In a story that defies probability, Bobby Petrino is returning to the University of Arkansas.

The 62-year-old Petrino will serve as Razorbacks offensive coordinator under head coach Sam Pittman, according to multiple reports. He returns to Fayetteville some 11 years after being fired in one of the more-bizarre off-field scandals in college football history.

Petrino spent this past season as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, but was unable to help save Jimbo Fisher’s job. Since leaving Arkansas in 2011, he’s also been head coach at Western Kentucky, Louisville (for a second time) and Missouri State.

Regarded as one of the top offensive minds in college football during the early part of his career, Petrino was 34-17 with a pair of 10-win seasons from 2008-11. It all came crashing down in April 2012, when Petrino was injured in a motorcycle accident near the city of Crosses, Ark.

It was later revealed that Petrino’s passenger that day was a woman who was not his wife, and was in fact an athletic department staffer with whom he’d been conducting an illicit affair. Athletics director Jeff Long fired Petrino after he said the coach was less than truthful during the subsequent investigation.

Petrino will now be tasked with helping save Pittman’s job after the Razorbacks went 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC in 2023. Pittman fired offensive coordinator Dan Enos in late October following a 7-3 home loss to Mississippi State.

In addition to his college head-coaching stints at Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Louisville and Missouri State, Petrino was also head coach of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons for just 13 games in 2007. He left the Falcons to take the Arkansas job.

Petrino first came to the SEC as offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2002. After helping Tommy Tuberville’s Tigers engineer a 17-7 upset win over Alabama in the Iron Bowl, he was hired at Arkansas.

Less than a year later, Petrino was at the center of Auburn’s “JetGate” scandal. Auburn president William Walker and several trustees flew to Louisville in mid-November 2003 to guage Petrino’s interest in replacing Tuberville, who had fallen out of favor but had not yet been fired.

The story broke just after Auburn won the 2003 Iron Bowl 28-23, and public opinion surged behind Tuberville. Walker and athletics director David Housel resigned, Tuberville stayed at Auburn and Petrino remained at Louisville for three more years.