Bobby Petrino

Former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino looks at the scoreboard as walks off the field after the Razorbacks' 44-23 victory over Auburn in an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. Petrino enters his first season as Western Kentucky's head coach this season. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

(The Associated Press)

DESTIN, Fla. - Bobby Petrino will return to the sidelines this season as head football coach at Western Kentucky. He has been a coach who always seems to grab headlines, though some haven't been the kind he would prefer.

Now he steps into the challenge of taking over a program that has enjoyed some success in recent season, but is looking to take more steps forward. At Western Kentucky, Petrino will coach a team that will compete in the Sun Belt Conference this season and in Conference USA - a league in which he has competed before as head coach at Louisville - beginning the following season.

Petrino took a few moments Monday to speak with AL.com about his new job, a new outlook and his return to coaching:

Q: Why was Western Kentucky the right place for your return to coaching?

A: Western Kentucky was a real family decision. That's where my children feel like home is. My daughter is up at Louisville playing golf at the University of Louisville and we have family in the area is it was an easy decision. Really, there's a great administration with Dr. (Gary) Ransdell and (director of athletics) Todd Stewart, how aggressive they were and how much they really wanted me to come really played on the decision-making too. I'm really happy to be back in. It's fun to get back and work with young men and motivate them and go through spring ball. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Q: Was there a concern that the opportunity to get back in coaching wouldn't be there for you?

A: Certainly, there was always that concern. I just worked hard and tried to fix things with my family and see what opportunities were going to come about. This one came about really quickly. I appreciated how direct and how aggressively Todd Stewart went about it.

Q: How good did that feel to get back in it? You were recently picked in one online poll as the eighth-best coach in FBS.

A: I've been fortunate to be able to have great staffs and coach some really good football players. I'm just happy to be back. We've got a good staff put together, some good players returning. Willie Taggert did an excellent job there and we've got a chance to go ion and build on what he established. We'll have a change in conference a year from now. There's really a lot of excitement, a lot of energy and everybody in the area, the boosters, seem real fired up about it.

Q: Is it difficult to go through a change of conferences, especially when you are just getting accustomed to a new school?

A: I've done it before. When I was at Louisville we made the change from Conference USA to the Big East. I'm familiar with a lot of the schools from Conference USA and how we'll go about going into it in recruiting. I think for us it's a great situation. It adds a lot of stability, it adds a championship game and it's something that you can see being set and ready to go and in terms of Western Kentucky University and all of our sports it was really a no-brainer. It was really a great fit.

Q: As for this season, how much will this team look like team you have had in the past? Will that take time personnel-wise?

A: I'm not real patient so I'm hoping we can get it cranked up pretty good. We always play to our strengths and we have certain philosophies in what we would like to do as far as the Xs and Os go in the game, but you have to play to your strengths. Offensively right now, we return some experience on the offensive front and at the tight end positions and we have some really good running backs. That certainly is a strength. We'd like to improve and keep getting better in the passing game so you can balance it out, because then you're hard to defend. Defensively we return some really good linebackers and some really good secondary players. We'll be young and inexperienced on the defensive front. We have some challenges there but there are a lot of good things in place. The best thing is we have been able to go through the winter and through our strength and conditioning program. Our players really understand the standards about how we want to work, how we want to grind and what is expected of them.

Q: Is there an appreciation, having been away from coaching for a while, or is that overblown?

A: No, it's not overblown at all. It's unbelievable how much you miss all of it - working with the players, helping them develop, helping them achieve and getting confidence in themselves. I really missed seeing the look in their eye or the smile on their face when they achieved and accomplished something that you told them they can do. You miss the grind of the game-planning and going out and executing it and the relationships with all of your staff members. I missed all of it. It's hard to sit and not do something that you've always loved.

Q: So what was that feeling like for you to go through spring? Drawing up plays.

A: I loved every minute of it, from 6 a.m. getting started the first thing in the morning until you got home at night. I really enjoyed it all and I really do have a better appreciation for the profession and the young men that you're trying to help.

Q: Is there a feeling that you have to prove yourself or are you passed all that?

A: I've always felt you have to go prove yourself. All my life. I came from Montana and had a great background growing up. I was taught by my dad to always reach for the top of the rainbow and to go out and be the best you can possibly be, so I've always had that. I certainly feel that way again. I feel we need to go out and win and win a championship and go to bowl games every year and as this thing swings in 2014 getting in the top team of the five (non-automatic-qualifier) conferences and get a chance to go to a BCS bowl game. That's the vision and what I would love to get done.

Q: What would it mean to you to take Western Kentucky - not a team from one of the bigger conferences in the country - and get those kinds of things accomplished?

A: It would be awesome. It would be like when I went to Louisville. That's what we said we wanted to do, we wanted to have a chance to play for a national championship and we came up one game short twice. We did go to a BCS bowl game, so I don't see any reason why we can't do it.