A kind word for Jeff Long in light of Urban Meyer

Ohio State University‘s decision to let football coach Urban Meyer off the hook for covering a rogue employee and lying about it should give people in Arkansas reason to give credit to Jeff Long where credit is due. Or not, if a winning football team tops your priority list.

Long, the fired UA athletic director, was a cold, arrogant customer with a good head for business. But faced with a coaching crisis of his own — Bobby Petrino’s dalliance with an underling uncovered when he wrecked his motorcycle with his gal pal aboard and then lied about it — Long stood tall. He fired Petrino, a highly successful Hog coach with a returning team expected to do great things. The years that followed made fans miss Petrino all the more.

Credit, too, to UA administrators and trustees who — if they differed with Long’s decision on Petrino — presented a united front on his command decision.