Petrino Named Head Football Coach at Louisville
December 23, 2002 | Football
Dec. 23, 2002
Bobby Petrino, a former Cardinal offensive coordinator and architect of three different teams which led the nation in total offense, has been named the 19th head football coach at the University of Louisville. Petrino was formally introduced at a press conference Monday in the fifth floor press lounge at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
"This is a great holiday gift for U of L," said U of L President Dr. James Ramsey. "We look forward to welcoming Bobby and his family back to the U of L family."
The 41-year-old Petrino is no stranger to the Derby City, having served as the Cards' offensive coordinator during the 1998 season when U of L led the nation in scoring and total offense. During that season, Petrino's high-octane offense rewrote the Cardinal record book, establishing school records for scoring, scoring average, touchdowns, passing touchdowns and total yards while helping the Cards post the top turnaround (six games) among Division I-A schools.
"This is an exciting time for the University of Louisville," said U of L Athletics Director Tom Jurich. "When Bobby left us four years ago I sat him down and told him that he'd make a great head coach some day ... I did not know it would happen so fast or that it would happen here. He is one of the nation's finest young football coaching talents and we are confident that he will be able to build on the foundation laid by John L. Smith and his staff and take this program to the next level."
Petrino returns to U of L after a four-year hiatus in which he spent two seasons coaching the quarterbacks and another as the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL followed by a one-year tenure during the 2002 season in the same capacity at Auburn University. Petrino will stay on at Auburn as the offensive coordinator through January 1 when the Tigers face Penn State in the Capital One Bowl.
It did not take long for Petrino to put his stamp on the Auburn offense in 2002 as the Tigers improved to No. 31 nationally in scoring average (31.25 ppg) and No. 38 nationally in scoring offense (396.67 ypg) after ranking No. 86 nationally in scoring offense (22.18 ppg) and No. 73 in total offense (358.82 ypg) during the 2001 campaign. This season, the Tigers finished the regular season with an 8-4 mark and led the Southeastern Conference in pass efficiency and third down conversions while also ranking third in the league in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense. Before taking the reigns of the Cards' offense in 1998, Petrino served as the offensive coordinator at Utah State from 1995-97, transforming a program which averaged a little more than 300 yards per contest into an offensive juggernaut which established a USU record with 468.5 yards of total offense per game during the '96 season.
Prior to joining the USU staff, Petrino spent the 1994 season at the University of Nevada as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. His one season with the Wolfpack saw his unit rate second nationally in passing and total offense, averaging more than 330 yards passing and 500 yards of total offense per game. Nevada also averaged 37.6 points per game to finish third nationally in scoring offense.
Petrino spent two years at Arizona State as quarterbacks coach from 1992-93, working with Heisman Trophy candidate Jake Plummer. Before ASU, he spent one season as quarterbacks coach and another two as offensive coordinator at Idaho. Prior to the stint at Idaho, he spent a pair of seasons tutoring wide receivers and tight ends at Weber State in '87 and '88. He also coached quarterbacks as a graduate assistant in 1984.
The Helena, Mont., native began his coaching career at his alma mater, Carroll College, in 1983 as a graduate assistant. Following his one-year stint at Weber State, Petrino returned to Carroll as offensive coordinator and produced the NAIA's top-ranked offense in both '85 and '86.
A two-time NAIA All-American quarterback at Carroll, Petrino guided the Fighting Saints to three consecutive Frontier Conference championships and was named the league's most valuable player in '81 and '82.
Born March 10, 1961 in Lewiston, Mont., Petrino received his bachelor's degree in physical education from Carroll in 1983. He is married to the former Becky Schaff and the couple has four children - Kelsey, Dominic, Bobby and Katie.
Coaching Experience1983 Carroll College (Graduate Assistant)1984 Weber State (Graduate Assistant)1985-86 Carroll College (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks/Receivers)1987-88 Weber State (Receivers/Tight Ends)1989 Idaho (Quarterbacks)1990-91 Idaho (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)1992-93 Arizona State (Quarterbacks)1994 Nevada (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)1995-97 Utah State (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)1998 Louisville (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)1999-01 Jacksonville Jaguars (Quarterbacks)2001 Jacksonville Jaguars (Offensive Coordinator)2002 Auburn (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
Bowl Experience1997 Humanitarian Bowl1998 Motor City Bowl2000 Pro Bowl2002 Capital One Bowl
