Bobby Petrino fired as Louisville coach

11:53 AM ET

Louisville has fired coach Bobby Petrino as the Cardinals have stumbled to a 2-8 record this season, athletic director Vince Tyra announced Sunday.

Louisville's season has bottomed out during a seven-game losing streak and a five-game stretch of ACC defeats by at least 18 points, including blowout losses to Clemson and Syracuse over the past two weeks. The Cardinals are averaging 21.7 points per game this season, lowest in the ACC. This comes after leading the conference in scoring each of the past two seasons.

Tyra said he "did not have the confidence" that Petrino could turn things around next season and that the change "needs to start happening now."

The athletic director added that a new coach would be chosen soon to "restore our football program to national prominence."

Petrino is owed a $14.1 million buyout by the university that will be paid out over the next few years, a source told ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

A news conference was scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Petrino leaves Louisville with a 77-35 record in two stints at the school (2003-06, 2014-18). This will be the first year that a Petrino-coached Cardinals team will not go to a bowl game.

He is 119-56 in his career with Louisville, Arkansas and Western Kentucky.

The Cardinals finish the season with home games against ranked teams in NC State and Kentucky.

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