Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

8/17/2010 at 8:55pm

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino reprimanded an employee of Hog Sports Radio on Saturday for wearing a Florida Gator cap to a post-scrimmage press conference. You can watch video of Petrino's comment above.

Apparently there were further consequences for radio host Renee Gork, who committed the fashion and professional faux pas while on the clock for 99.5 FM in NWA.

Gork, a University of Florida graduate tweeted Monday from the station’s Twitter account that she had been fired. Her hope was to apologize on air.

“Was hoping to publicly apologize to coach Petrino and UA fans on the show today, but I won't get that chance now ... I've been fired.”

Hog Sports Radio general manager Dan Storrs said it is the station’s policy not to comment on personnel matters. However, he did add “I’d like to wish Renee the best in her future endeavors. I think Renee is very talented.”

Petrino was asked a question by Gork, following the scrimmage. He answered, but then glared at her and voiced his frustration over the hat.

"And that will be the last question I answer with that hat on."

Gork appeared on the T.J. Carpenter Show on Monday afternoon and said she didn’t realize Petrino was serious. It seemed like “a joke” she said.

“If I’d really thought he was serious and was very upset and mad at the situation I would have taken it off. I really did think it was a joke and just kind of a jab. It wasn’t until after the press conference that one of the [media relations staff] members told me it wasn’t. I was very surprised. I felt bad. I did not have any intention of trying to make a big deal out of it or anything like that.”

Why so much anger from Petrino over the hat? He was already upset over a lackluster scrimmage and he's mentioned several times he still harbors disappointment from last year's 23-20 loss at Florida.

Fans online were upset by Gork’s hat choice. She spawned numerous threads on message boards and, according to posts, sparked an e-mail and phone campaign to the station and its advertisers.

Personal information from Gork’s Facebook page found its way onto message boards, Hogville.net in particular. Eventually, the settings on her Facebook page were set to private, but not after earlier posts she made complaining about the Razorbacks and praising the Gators were found by enraged fans.

ArkansasSports360.com, Wholehogsports and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette all mentioned the exchange between the Hog Sports Radio employee and Petrino in coverage of Saturday’s scrimmage. None of the outlets mentioned the station or the reporter’s name.

In a tweet on her Hog Sports Radio Twitter account, Renee Gork says she was fired after wearing a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas Razorbacks news conference.

Renee Gork responds to unhappy followers on her personal Twitter account.

Tagged: media, Hog Sports Radio, Renee Gork, Arkansas Razorbacks, Bobby Petrino, Florida Gators