The Confidential

Dennis Dodd–Pandering for Attention

It just gets old.  EVERY time there is any error by a public figure, the sensationalist new media rushes into to see who can be the first to mandate the worst punishment possible.  It really crystallized with the Joe Paterno matter.  And then Jim Boeheim.  And now Bobby Petrino is the whipping boy.  For CBS’s Dennis Dodd, he quickly joined the Petrino must be fired camp. Only it is obvious that his position is simply to seek attention.

Dodd opines that the “only choice” is to fire Petrino.  Really?  For what?  For crashing his motorcycle?  For having an extra-marital affair?  For not being forthright about it?  Dodd opines as follows:

If you can’t bring yourself to be indignant over those episodes, what occurred Thursday was enough to push Petrino out the door. He can’t recruit from here forward. He can’t recruit because every rival from Gainesville to Knoxville will open their living-room pitch with news accounts of what occurred Thursday night. And what is sure to be fallout in subsequent days.

Petrino can’t recruit because every mama who does let him in the door will be shooting him the stink eye. They are wives and mothers too, just like his wife and his children’s mother, Becky.

In a fit of hubris and arrogance Petrino just lost his ability to recruit. At least recruit well. His misdeeds occurred in the Bible Belt where such things matter. Maybe matter more.

Petrino isn’t the first coach to have an “inappropriate relationship”. He is one of the few to get caught.

So, apparently,  Petrino will not be able to recruit because of a publicized affair.  It does not matter what he did, all that matters is how it will impact his ability to recruit.

That is internally inconsistent.  Dodd stops well short of stating that Petrino should be fired for his moral failings.  Instead, it is only about wins and losses.  Given how well Petrino can coach, that should be the reason that Arkansas looks behind these transgressions, places Petrino on double-secret probation, and lets wins/losses continue to define Petrino’s future.  If Petrino keeps winning, Dodd can just admit he is wrong.  If Petrino starts losing, Dodd will be vindicated.  Either way, what Petrino did is irrelevant.  All that matters is the results.  Dodd would prefer to have Arkansas speculate.

Even worse, Dodd just got done opining about how Rick Pitino proved that he belonged in the Hall of Fame.  An article written on March 24, 2012.  This is the same Rick Pitino who apparently had a sexual rendezvous with a woman and allegedly paid for her to get an abortion.  Three years later, Dodd considers him a Hall of Famer.  Granted, Pitino was in the Final Four.  But it would certainly seem that the “wives and mothers” of Louisville recruits looked past the transgressions.  If Dodd can look past them and focus on recruiting, the recruits can certainly do the same.  As will their families.  All the more reason not to guess about how any scandal will impact job performance.

It’s bad enough when the sensationalist media piles on to a beleaguered individual, but at least TRY to be consistent.  Otherwise, it is apparent that you are just looking for attention.  Mission accomplished.