LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Bobby Petrino is back for a second stint as Louisville's football coach, returning to the school he calls home.
Petrino coached Western Kentucky to an 8-4 record last season in his only year with the team. He led the Cardinals to a 41-9 mark from 2003-06. He succeeds Charlie Strong, who left last weekend after four years to accept the Texas job.
"It's great to get the opportunity to come back here," Petrino said during a news conference Thursday. "This is our home."
Petrino inherits a team coming off a 12-1 finish and gearing up to join the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.
He received a seven-year contract with a base annual salary of $3.5 million. It includes a $10 million buyout for leaving that decreases after four years. But the well-traveled coach said that will not be necessary because this is his "destination job."
Petrino is 83-30 as a college coach. His record includes a 34-17 mark at Arkansas that ended amid scandal in April 2012. He came to the Razorbacks after a 3-10 season in 2007 with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons that ended with the coach announcing his departure by letters left at the players' lockers.
Western Kentucky athletic director Todd Stewart said in a statement the Cardinals made a "tremendous hire" and wished Petrino well. Though Petrino had been mentioned for the Louisville job almost from the moment Strong left for the Longhorns, the coach said he became aware of the opening only after Cardinals athletic director Tom Jurich approached Stewart for permission to interview him.