By Matthew Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com

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Everyone loves a winner, but, in the end, there are things more important than the record column.

The University of Arkansas finally provided some finality to the recent scandal involving their head football coach, as Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long announced that Bobby Petrino will no longer lead the football program at a press conference Tuesday evening.

The controversy involving the now former Arkansas head coach started this past Thursday, when Long learned that Petrino has failed to completely disclose the details of his recent motorcycle accident. Originally believed to be a one-person accident, it later came to Long’s attention that Petrino was riding with a 25-year old female employee at the time of his crash.

Long reacted to the disconcerting news by placing Petrino on paid administrative leave a mere seven hours after learning the details of Petrino’s accident.

Petrino later admitted to an inappropriate relationship with the 25-year old employee, Jessica Dorrell, saying that he hid the details of his accident in hopes of keeping an “inappropriate relationship from becoming public.”

After taking five days to completely assess the ramifications that could potentially entail from Petrino’s dismissal, Long and the Arkansas athletic department ultimately decided that it was in the best interest of the university to part ways with their polarizing football coach.

Assistant head coach Taver Johnson will serve as the head coach in an interim capacity for now. The 2012 season will be the first year in Fayetteville in Johnson, who has no prior head coaching experience.

While the dismissal of Petrino is obviously a tough pill to swallow for an Arkansas program likely to be ranked in the preseason top five, Jeff Long was ultimately put in a position where releasing his highly successful, yet often self-destructive, head coach was the only appropriate plan of action.

Supporters of Petrino are quick to point out the fact that he technically did not break any federal laws in his infidelities with Dorrell. An extramarital affair, while frowned upon by most members of the general public, does not subject an individual to criminal punishment.

Although Petrino did not break any laws with his deplorable actions, the fact that the head football coach of an SEC football power is the most recognizable figure at his institution can not be minimized. Petrino was a more significant representative of the University of Arkansas than any other staff member at the school, including the athletic director and the president.

Football is king in the SEC, and as such, SEC head coaches are often exalted and idolized by fans of the school. Whether or not such thoughts are becoming of the public is irrelevant. As the ultimate representative of a proud and storied institution, Petrino was responsible for conducting himself in a manner which would reflect positively on the University of Arkansas.

For failing to live up to his responsibilities as head football coach, he not only subjected himself to open criticism, but also to the termination of his position.

Everyone loves a winner, but, in the end, there are things more important than the record column. The primary goal of every collegiate coach should be to serve as a role model to their athletes, as well as the people outside of the program who admire and glorify their position.

Petrino has proven throughout his career that he is capable of producing winning football teams. However, his failure to set a positive example for the millions of people who look up to him as a role model greatly overshadows any of the positives which he may have accomplished on the gridiron.

Jeff Long and the rest of the Arkansas athletic department should be commended for taking a stand against morally reprehensible activities and showing that developing quality human beings takes precedent over fielding a winning football program.