The Bobby Petrino/Jessica Dorrell sh**storm of a story has so many different shades of wrong, it's a veritable rainbow of foolishness. There's the ill-fated motorcycle ride that started it all (or should we say ended?), the way Jessica ruined her own wedding, and dear God no, even naked pictures of Bobby Petrino.
But it's not just Jessica, Bobby, and their (sigh, for lack of a better word) loved ones who got hurt in this train wreck. When Jessica applied for that job as Arkansas University's head of recruiting for football -- and when Bobby Petrino pushed to hire her on the same freakin' day of her interview -- all women hoping to break into college football took a giant step backwards.
First, of the 159 people who applied for the job, Jessica was not the most qualified. Her experience was in fundraising -- fundraising for women's college athletics, but still, fundraising. The other top two candidates were Benjamin Wilkerson, former NFL football player Petrino coached in 2007 (cough, cough) who worked as an offensive administrative intern at Arkansas in 2011, and Tiffany Fields, the recruiting assistant for the University of Arkansas football team and probably pretty damn pissed that the promotion she had coming to her didn't happen.
What's more, once Jessica got the coveted job, she squandered it by continuing her tawdry and (I'm just imagining here) unsatisfying affair with Petrino. Just ask Christianne Harder, a recruiting a social networking consultant who also applied for the job. "Bitch got my job and didn't even appreciate it!" is basically what she's saying here.
What I suspect Jessica Dorrell failed to realize, not being a woman in football, is what a gift she was given ... She had no idea that her actions will have lasting implications for women across the country. Her decision to continue seeing Petrino proves she had no concept of the gravity of her indiscretions. A true football chick, as I like to call us, would have never done such a thing. Our jobs are too important to us because they are so hard to get.
What's worse, Jessica and Bobby's affair has cast a shadow over the careers of other women in the male-dominated world of college football. "Because of Jessica Dorrell's actions, there will be a greater suspicion of all the women who apply and interview for these jobs. Sadly, we don't need another excuse to be unfairly scrutinized," Christianne says.
In conclusion, lest there be any remaining doubt: Doofus should never have hired the woman he was sleeping with. Bad idea. Always.
Do you agree that the Jessica/Bobby affair is bad for women working in men's sports?
Image via FAO Schwarz