Illini coach Petrino leaves for Arkansas
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois offensive coordinator Paul Petrino is returning to Arkansas to coach with his brother.
Petrino will serve as the Razorbacks’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, the schools announced Tuesday. He will replace Garrick McGee, who has been hired as the head coach at Alabama-Birmingham.
Petrino has held the job before, working for his brother and head coach Bobby Petrino, before coming to Illinois after the 2009 season.
“I am extremely thrilled to have Paul become a member of our staff again,” Bobby Petrino said in a prepared statement. “Paul has had several options with high level programs the past few days and I’m excited he made the decision to rejoin our program.”
Two years ago, Petrino led an Illini offense that broke school records for total points (423) and points per game (32.54) behind running back Mikel Leshoure, who broke the single-season school rushing record with 1,697 yards. A year earlier at Arkansas, the Razorbacks averaged 37 points per game behind quarterback Ryan Mallet.
Petrino coached at Louisville from 2003-06 and in 2007 with the Atlanta Falcons.
His departure was the first at Illinois since head coach Ron Zook was fired and likely not the last.
Interim Illini coach Vic Koenning said that “a few” assistant coaches have landed or are close to getting new jobs but have indicated they plan to stay through the Dec. 31 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between Illinois against UCLA.
Koenning called Petrino a good friend and a great coach.
“He just happened to be the one that had the first opportunity (to leave),” Koenning said. “He’s going to be the first guy, he won’t be the last guy.”
Koenning, the team’s defensive coordinator, said earlier this week that he couldn’t guarantee that even he would be at Illinois for the bowl game. Quarterbacks coach Jeff Brohm was picked to coordinate the offense for the bowl game and said he at least plans to be at Illinois until then. He spent a year as offensive coordinator at Louisville and said he’s comfortable moving into the role.
“I’ve been in the offense a long time and called plays before,” he said. “I think it’s just a matter of getting back in a rhythm and find a way to get the ball to our best guys.”
Some fans talked about Paul Petrino as an eventual replacement for Zook, and Illinois’ offense opened 2011 strong, too, scoring almost 35 a game in a 6-0 start. But that production has wilted to just 11 points a game during the team’s current six-game losing streak
Petrino and Koenning were hired to help Zook resurrect the team after 2009’s three-win season, a collapse that led the school to fire most of Zook’s then-staff.
Illinois has not named a replacement for Zook or said when it will. A university-mandated period for posting the job and accepting applications was scheduled to end Tuesday evening.