I always thought college basketball coaches had a screw loose.

See Billy Gillispie. He lost the best job in the business, Kentucky, because he had a habitual drinking problem.

Or Bruce Pearl, whose bright future at Tennessee came crashing down after he told NCAA investigators he did not recognize some people in a picture they showed him. Not only did Pearl fail to identify one of his assistant coaches, he could not identify his own house. Cheatin’ and lyin’ don’t pay. 

Another fall from grace case was Louisville’s Rick Pitino, who came close to the firing line after his sexual fling with a woman in a Louisville restaurant. It made headlines all over the country. The female went to prison, but Slick Rick managed to keep his job at the expense of his reputation.

I believe their football-coaching brethren may be catching up in the demolition derby.

Recently fired Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino had everything going his way. His Hogs won 21 games the last two years, including 11 wins last season and a BCS Sugar Bowl victory that left Arkansas No. 5 in the country.

But $3.5 million a year and multiple perks apparently was not enough to satisfy Petrino. The father of four had an itch he had to scratch.

The administration failed to recognize that Petrino and his 25-year-old mistress, Jessica Dorrell, exchanged more than 4,000 text messages and 300-plus calls on his company cell phone during a seven-month period. I stand mystified how that was allowed to go unquestioned.

I don’t know if Petrino was more arrogant, or ignorant, to think he could get away with cheating on his wife with Dorrell, an Arkansas football department employee that he hired. A motorcycle wreck that put Petrino in the hospital led to his downfall. Instead of coming clean, he lied. Lied to his boss. Lied to the administration. Lied to his family.

His alibi fell apart like a seersucker suit in a house fire. His next coaching job should be in the Lingerie League. It’s about the last straw for Bobby Petrino – a great coach, a bad person.

Now it appears football coach Urban Meyer was not totally up front when he was coaching the Florida Gators to two national championships before shocking the world by stepping down. Meyer wanted to spend more time with his family. (I wish coaches who quit or are pushed out would find a new excuse. That family thing is getting old and unbelievable.)

Meyer turned tail when Ohio State called. All of a sudden his family was pushed to the back of the bus. It was a dream job for Meyer.

Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz proclaims that it is Steve Spurrier, not Meyer, who is Mr. Gator to the majority of Gator fans.

Spurrier is known for speaking his mind. He recently was asked his thoughts on playing Georgia the second game of the season.

“I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended,’’ Spurrier poked.

Spurrier spares no one. He took on Alabama icon Nick Saban recently.

“If he wants to be the greatest coach or one of the greatest coaches in college football, to me, he has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they’ve always won at Alabama,’’ Spurrier theorized.

Vanderbilt would be an ideal place for Saban to prove his point.

Spurrier is brutally honest. I’ll take honesty over sleaze any day.

Sports Columnist Joe Biddle can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .