Never say never in sports. But I will truly be shocked the next time an NFL team turns to the college ranks to find a head coach. OK, maybe USC's Pete Carroll might stand as an exception, if only because he is a proven commodity, having--like Norv Turner, who got his third chance this season-- already flopped with two NFL teams.

Bobby Petrino is the latest college wonder to sign on with the NFL--in his case the Atlanta Falcons--and quickly retreat back to the college ranks. His was certainly the most disgraceful exit yet. Petrino left for the University of Arkansas with his team mired in last place in the NFC South and three games remaining on the schedule of his rookie season. Hell, he wanted out so badly that he took about a two million dollar annual pay cut to get out of Atlanta. In the great Georgia tradition, frankly my dears, he didn't give a damn.

He joins ranks with two other celebrated college football coaches, Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban, who, after brief flirtation with the NFL and dismal results, sought sanctuary back in the college ranks and, in particular, the SEC. I had dinner with Spurrier at a Virginia steakhouse shortly after he was named Washington Redskins coach. Let me admit I was totally charmed listening to how football was football, he wasn't one of those obsessive 24/7 guys and he sure wasn't going to give up his golf game. Which added up to a 12-20 record over two seasons, before he headed off to University of South Carolina and the links. And after two season there, with his name--surprise, surprise!--in play for openings at the University of Alabama and the University of Miami, Spurrier got an extension and a raise to $1.75 million per season.

Of course, that's chickenfeed compared to the record, eight-year, $32 million deal that Alabama tendered to lure Saban away from the Miami Dolphins. Saban, billed as the NFL's next Belichickean genius after winning a national championship at LSU, stumbled to a 15-17 record in two season in Miami. Of course with hindsight, as the Dolphins threaten to go winless this year, that might have been his most brilliant coaching job yet. And who wouldn't believe him when he proclaims that Alabama will be his final stop on the coaching carousel?

Petrino, of course, had no idea when he took the Falcons gig that Michael Vick was about to begin a prison stint rather than his seventh NFL season with Atlanta. But he certainly should have had a clue that pro athletes weren't going to be quite as intimidated by and welcoming of his dictatorial style; the near mutiny by his players now stands as his NFL legacy. I'm sure when those Arkansas kids meet roadblocks, they will be appropriately inspired when Petrino tells them to man up and just push on through it.

At the same time, Falcons owner Arthur Blank has to take much of the blame. He certainly would never have run Home Depot this way. If Blank (or anybody for that matter) still believes that character remains an important part of leadership in NFL football, he had plenty of warning signs about both his quarterback and his coach. He chose to ignore them and embraced both men enthusiastically. Enough has already been said about Vick's betrayal. Petrino, in 25 years of coaching, has had some 16 different jobs with 11 different teams. Personal ambition seems to have dictated his every move. It was widely known that during his longest stint, four years as head coach at the University of Louisville, he put his name out there for almost every major opening, college or pro. He took the Falcons job shortly after signing a 10-year extension in Louisville. So why would anybody be surprised when, less than a year later, he bolts town and his five-year Falcons deal?

All this will make it awful hard to find a rooting interest when Alabama meets Arkansas next season. I guess all you can really hope for is that Petrino meets with every bit as much success in Fayetteville that Saban did his first season in Tuscaloosa. Alabama managed to lose its final four games of the regular season, including most ignominiously to Louisiana-Monroe (4-3 in the Sun Belt Conference) and, most unhappily, to arch-rival Auburn. They're already writing ballads about Saban down there--and they are funny, but not very fond. Good luck, Nick, in the Independence Bowl.

Petrino is only the latest in a long line of successful college coaches--Dennis Erickson, Lou Holtz, Dan Devine, John McKay to name but a few--who for whatever reason couldn't win in the pros. But can I take back what I said about Pete Carroll? He actually had a winning record--33-31--in four seasons with the Patriots and the Jets and took the Pats to the playoffs twice. By the NFL standards set by Spurrier, Saban and now Petrino, Caroll stands as a giant.