FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino and his mistress exchanged more than 4,300 text messages and nearly 300 phone calls over the past seven months — on game days, before dawn and even as the police report that hastened his downfall was being released to the public, according to a review of his business cellphone records by The Associated Press.
The messages, among some 300 pages of records released under a Freedom of Information Act request, appear to include picture and video files, though there was no way to verify the content. But the records clearly show a married father of four in frequent contact with Jessica Dorrell, a 25-year-old former Razorbacks volleyball player.
Petrino was fired Tuesday night for failing to disclose his relationship with Dorrell, whom he hired last month without disclosing his conflict of interest or the fact he had once paid her $20,000. Athletic director Jeff Long said he had determined their relationship had been ongoing for a “significant” amount of time, but he did not say for how long.
The phone records show that Petrino remained in close contact with Dorrell following the April 1 motorcycle accident in which Petrino suffered four broken ribs, a cracked neck vertebra and scrapes and bruises.
That day, Petrino and Dorrell went for a motorcycle ride on a two-lane highway southeast of Fayetteville and skidded off the road. Petrino and Dorrell talked for 16 minutes earlier that day before the crash at 6:45 p.m., and they also had a 22-minute conversation the following day — while Petrino was apparently still in the hospital recovering.
Petrino’s accident report was disclosed by state police on April 5, and the two talked 11 times that day. That included a pair of 2-minute calls around 3:30 p.m., when police were releasing the report that for the first time exposed her presence at the accident.
Later that evening, as questions swirled about his future at Arkansas, Petrino exchanged four calls with his agent, Russ Campbell, totaling 10 minutes.
The cellphone records show Petrino and Dorrell were in contact at least as far back as Sept. 12. The university provided nearly seven months of Petrino’s business cellphone records, and that is the first date listed. Among the findings:
Petrino, a married father of four, exchanged 91 texts with Dorrell on Sept. 13 and 84 texts with her over five hours on Oct. 28, the day before a game at Vanderbilt. On Oct. 17, the two swapped 73 text messages, and on four days in a row in the week before a loss to eventual national champion Alabama, Petrino called Dorrell early— at 5:52 a.m., 6:35 a.m., 5:49 a.m. and 7:55 a.m.