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FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Petrino is one of Arkansas’ most polarizing figures in recent years.

After his emotional apology at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in September, a section of the fan base began campaigning for Petrino to return as the Razorbacks’ head coach. Those calls have only gotten louder since Chad Morris’ firing earlier this month.

In fact, a petition on Change.org has more than 13,200 signatures in support of athletics director Hunter Yurachek re-hiring the former coach.

Those fans are seemingly willing to look past numerous red flags because Petrino led Arkansas to its most successful two-year stretch since joining the SEC, winning 21 games from 2010-11.

He was fired in the midst of a historically bad 2-10 season at Louisville last year, when his coaching staff included four of the least experienced coaches in the SEC - three of which were his relatives. The most glaring concern on his resume, though, is how he left Arkansas more than seven years ago.

A motorcycle accident on April 1, 2012, eventually led to revelations that Petrino gave his mistress a job in the football program and lied about it to his boss, then athletics director Jeff Long. That resulted in him being fired for cause.

Those last two words have been the subject of conversation during the coaching search, with some claiming he is not eligible for rehire because of the nature of his dismissal in April 2012.

HawgBeat has looked into the issue and discovered the source of confusion to be UA Systemwide Policy 405.6, which has to do with the termination of employment. It states that “an employee who has been dismissed for cause...shall not be eligible for re-employment within any University of Arkansas System’s campuses, units or divisions.”

However, the UA Board of Trustees did not enact that policy until May 23, 2013, more than 13 months after Long fired Petrino.

That is a key fact because on Aug. 25, 2017, a procedure was added to UASP 405.6 that specified the “policy is not intended to modify any eligibility determination made...prior to the adoption of the policy.”

In layman’s terms, the policy does not apply to Petrino because he was fired before it was adopted.

Whether Yurachek would even consider bringing him back to Fayetteville is unknown - if not unlikely - but it appears to be an option without a legal hurdle.