LITTLE ROCK — The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and its board chairman on Tuesday made donations totaling $1.25 million to the University of Arkansas in recognition of UA Athletic Director Jeff Long’s handling of the Bobby Petrino scandal.
The foundation donated $1 million to the university. Fred W. Smith, chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees, made a separate, personal donation of $250,000.
“The courageous leadership demonstrated by Jeff Long in the course of recent events has further affirmed our confidence in his leadership and his vision for intercollegiate athletics at the University of Arkansas,” Smith said in a news release issued by the university. “Mr. Long acted with integrity and with the best interests of Razorback student-athletes and the University of Arkansas in mind.”
Long fired Petrino as Arkansas’ head football coach on April 10 after Petrino admitted he had misled university officials and the public in an effort to prevent disclosure of an inappropriate relationship. After an April 1 motorcycle accident, Petrino, who is married with four children, initially concealed the fact that his student-athlete development coordinator, Jessica Dorrell, was a passenger on the motorcycle.
Petrino had hired Dorrell four days before the accident without informing university officials of their relationship.
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Long said Tuesday he was”truly humbled” by the donations.
The donations will help fund the university’s planned Student Athlete Success Center, a resource and study center and dining hall for use by UA’s 460 student-athletes. Smith also requested that the university’s existing student-athlete development program be named the Jeff Long Student-Athlete Development Program.
The foundation is named for Reynolds, who founded Donrey Media Group, now Stephens Media. Smith is a former president of Donrey. The Arkansas News Bureau is a Stephens Media company.