Bret Bielema To Arkansas! Comment Count

Brian

This is not a drill:

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

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.

But like adding Rutgers and Maryland will prevent this sort of thing from happening. People in charge of things are just in charge of them, for no reason.

Comments

Wolverine Pride

December 4th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^

I guess he weighed his options.....

Spend the next ten years looking up at ohio in the big ten

or

Spend the next ten..er I mean three years looking up at Alabama and LSU.

Seems like the decision a complete moron would make.  Fitting.

****Disclosure******  I don't like Bielema, at all, in any way.  He is the clear winner of the "Big Ten Dick of the Year"  award every year.  Now he will have to share that title in the SEC with several of his kind.

 

Wolverine Pride

December 4th, 2012 at 5:40 PM ^

After considering your comment for a split second, I have to agree, can't believe i missed the other two pricks.  Nothing like those three sharing a dick.  I can see it now.  Pelini screaming at a slobbering Bielema to cram it further up Danotio's ass as Dantonio has "that look".  Where's the threat now, dicks.

shogun

December 4th, 2012 at 4:19 PM ^

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.

Hannibal.

December 4th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^

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. 

Romulan Commander

December 4th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^

Decloaking to observe that Arkansas' AD Jeff Long was a grad assistant at Miami (NTM) and assistant for Bo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Long_(athletic_director)

The hiring of the destined-to-fail Mr. Smith should have been an indication of a high opinion of midwestern football stylings. Jeff Long obviously does not think that background in the B1G makes a coach unsuitable for the Razorbacks.

trueblueintexas

December 4th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^

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......

 

matty blue

December 4th, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^

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.

aenima0311

December 4th, 2012 at 4:42 PM ^

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. 

RowoneEndzone

December 4th, 2012 at 4:57 PM ^

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.

Michigan Arrogance

December 4th, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^

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.

 

Seattle Maize

December 4th, 2012 at 5:10 PM ^

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.

HELLE

December 4th, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^

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.

Don

December 4th, 2012 at 6:46 PM ^

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.

thereverend

December 5th, 2012 at 8:29 AM ^

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!

Ernis

December 5th, 2012 at 9:20 AM ^

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!