Louisville is looking for a new offensive coordinator after Garrick McGee left for Illinois. The obvious choice appeared to be Paul Petrino, the current head coach at Idaho and the brother of Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino. The brothers had worked together at Louisville and Arkansas before.
Potential FCS team’s coach reportedly declines to join brother Bobby Petrino at Louisville
One possible reason: Paul Petrino’s son, Mason, is a quarterback freshman for the Vandals.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
However, Petrino declined the job, according to Football Scoop:
Sources tell FootballScoop Paul Petrino has turned down opportunity to become offensive coordinator at Louisville https://t.co/sNnVtycOD5
— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) March 11, 2016
This is curious on a number of levels. Most coaches don’t voluntarily go from head coach to offensive coordinator, but Idaho is an extreme situation. After losing its Sun Belt membership, Idaho could end up dropping down to FCS. That’s a hit to the job’s reputation, and Petrino has struggled with the Vandals, going 1-11, 1-10 and 4-8 in three seasons in Moscow.
Those are some pretty bleak circumstances, and head coaches at Ball State and Central Michigan have previously left for coordinator positions at power conference schools, despite being in a better position than Petrino was at Idaho.
It’s likely Petrino would have increased his pay at Louisville, too, possibly double. He currently makes $413,000 per year. McGee made $850,000 per year with the Cardinals.
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