On this we agree: Bobby Petrino is biggest Atlanta sports villain

After courting Tommy Tuberville and Jim Grobe, the Razorbacks invited ex-Falcons coach Bobby Petrino to call the Hogs in a late-night press conference announcing his hiring. Petrino didn't last one season with NFL team before resigning abruptly to return to the college ranks.

By AJC Sports

Oct 23, 2023

We (mostly) agree.

In The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s recently completed 11-part series on the biggest sports villains in Atlanta history, we ranked Bobby Petrino at No. 1. Those who took part in a reader poll agreed. Petrino got 33% of the vote as the top villain.

We varied on the No. 2 villain in the AJC’s Dirty Dozen. Our second villain was Tom Brady. However, the poll showed that ownership that lost (or flipped) Atlanta’s two NHL franchises got the second-most percentage of votes at 14%. We had the failed owners as Nos. 6-7. Brady came in at No. 3 with poll takers at 12%.

The poll results were:

Bobby Petrino - 33% (No. 1 in AJC ranking)

NHL owners - 14% (Nos. 6-7)

Tom Brady - 12% (No. 2)

Steve Spurrier – 8% (No. 3)

Bryce Harper – 8% (No. 11)

Jim Leyritz – 6% (No. 4)

Kent Hrbek – 6% (No. 5)

Eric Gregg – 6% (No. 8)

Sean Payton – 5% (No. 12)

Bill Laimbeer – 1% (No. 10)

Sam Holbrook 1% (No. 9)

If you would like to cast your vote, feel free. But we think we can all (mostly) agree that Petrino deserves his spot at the top of our rankings and your poll.

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