coach Petrino,” gathered in support of the coach as athletics director Jeff Long continued to review Petrino’s status. Long has not said he has a timetable for reaching a decision on Petrino’s future.
Petrino was put on paid leave Thursday after the married 51year-old father of four admitted that he failed to disclose he had been riding with a female employee half his age when his motorcycle skidded off a road.
The state police said King didn’t violate police policy or state law.
King said he had called Petrino on April 1 to check on him after another trooper told him Petrino’s motorcycle had been involved in a crash.
“This message said, ‘I don’t even know if this is your number anymore, but your motorcycle has been involved in an accident and I wanted to call and check on you,’ ” King said in the memo.
Minutes later, King said, an unidentified woman called him back and said Petrino had been in an accident. She asked King if he could meet them in a parking lot and take Petrino to the hospital. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the unidentified woman was Jessica Dorrell, the 25-year-old employee who was riding with Petrino, or someone else.
When asked about the wom- an’s identity, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said, “All I know is he stated it was an unknown female.”
As King and Petrino were pulling into the hospital parking lot, King said, the coach received a call from his wife, Becky. Petrino, in severe pain, handed the phone to King, who told Becky Petrino about the accident.
The Monday rally, promoted on a Facebook group where 15,000 people joined, drew about 200 people. Matt Couch, one of the organizers, said the group would probably not have gathered if Petrino had not gone 11-2 last season. “We’re not condoning what he did morally,” Couch said. “We are disappointed in him, but he’s still our football coach, and no one’s perfect.”
Briefly: Georgia State accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference in all sports beginning in the 2013-14 school year. The Panthers have been in the Colonial Athletic Association since 2005. GSU will play its first Sun Belt schedule in football on a transition basis and be eligible for the postseason and conference title in 2014. . . . Blair Kiel, former Notre Dame and NFL punter and quarterback, died Sunday in Columbus, Ind., at 50. Coroner Allen Smith said an autopsy had been performed and that he was waiting on toxicology results and tissue samples to determine the cause of death. Kiel is an uncle of Gunner Kiel, a freshman quarterback at Notre Dame.