Who’s the bigger rat – Bobby Petrino or Lane Kiffin?
Watching Lane Kiffin’s wretched introduction at Southern Cal last night — delayed 45 minutes by traffic, it should have been canceled to spare everyone involved– the thought occurred: “This guy is the biggest rat I’ve ever seen.”
Then, a bit later, another thought: “Wait a minute, son. Didn’t we in Atlanta happen across a rodent of our own not long ago?”
Well, yeah. His name: Bobby Petrino. He fled the Falcons in same harum-scarum manner that Kiffin left K-Town. And that terrible memory got me to thinking: “Kiffin or Petrino — who’s the bigger rat?” Here’s where I attempt to answer myself.
Category: Truthfulness. Petrino reaffirmed to Arthur Blank the day before he headed over the Ozarks, “You’ve got yourself a coach.” According to Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton, Kiffin at least informed him last weekend that he’d be interested in the USC job. Bigger lying rat: Petrino.
Category: Manliness. Petrino left without facing his players. He had a type-written note left in their lockers instead. Kiffin at least addressed his players. Mayhem nearly ensued, but at least he showed his creepy face. Bigger cowardly rat: Petrino.
Category: Timeliness. Petrino was gone by sundown the day after his team lost to New Orleans on Monday night. Kiffin didn’t flee the Smokies until the next day. Bigger lamming rat: Petrino.
Loading ...Category: Shamelessness. Not 24 hours after leaving the Georgia Dome as coach of the Falcons, Petrino was captured on live TV calling the Hogs alongside Razorback cheerleaders. Kiffin somehow resisted the urge to ride into his Southern Cal press briefing atop Traveler, the equine mascot of Troy. Bigger shameless rat: Petrino.
Category: Spousal involvement. Becky Petrino joined her husband to lead cheers. Layla Kiffin did not lead any cheers, at least not on-camera. Bigger familial rat: Petrino.
Category: Obliviousness. According to those Falcons folks who knew Petrino well (and there weren’t many), he was stunned his abrupt departure elicited such venom. Kiffin maintained Tennessee fans were upset he was leaving because he’d done such a great job. Bigger tin-eared rat: Kiffin.
Category: Staying power. Petrino coached the Falcons for 11 months. Kiffin coached the Volunteers for 14 months. Bigger fickle rat: Petrino.
Overall: You’ll note that Petrino is the winner, if that’s the proper word, in six of the seven categories. Which would seem to make him the landslide choice as the rat of all rats, would it not? Uh, no. Forget categories, I say. Look instead at the big picture. (At least Petrino can coach.) Alongside Kiffy, all other rodents must bow. King Rat: Kiffin.
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540 comments Add your comment
Gen Neyland
January 14th, 2010
12:51 pm
From KNS : Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun has scheduled a meeting with his players at 5:50 p.m., according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
There were no indications what the meeting concerns.
Ed
January 14th, 2010
12:51 pm
(Dis)Honorable Mention Rats: Butch Davis, Nick Saban, Tommy Tuberville (Ole Miss days), and Rich Rodriguez.
Mark Bradley
January 14th, 2010
12:52 pm
And Ole Miss people aren’t fond of Tommy Tuberville. Same with Kentucky folks and Ricky P.
Mark Bradley
January 14th, 2010
12:54 pm
Troy Calhoun is coming to Georgia to coordinate both Tech’s and UGA’s defenses. That’s my guess.
RoswellHOG
January 14th, 2010
12:55 pm
Any chance that UGA will go after Ruffin McNeill since Tubbs let him go?
Sorry, I know it’s off topic.
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
12:55 pm
Dang..with all these Arkansas bloggers on here, is anybody manning the cash registers at the WalMarts around town!
Steve Smith
January 14th, 2010
12:55 pm
To me it’s Petrino, hands down. All the reasons have pretty much been given above, but a couple to recap:
1)Promised Arthur Blank he was staying the day before he bolted
2)Left with 3 games to go in the regular season
3)Did not meet with his players to tell them he was leaving
I can’t believe Petrino is even able to get young men to commit to playing for him.
While I’ve always thought Lane Kiffin was an a$$, the only thing I found scummy was having Coach Oregoren (sp) call recruits to tell them not to attend class at UT, so they could transfer to USC. What a d-bag.
As I heard someone say last night
If I saw Kiffin coming to my door to recruit my son, I would certainly have some hard questions for him to answer.
If I saw Petrino coming to my door to recruit my son, I would just start shooting.
chDawg
January 14th, 2010
12:57 pm
I think the bigger rats would be Bradley, Shultz, and AJC. They caved in to the same delusions that Kiffen has and thinks flashy attention headlines are more important than substance and truth. Incapable of actually putting forth articles with any merit they have caved in to the type of drive by journalism that is so common today. Driven by page views they use the lowest common denominators to spark interest.
Lately their articles seem to be driven more by personal opinion that any facts, and in most cases their opinions either seem to be biased or contradictory to the facts. Do I need to point out that the AJC has spent the last 14 months basically promoting Kiffen and his tactics and now they seem to want to take shots at him. They should just send him a check for the page views.
ARK
January 14th, 2010
12:57 pm
UglyOldDog
Your break at Home Depot is up, now mix me some paint!
RoswellHOG
January 14th, 2010
12:59 pm
UglyOldDog,
No one is manning the registers……we’ve all gone to worship the BCS trophy!
NewsFlash!!
January 14th, 2010
12:59 pm
My sister-in-law works for the UT Athletic Department and let me know that UT has extended an offer to Kirby Smart to come to Knoxville as the HC. She thinks it’s a $3.25M/year offer but not sure. Kirby is to meet with the Knoxville AD team this weekend.
ARK
January 14th, 2010
1:01 pm
RoswellHOG
The proverbial cart before the horse with the whole BCS thing. How about concentrating on winning the WEST.
ugaman
January 14th, 2010
1:02 pm
i think they are both rats. i am not by any stretch a ut fan but it stunk how coach kiffin did this. i do think he had in the back of his mind all along that if it ever opened up at usc he would bolt. he is just a punk. maybe petrino a bigger rat and kiffin a bigger punk. i had told a ut fan a couple of weeks ago i hope they got it handed to them in their BOWEL game. i usually hope the conference has a good showing but not for that jerk.
phoenix falcon
January 14th, 2010
1:03 pm
Dawgs97
where you born this stupid, or did you have to work up to it.
just curious.
B Smith
January 14th, 2010
1:03 pm
You forgot to include Saban in this list – ask the people in Miami and Louisianna.
RoswellHOG
January 14th, 2010
1:03 pm
ARK,
That was a response to another post regarding the Nat’l Championship.
RoswellHOG
January 14th, 2010
1:04 pm
ARK,
The trophy remark was regarding Bama’s trophy on display at Walmart.
SEC FAN
January 14th, 2010
1:05 pm
THE BIGGEST RAT MAY WELL BE MARK BRADLEY HIMSELF. DOES HE GET PAID FOR HIS VERY POINTED ARTICLES THAT CLEARLY HELP A CERTAIN PROGRAM PARTICULARLY RIGHT BEFORE SIGNING DAY? IS HE ON THE TAKE? IT IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE OBVIOUS HOW WH WORKS.
phoenix falcon
January 14th, 2010
1:05 pm
hey Mark…. what about Jim Mora At UGA coaching the defense?
Tracey
January 14th, 2010
1:08 pm
Petrino was older and should have known better.
Kiffen is a tough one to figure out. I mean, he could just be colossal jerk because he’s young. I can’t figure out if he really thinks he is the “end all be all” of college football or if they boy is just stupid.
Either way, UT is better off without him and Atlanta is better off without Petrino.
bt
January 14th, 2010
1:08 pm
The left bank deserves Kiffin because he is the A typical LA Turd in the westcoast punchbowl.
wAw
January 14th, 2010
1:09 pm
There were some AMATURE athletes betrayed by the Kiffen move. That’s the biggest factor in my book.
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
1:09 pm
Ark…I’ll have you know I work at the Varsity…I got fired from Home Depot!
Rjl
January 14th, 2010
1:11 pm
At least Kiffin did not leave in the middle of the season. Bigger rat Petrino
DaWg
January 14th, 2010
1:12 pm
The person I work with for quitting right before we needed help at the most.
ARK
January 14th, 2010
1:12 pm
UglyOldDog
I’ll have 2 Chilli Dogs.
….and when you get a chance MIX MY PAINT!!
phoenix falcon
January 14th, 2010
1:15 pm
SEC FAN
do you people REALLY think the writers of this paper are bias?
Look people we ALL have our biases, but in my 30 years of reading this paper, i have seen both schools hailed as great, and both schools treated like the redheaded step child who’s feet stank. if i asked 100 people down on the flats, all 100 would say the paper was biased in favor of the dogs, and vice verse, if you hate the paper and what/how they write, this is America, YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ IT. THERE ARE 40 MILLION PAPERS IN TEXAS YOU CAN READ, yet you keep reading the ” biased ” paper. what kind of idiot would keep reading a paper he hates?
John
January 14th, 2010
1:15 pm
Mr. Bradley,
If you are going to call Bobby Petrino a rat for what he did, then shouldn’t you call Lou Holtz a rat also? In 1976, as head coach of the NY Jets, he quit after 13 games into his 1st season with them to take a head coaching vacancy at Arkansas. His W-L record with the Jets, 3-10.
BIG DAWG 2
January 14th, 2010
1:16 pm
Bill Heath…what kind of moonshine you been drinking?The Dawgs are way better than the Hogs and even the Dawgs can’t compete with Florida or Alabama because they won’t pay the players like Alabama and Florida does…Now USC will be paying more $ to these recruits…so just go slop your “hogs” and cry in your moonshine because you know Georgia has the best team money can’t buy!
ReidAdair
January 14th, 2010
1:16 pm
I think Bobby Petrino is the bigger rat, but what Lane Kiffin did at Tennessee with the violations and now, perhaps, Ed Orgeron interfering with UT commitments, is disgusting.
It was laughable to see him standing there last night, talking about running a “clean, disciplined program.” As I recall, he, Orgeron and Norm Chow were all at USC when the alleged Reggie Bush violations occurred.
Enjoy, Mike Garrett and USC.
Mark
January 14th, 2010
1:18 pm
This one’s easy: it’s Petrino in a no contest. Leaving copied notes on your players lockers?! At least LK faced a press conference and didn’t sneek out of town. Of course he almost got skinned in the process!
UA Alum92
January 14th, 2010
1:19 pm
“Newsflash!” IF Coach Smart were to leave for the UT job, I think most Bama fans would say “More power to you! Good luck! See you the third Saturday in October!” I honestly think that move would pain Dawg fans much more than us.
RoswellHOG
January 14th, 2010
1:19 pm
Big Dawg 2-
I wouldn’t go as far as Bill, but……”Dawgs way better than Hogs”? I guess we’ll see.
saban
January 14th, 2010
1:19 pm
Richt`s a bigger rat than either.
Going after my hairdresser.
Is there not honor left?
Excuse me while I hypnotize Smart again.
Satan
Fert Smeller
January 14th, 2010
1:21 pm
The Dawgs looked real good last year – Real Good. Sarcasm. SEC East in this order: Everybody Else, then Georgia, and finally Vanderbilt. Go Gators!
We would do the same
January 14th, 2010
1:25 pm
I can’t stand Lane Kiffin. I think he’s a tool, but can anyone honestly say that they would have not done exactly what Kiffin did. It’s not like he left Tennessee. for just any job. It was his “dream” job. I wish all the Tennessee. fans would just get off it.It’s not like he denied that he would take the position and turn around and do the opposite (ehhm…Saban).
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
1:25 pm
Fert Smeller has old Meyer had a panic attack lately realizing Teblow won’t be there to cry some more
BeBe
January 14th, 2010
1:27 pm
At least Kiffin finished the season and although it was brief, at least addressed the players. Let’s not forget the cowardly Petrino exit!
Biggest RAT
January 14th, 2010
1:27 pm
You Bloggers all have it wrong………George W. Bush is the biggest Rat sports fans ever saw……..afterall he bankrupted the Texas Rangers and then a bunch of fools gave him the chance to Bankrupt The United States!
DGill
January 14th, 2010
1:28 pm
The question should be whom is the biggest RAT….Lane Kiffin or Mark Bradley? You just can’t leave it alone,can you? Both of you are Rat B—ards!!!!!!
Dorsey Hill be a dunce
January 14th, 2010
1:29 pm
Dorsey dunce hill,
Hey bubba. The article is about Petrino and Kiffin. Not Saban. And if you believe what a felon and team cancer Plaxico Burress says then you are truly a moron. No one else at MSU was saying the same story as Plaxico so that right there tells you a lot about Plaxico’s credibility.
You’re just to blinded by your anti alabama hatred to look objectively at things. Every time you post the article can have absolutely nothing to do with Alabama or Saban yet your dumb azz always has to find a way to make a degrading statement about either Bama or Saban.
And don’t even bother replying back Mr. Dorsey Dunce. We can’t hear you. We’re having a party and all the clanging from our latest national championship and our 7 other national titles and 22 conference titles is making too much noise. What is it Dorsey Dunce? 29 years and counting???
Fert Smeller
January 14th, 2010
1:29 pm
UOG
Between the xanax and the circumcisions we found time to own your PUPS. Cry on that.
cottonmouth
January 14th, 2010
1:30 pm
How is Kiffin a rat? Took a better job at a better place. What person on this blog would not do that? UT was worse off with Fulmer, he should be voted a rat for taking money and not doing anything for 5 years. As far as Petrino goes, who cares? He’s not even worthy of Arkansas, and even Clinton was worthy of that.
Why not many colored coaches ?
January 14th, 2010
1:30 pm
Why limit to just one?
Mark
January 14th, 2010
1:30 pm
One thing that puzzles me the most about Kiffin though and it’s his dad. Supposedly and from all reports and testimonials he is one of the great minds in defensive football; however his son appears to be socially retarded with either at worst a very light (or no) grasp on the world around him; as though he’s in his own little bubble and at least, he couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about him. And then there’s his dad. We all have or had a dad, but his worked with him every day; day in, day out at UT and LK acted like (is?) a total fool for most of those 13 or so months. I know by age 33 or 34 you’re grown (or should be) but if I’m Monte Kiffin I’m saying, “son you need to tone it down a bit” or SOMETHING! Maybe it’s just me but MK is more enigmatic than LK. MK is a proven, highly respected authority (heck GURU) at the best level of football. LK is just a spoiled done-nothing brat into whose lap these tremendous jobs keep falling for some strange reason.
C. Cowherd said yesterday that LK has “it.” Really?! How about just a real smooth talker who has his daddy tagging along and Ed O out doing insane things on the recruiting trail. Without either of them around we know that his stint in the NFL was an absolute failure on all levels.
Just my .02
Confederate Bulldog
January 14th, 2010
1:31 pm
I wish them both a head on car wreck with each other. And no one walks away alive.
DirtyDawg
January 14th, 2010
1:31 pm
It’s a pretty sorry state when you have to compare ‘rats’. How anybody could take either of these two people seriously is beyond me. Petrino will do OK cause any team/school that has a pig for a mascot and is proud of it, won’t be able to ‘get it’ with him. As for Lame Lane, he might be able to put it over on the Southern Cal folks, after all at least half of everybody out there is a phony, so who’s to know which is which? Plus, if you can fool half of the people half of the time, you can probably last half the time.
UglyOldDog
January 14th, 2010
1:31 pm
Didn’t UA have a coach named Red somebody
Obama
January 14th, 2010
1:32 pm
1. Bobby Petrino.
2. King Roy Barnes
3. Kirby Smart
Mitch Cumstein
January 14th, 2010
1:32 pm
Falcon fans, Arthur Blank and Co WOULDN’T LET Petrino meet with the players. After the Michael Vick cluster they couldn’t afford the PR hit of losing their coach to the college ranks so they let him walk, but turned their media lackeys on him. They told him if he left they would make it ugly for him and they did. Who bashed him the most during the process? ESPN. Who is a big sponsor of ESPN, including college gameday? Wow, Home Depot. Would you look at that.