Bobby Petrino officially announced as Missouri State's next head football coach

Missouri State has made a high-profile hire as its next head football coach.

And it might be a controversial one.

The university announced Wednesday that former Louisville and Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino has been hired as its next head football coach.

MSU Athletics Director Kyle Moats was the associate director of athletics for national marketing at Louisville from 2005-09 while Petrino was the head football coach for the Cardinals from 2003-06.

He will be announced at the PRIME Overtime Club at JQH Arena on Thursday morning at 8:45 a.m. Doors will open at 8:15 a.m.

Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel reported Petrino has agreed to a five-year contract that pays $250,000 per season while citing sources.

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Petrino was out of football in 2019 after being fired from Louisville in 2018. He has a head coaching record of 119-56 at the college ranks while going 3-10 in his lone season leading the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL.

Petrino took his first head coaching job at Louisville before the 2003 season and went 41-9 over the next four years in one of the most successful stretches in program history. That run finished with an Orange Bowl win after the 2006 season.

When Petrino returned in 2014, he led Louisville into the ACC, where the competition was stiffer. His team never won more than nine games despite two-plus seasons of starting Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Jackson became the youngest Heisman Trophy winner in history in 2016. He was Petrino’s, and Louisville’s, first Heisman winner.

Before he landed at Louisville for the second time, he was the head coach at Western Kentucky in 2013. He sat out the 2012 season after his time at Arkansas ended in controversy.

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At Arkansas, Petrino led the Razorbacks to a 34-17 record and a 2-1 record in bowl games. He won a Cotton Bowl in 2011 while finishing the season as the fifth-ranked team in the country — but that was the last season he spent in Fayetteville.

In the offseason before the 2012 season, Petrino was fired after a motorcycle accident during which it was later discovered Petrino was riding with his mistress. That led to revelations that Petrino had hired the woman to a position in the athletic department and that he had given her $20,000 to buy a new car.

It was discovered he was misleading officials about his extramarital affair with the athletic department employee.

Petrino has since apologized for his actions.

"I wanted to be able to come here and apologize to everybody, the fans, the players, and truly tell you how sorry I am for the way it ended," Petrino told a crowd in Little Rock in September. "But I also wanted to come here and thank you for everything the people in this room and this state did for me and my family. You were great to us."

MSU President Clif Smart:'One of the best football coaches in America will be leading the MSU football program'

At that luncheon, he told the audience he wanted to coach again following his most-recent firing from Louisville.

"Saturdays are a little boring right now. You know, the competitive spirit is still there," he said.

Before Arkansas and after his first stint with Louisville, Petrino signed a five-year contract to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons — only to coach 13 games before resigning to take over at Arkansas. His decision came amid quarterback Michael Vick's illegal dogfighting operation allegations, and he was forced to use backup quarterbacks.

Before his first stint at Louisville, he was an offensive coordinator at Auburn, Louisville, Utah State and Idaho, among others. He also spent time as the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1999-00 and being the offensive coordinator in 2001.

Petrino is a graduate of Carroll College — where he played quarterback.

The story continues below.

The new head coach replaces former head coach Dave Steckel — with whom the university announced it agreed to a separation agreement on Thursday.

Steckel led the Bears to a 13-42 record in five seasons as head coach. The football program hasn't made the postseason since 1990.

The USA Today Network contributed to this article

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or join the conversation on Twitter where his handle is @WyattWheeler_NL. You can also sign up for his free "Bears Beat" newsletter by subscribing on News-Leader.com.