Tagged: Bobby Petrino

Outwardly, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers' 34-14 victory over McNeese State was a cause for big-time celebration for WKU President Gary Ransdell.

The Toppers won the 2002 Division I-AA national championship.

Inwardly, the championship stirred another reaction. The playoffs for the I-AA division -- now known as the Football Championship Subdivision -- had cost WKU money. The first-round playoff game drew just 3,300 people to Bowling Green's Smith Stadium. The title game had no payout.

Bobby Petrino is back in the college football coaching ranks, on the familiar turf of Kentucky. The newly hired Western Kentucky Hilltoppers coach was already among the sport's most divisive figures before he was fired from the University of Arkansas for misleading administrators about an extramarital affair with a staff member.

Western Kentucky University has introduced Bobby Petrino as the school’s 18th football coach.

Petrino returns to the college game eight months after his firing from Arkansas for lying about an extramarital affair he had with a woman on his staff.

"I'm honored to sit in front of you as the head coach of Western Kentucky University," Petrino said at a late afternoon news conference.

Former University of Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino will be introduced as the new head coach at Western Kentucky University today.

Western has confirmed that Petrino will be the Hilltoppers’ 18th football coach.  

Western has been looking to replace Willie Taggart, who’s leaving the school to take the head coaching job at the University of South Florida.   Taggart led the team to a 7-5 record and a berth in the Little Caesar’s Bowl December 26 in Detroit.