Bobby Petrino got a free ‘get-out-of-jail’ card when the Arkansas Razorbacks came and offered the first year Atlanta Falcons coach their head coaching job.

Petrino and Arkansas do not have a deal, the sources told ESPN, but once one is in place, Petrino is expected to be paid around $3 million a year to succeed Houston Nutt, who resigned after a tumultuous season and hours later took the Mississippi job.

Petrino had a five-year, $24 million contract with the Falcons — NFL sources said there is no buyout in the deal — so he will be taking a pay cut to coach the Razorbacks.

Petrino has gone 3-10 in his first thirteen games as an NFL coach.  He was very successful in college as the coach of the Louisville Cardinals before leaving for the riches and failure of the NFL.

I don’t think anyone can blame him for leaving the Falcons.   Atlanta is a team in vast disarray that will start rebuilding in the offseason after the incarceration of star quarterback Michael Vick on dogfighting charges this month.

Petrino will follow a recent trend of successful college coaches taking the big money of the NFL, only to fail, and get a high paying college coaching job in the SEC.  Last year Nick Saban left the Dolphins to become the head coach at the University of Alabama.  Steve Spurrier, after failing with the Washington Redskins, took the challenge of making the South Carlina Gamecocks competitive.