Brady Hoke reached out to old friend Jeff Long after Arkansas AD fired Bobby Petrino
Michigan football coach Brady Hoke said Thursday afternoon he's reached out in the past week to Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long.
Long fired Bobby Petrino as the Razorbacks' football coach on Tuesday after Petrino crashed his motorcycle, then tried to cover up the presence of 25-year-old Jessica Durrell on the back.
Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, a boyhood friend of Michigan football coach Brady Hoke, pauses during a news conference at which he announced the firing of football coach Bobby Petrino.
Associated Press
An internal investigation revealed Petrino and Durrell had an inappropriate relationship. Petrino also helped Durrell land a job in the football program and gave her a $20,000 gift.
"I texted him," Hoke said. "Just said, 'I'm glad I wasn't you.' That's a hard deal for anybody."
Hoke and Long go way back. They both attended Fairmont East High School in Kettering, Ohio, and were teammates on the football and baseball teams.
Long was the quarterback on the football team, and Hoke his center. They were battery mates in baseball, too, where Long was a pitcher and Hoke the catcher.
Hoke also delivered the news to Long.
"He was our paper boy,” Long told the Dayton Daily News. “He loves to tell people that when we’re together, and it’s true. He delivered the Dayton Journal-Herald.”
Their paths crossed again two decades later, when Hoke was hired as a Michigan football assistant in 1995. Long worked in the Wolverines' athletic department at the time.
Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.
Comments
Tru2Blu76
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 4:32 p.m.
Normally I'm "all Hoke" and nothing else. And I don't mean to address anything significant about our Coach Hoke here. I do have one comment about his action: he TEXTED Jeff Long, after saying that he had no interest in "such things" on at least one occasion. He also texted his farewell message to his former players at San Diego. Minor indeed, but it shows how careful even Clean Jeans coaches must be about their public statements. More serious is the way we've been told to react to AD Jeff Long's firing of Coach Petrino. It's characterized here and elsewhere as an "honorable" act. But in fact, as CBS sports points out: AD Long had NO choice but to fire Petrino because (1) the accident report on Petrino was already made public and (2) the FOIA information dump of Petrino's emails and text messages was to occur by the next day. I think we all agree that Hoke's "reaching out" to Arkansas AD Long was the right thing to do because they're old friends. But to add on that Jeff Long is some kind of moral hero is just not admitting the fact that he had no choice in this matter.
Steve McQueen
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 11:58 p.m.
uh pretty sure Coach Hoke was referring to Twitter, Facebook and email...but he may have lumped texting in there too if the question was phrased that way... however it is no shock since everyone knows he has texted before.
Seasoned Cit
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 3:47 a.m.
Jeff learned his lessons while here with Bo. Integrity is just that and so is the fact that a well paid coach also represents the institution paying him/her. During the Tressel mess it was telling when many at OSU didn't think he should be fired. Gary Moeler got canned at UM for getting drunk on evening and he wasn't with someone he shouldn't have been with. Which school has the higher standards?
ted
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 12:01 a.m.
It's pretty clear what this means.....Hoke wants the Arkansas job and it appears the feeling is mutual. I thought he was happy at Michigan, but when his dream job opened up, you can't blame him for taking action.
7718
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 12:30 a.m.
But Long left AA so he must not be a Michigan Man, those who stay will be champions.
Steve McQueen
Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 8:40 p.m.
Cool story. Long made the right choice in canning Petrino. Good to see that Kettering raises their kids to have strong moral values.
D21
Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 7:38 p.m.
Jeff Long, Hey, remember you are in the SEC hence the frequency of the chaos down there. Come up to Michigan where we only have one SEC type member (Ohio St) in B1G.
KeepingItReal
Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 6:20 p.m.
Is this newsworthy?
Bill
Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 7:07 p.m.
I agree with anarboran. If individuals are unhappy with annarbor.com then it is very easy to simply browse your way to another website for your news and put yourself out of the misery you seem to be in when reading annarbor.com. I for one am thankful that we still have a local news source rather than having to rely on the Detroit publications.
anarboran
Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 7 p.m.
It's newsworthy to me. Geez, I've gotta say, the constant nitpicking by commentors on this site is getting silly. I have my issues with AnnArbor.com (!), and I think there's a critical role for us citizens to play in keeping pressure on our primary news sources to serve an appropriate role in our democracy, but this constant stream of nitpicking minor issues is stale.