WATCH: Bobby Petrino issues emotional apology to Arkansas fans, receives standing ovation

We will always remember how Bobby Petrino’s tenure at Arkansas ended: wreck on a motorcycle with a mistress who he had hired in the athletic department and a press conference with a beat-up Petrino in a neck brace.

The coach returned to the Natural State on Monday to speak to the Little Rock TD Club where, despite the way things went, received a standing ovation from the crowd.

The cause for the welcome reception? Petrino, maybe for the first time since his dismissal in 2012, apologized for how everything went down.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about it and I wanted to be able to come here and to apologize to everybody, the fans, the players, and truly tell you how sorry I am for the way it ended,” Petrino said while getting choked up. “But I also wanted to come here to thank you for everything people in this room, in this state, did for me and my family. You were great to us. You are a special, special group. Special crowd. You don’t really understand how much of an effect you have on players and their families.”

You can view the full video below:

?WATCH: Here's the full clip of Bobby Petrino apologizing to the crowd at the @LRTouchdownClub, the fans and the players for how everything ended at Arkansas, that lead to a standing ovation.

Also urges Razorback fans to keep supporting the team #WPS pic.twitter.com/jL9BJeQFx0

— Ben Creighton (@Ben_CreightonTV) September 9, 2019

Brian Stultz

Brian Stultz covers SEC football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. A graduate of Auburn University, he is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @brianjstultz.