Sources: Arkansas to hire Bret Bielema as new football coach

[ralaw]

In a stunning coup, Arkansas will hire Wisconsin's Bret Bielema as its next football coach, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

Bret Bielema had been head coach at Wisconsin since 2006. (AP)

Bielema, who has taken the Badgers to three straight Rose Bowls, was nowhere on the radar amid months of speculation over who Arkansas would hire.

An announcement will come Tuesday, sources told Y! Sports, but Bielema is not expected to be introduced until Wednesday.

Details of Bielema's contract at Arkansas are not yet known, but the school was said to have a major war chest for this coaching search.

Bielema, 42, is leaving the only job he's had as a head coach, and the school where he has worked since 2004. Bielema was defensive coordinator for two seasons under Barry Alvarez before becoming Wisconsin's head coach in 2006. He's gone 68-24 in Madison, with four seasons with 10 or more victories. Wisconsin advanced to its third consecutive Rose Bowl Saturday with an upset romp over Nebraska in the Big Ten Conference championship game.

Arkansas suspected last spring that it would be searching for a head coach at the end of this season, after hiring John L. Smith as its interim coach. Smith succeeded Bobby Petrino, who was fired following a scandal involving his mistress, who he had hired and put on the Arkansas payroll.


The only way Smith could have kept the Arkansas job full-time was to have a glorious season, and the Razorbacks fell well short of that. They went 4-8 after starting the season in the top 10.

So Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long had a long time to plan his search, but it still took a while before settling on Bielema. There were preliminary talks with LSU coach Les Miles that both sides said did not result in an offer, as Miles re-upped with the Tigers. Several other names were floated over the past several weeks, while Bielema's name never hit public radar until today.

It will be an interesting fit for Bielema, who has spent his entire playing and coaching career in the midwest. He was a nose guard at Iowa and an assistant coach at Iowa and Kansas State before moving to Madison. But clearly Long was less worried about getting someone with Southern ties than he was getting someone with an established winning record.

Although Bielema's winning percentage of .739 is the highest of any Wisconsin coach since George Little in 1925-26, he struggled to escape the shadow of program architect Alvarez – who remains at the school as its athletic director. Wisconsin's relatively modest facilities might also have been an issue for Bielema – a problem he will not encounter at Arkansas.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sources--arkansas-to-hire-bret-bielema-195732340.html

I'm sort of surprised by this, because I've always seen Bielema as a guy that would stay at Wisc. for a long time.

 

[NAHSTE]

If you are scoring at home, the 3rd best job in the Big Ten is equal to the 8th or 9th best job in the SEC.

:rvp:

 

[Sportsbuck]

And this is why the B10 is as bad as it is now-a-days: coaching.

The B10 makes the most money out of any conference in CFB, and logically you would think that would allow them to pay coaches more and allocate more for assistants, but for whatever reason that has never taken shape.

 

[Rudi]

Wow did not see this coming. Like ralaw said, I always thought Beilema would stay at Wisconsin. Oh well, fuck that guy.

 

[Primetime]

Beilema is not a good coach. Good recruiter, but a terrible game manager. Not really upset about this as a Badgers fan.

 

[Goober]

Beilema is not a good coach. Good recruiter, but a terrible game manager. Not really upset about this as a Badgers fan.

Pretty much this. Just worried about this hurting our recruiting this year.

 

[Goober]

Looks like Barry Alvarez will coach Badgers in the Rose Bowl. Fuck yeah.

 

[Herm]

Last year, Bielema was quoted “We at the Big Ten don’t want to be like the SEC in any way, shape or form” when referencing Ohio State and former Florida head coach Urban Meyer’s recruiting tactics.

 

[Rudi]

Bielema 15-16 combined against OSU, Michigan, PSU, MSU, Iowa, Nebraska. No big OOC wins. 2-4 in bowls (0-2 BCS)

lolz

 

[Senser81]

If you are scoring at home, the 3rd best job in the Big Ten is equal to the 8th or 9th best job in the SEC.

:rvp:

Thats why the SEC hires such brilliant coaches as John L. Smith, Gene Chizik, Lane Kiffin, and Derek Dooley.

 

[Cornelius]

Running to Arkansas because he's scared of Urban.

 

[NAHSTE]

Thats why the SEC hires such brilliant coaches as John L. Smith, Gene Chizik, Lane Kiffin, and Derek Dooley.

John L. wasn't "hired" per se. He was given a 10 month contract to babysit the players, but point taken on the others.

 

[Senser81]

John L. wasn't "hired" per se. He was given a 10 month contract to babysit the players, but point taken on the others.

For a long time I thought the Big10 always had the best coaches (Tressel, Alvarez, Tiller, Randy Walker, Paterno, Ferentz when Iowa was good, etc.) and the SEC had the best players. I think the Big10 has really gone downhill when it comes to coaches, in spite of the hiring of Meyer. When Bo Pellini can consistently win in your conference, something is wrong. Mark D'Antonio isn't much better.

Side note, why is Houston Nutt such a persona-non-grata? Surprised his name doesn't really ever come up.

 

[NAHSTE]

Side note, why is Houston Nutt such a persona-non-grata? Surprised his name doesn't really ever come up.

He's seen as damaged goods in the south due to the way he left his previous two jobs. Plus he's one of the poster-boys for renegade over-signing and abuse of the JUCO system (his 43-signee final class at Ole Miss is the stuff of legend). He's a good, resourceful coach who gets the most out of his players, but he cares little about building an actual foundation.

A program that just needed a quick mercenary for a few years to raise their profile might do well with him, but he is the wrong choice for an up and coming program that needs stability. His results were so up and down year-to-year in the SEC because his roster turnover and academic attrition would be so extreme every off-season.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Running to Arkansas because he's scared of Urban.

Pretty much. And I hate tOSU.

 

[NAHSTE]

Running to Arkansas because he's scared of Urban.

Oh you mean the same conference Urban tail tucked away from like a bitch? The one with Nick Saban in it?

Riiiiiiight.

 

[ralaw]

Oh you mean the same conference Urban tail tucked away from like a bitch? The one with Nick Saban in it?

Riiiiiiight.

LOL, Yeah that has to be it. Lets leave the Big10 where he has been one of the more successful coaches and go to the SEC, which is crowded with great coaches and teams. Whatever helps B0g10 fans sleep better at night I guess. LOL

 

[NAHSTE]

LOL, Yeah that has to be it. Lets leave the Big10 where he has been one of the more successful coaches and go to the SEC, which is crowded with great coaches and teams. Whatever helps B0g10 fans sleep better at night I guess. LOL

And a 4-4 conference record gets you the Rose Bowl nowadays in the Big Ten.

:homieslol:

 

[Rudi]

Brett Bielema, the guy who met his wife at a casino.

 

[Cornelius]

And a 4-4 conference record gets you the Rose Bowl nowadays in the Big Ten.

:homieslol:

Yeah, Bielema is awesome. Losing to Richrod in Richrod's first year at Michigan = awesome.

I guess he'll have to hang 80 on Vanderbilt instead of Indiana now.