Bret Bielema To Arkansas!

What about Rob Wheelwright? Any chance we could snag him?

Some Wisconsin fans over on Bucky's 5th Quarter were all about the idea of pursuing Tressel, until a Buckeye fan informed them that Tressel's still serving that show cause penalty.

from Boise?  I thought he was going to Arkansas.

This is a hire that Arkansas will regret.  Bielema is not a good fit.  He is very much a niche coach at a niche program.  On more than one occasion, he has expressed his disdain for dirty recruiting.  He's going to hate being in the SEC West.  It will take at least a few years to build the type of team the he has run in Wisconsin, unless he scraps that approach and is more of a CEO type.  He is so strongly identified with Manball that it's hard for me to see him doing that. 

stupid people make me very, very happy.  and there's plenty of stupid to go around here.  so, so wonderful.

Since some athletic directors still have to worry about spending within their limits, it's probably a good time to remind people of this chart at the end of this story:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/2011-06-15-athletic-departments-increase-money_n.htm

There were only 22 D1 programs which were profitable in 2009/2010.

Of those 22:

8 B1G

6 SEC (included Texas A&M even though they were in Big12 at the time)

5 Big12

2 Pac12

1 ACC

Say what you want about the B1G not spending for coaches, but some day you have to live within your means or you start dropping programs like Maryland recently did. Wait, sorry what did you say, Maryland is now in the B1G...awwww shi......

let's not pretend that arkansas is some sort of destination job.  the last coach to last ten years there was houston nutt, who flirted with half a dozen jobs while he was there.  before that, it was frank broyles, who retired THIRTY SIX YEARS AGO.

since then, it's been retreads (danny ford), job hoppers (lou holtzth, petrino, ken hatfield), and wtfs (jack crowe).  this isn't a place like alabama or florida or texas where you anyone with a pulse can win at least a little bit. 

as lou holtz famously said, "fayetteville isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from there."  kinda like wisconsin, actually.  second tier to second tier.

What's the point of all this goddamned fucking money if the Big Ten can't even keep the good coaches it has, let alone hire new ones. 

If Purdue misses out on Butch Jones because of penny-pinching bullshit, I'm going to be pissed. This league is going to hell. 

I wonder if this is beacuse of Nebraska joining the conference?  He may have been worried about recruiting against Ohio, Michigan (with renewed interest in Ohio), MSU and now Nebraska.

**Edit** Not like going against LSU and Bama is going to be any easier on the recruiting trail.

Tom Bradley, Skip Holtz, Darrell Hazell, Pat Narduzzi. , ,

How has no one mentioned THE PROCESS with this yet?

Jeez, Ark just hired away the coach who is (was?) about to coach in the fcuking ROSE BOWL for the 3rd straight year, 4 weeks before the game, and NO ONE knew about it. Compare that to THE PROCESS from 3 years ago and the CLUSTERFUCK from 5 years ago.

how the hell did Ark's AD become competant and M's become the Central States Division of FUBAR, Inc.

Book it.

Who has a verbal with Wisconsin for 2013 (other than their yearly transfer QB)  that we may now have on our wish list?

if this fails he left a Wisconsin job where would be an absolute legend.

B1G schools need to start paying coaches competitively - if not more so - or this conference will continue to suck. Expanding the footprint and the B1G network are the right moves demographically and financially but we need to see schools invest those benefits into making a better product on field. Or else this is all a waste.

that he wanted out from under the Barry Alveras shadow. If that's the case, I don't blame him. If he left for the money/ ego then f him. He could have been at Wisconsin forever.

I suspect Alvarez may hire himself back as coach.

always thought he has that slightly inbred look that goes so well with the whole Arkansas thang.

It's not like Bielema wasn't very well paid already. Madison's a great midwestern city, Wisconsin is a well-regarded state school with a solid athletic history in the Big Ten, and Bielema was doing about as well there as anybody could realistically expect.

From a national perspective, Arkansas is no higher up the food chain than Wisconsin is, and from a competitive standpoint, it's certainly going to be no easier for Bielema down there.

My hunch is that we'll eventually find out this happened because of internal friction between Bielema and Alvarez, and that money is only part of it, not the cause.

Will Bret Bielema still be coaching at Arkansas when we play them in 2018?

My guess is no.

Michigan may benefit with both of these guys.  I talked with both of them tonight.

http://www.themblock.com/2012/12/recruiting-impact-of-bielema-leaving.html

this just doesn't seem to make sense. i always thought he would stick around until ferentz retired and go home to Iowa as hc.
i will always remember his statements about tatgate!

I always thought Bielema's meaty noggin' would make an excellent head cheese

Now that he's goin' down south we just might get a chance to find out!