The theme of Louisville being a destination job was confirmed during Bobby Petrino's introductory press conference on Thursday.
Petrino's contract for his second stint at Louisville is for seven years and $24.5 million and contains a $10 million buyout. That buyout is good for the first four years.
On Thursday, Petrino talked about how he wanted to finish his career at Louisville and Jurich said that Petrino told him that he was a changed man. When Jurich first started talking about what turned out to be a brief coaching search on Sunday, he mentioned how he wanted Louisville to be a destination. Charlie Strong left the Cardinals for Texas.
"I'm a big believer in who comes back from adversity. Life is real simple when people are patting you on the back." --Tom Jurich
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 9, 2014
Most important thing to Jurich was Petrino looking him in the eye and telling him he's changed. Told BP: "If you lie to me, I'll kill you." — Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 9, 2014
That change, of course, is from when he ignominiously left Arkansas before the 2012 season after he was having an affair with an Arkansas student who he had subsequently hired to work in the football office. After spending 2012 out of football, he was 8-4 as Western Kentucky's head coach in 2013.
The quote about lying harkens back to when Petrino interviewed with Auburn and denied it in his first year as Louisville head coach.
Is Petrino a changed man, like Jurich says? That's not a judgment to make right now. We'll have a better idea over the next few years. Because of their familiarity with each other, both he and Louisville know what they're getting into. We think.
UPDATE: Garrick McGee, the coach at UAB, is stepping down from his position as the Blazers head coach to join Petrino's staff at Louisville. In two seasons at UAB, he was 5-19. McGee was Petrino's offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2010 and 2011.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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