FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas says Jessica Dorrell, the 25-year-old football department employee whose affair with former football coach Bobby Petrino led to his firing, has been placed on paid leave by the university.
University spokesman Steve Voorhies confirmed Dorrell's leave Friday morning, saying the school would issue no more details because the situation is a personnel matter.
Dorrell, a former Arkansas volleyball player, was a Razorback Foundation fundraiser before her hiring as the football team's student-athlete development coordinator by Petrino on March 28. Her salary is $55,735.
Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said Petrino gave Dorrell a gift of $20,000 before her hiring, and phone records show the two exchanged more than 4,300 text messages and nearly 300 phone calls over the past seven months.
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