Infamous Falcons head coach’s pupil hired as Cardinals head coach

The Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts were both eagerly waiting for the conclusion of Super Bowl LVII as they had identified their new head coach. For the Colts, it was Eagles’ OC Shane Steichen, but for the Cardinals, they hired someone who was given his first NFL job by one of the most infamous people in Atlanta Falcons’ history.

Who are we talking about? Bobby Petrino. Petrino is the one who gave Jonathan Gannon his first job in the NFL back in 2007. And now, he has been hired to be the Cardinals’ newest head coach after leading the Philadelphia Eagles defense for the past two seasons.

An infamous Falcons head coach led the way for Jonathan Gannon to become the newest Cardinals coach

Back on January 7th, 2007, the Atlanta Falcons hired Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino to be their newest leader. As it turned out, ‘leader’ was the last word you could use to describe him as he quit the team following statements that he wouldn’t do such a thing. The players found a short note from Petrino one morning announcing his exit. This is the same guy who brought Jonathan Gannon, the Cardinals’ newest head coach, with him to Atlanta from Louisville.

Sometimes you best your mentors and it didn’t take long for Gannon to do that. He was brought into Atlanta to be their defensive quality control coach 15 years ago. Unsurprisingly, it was his only year with the team and he had a year-long hiatus before joining the St. Louis Rams scouting department for a few seasons.

After, he became the Titans’ defensive quality control coach, the Vikings’ and Colts’ defensive backs coach, and then the Eagles’ defensive coordinator. Now he will lead the Arizona Cardinals—which means the Falcons will go up against Gannon’s team in 2023.

As for Bobby Petrino, he left the Falcons for the Arkansas Razorbacks but he then got himself into trouble, yet, that didn’t keep him from being a head coach at Western Kentucky, Louisville (again), and then Missouri State up until a couple months ago.

Oh, but we aren’t done yet, he left Missouri State to become UNLV’s offensive coordinator—for 21 days. He decided he was tired of Nevada already and left to become Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator (at least for now).

So, Petrino during his coaching career has now ditched Louisville less than six months after signing a ten-year contract, ditched the Falcons, ditched Missouri State, and ditched UNLV. How can any player respect or trust a coach like that? He is a great offensive mind but at some point, the absence of loyalty should outweigh the play-calling.

But I digress, the Cardinals are hoping that they hired the right guy following Kliff Kingsbury’s disappointing tenure. The Falcons will end up seeing a semi-familiar face on the opposite sideline next season.