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BIG TEN!
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sources--arkansas-to-hire-bret-biele...
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 today, sources told Y! Sports, but Bielema is not expected to be introduced until Wednesday.
Never saw this one coming.
That's the best they could do?
Why would he jump? Money?
Always. The. Money.
People in Wisconsin wanted this guy out. If he hadn't beat Nebraska, he may have been gone anyways. I think this was a bit of a let me get out on my own terms, rather than wait until I get fired.
I know that Bielema was not much of a Madison type. But neither is Alvarez. Bielema didn't go to UW, I know, but he was Alvarez's guy. The hand-picked, personally-groomed heir. And as far as I know, the money guys behind the program (the Kellners, et al) were all very satisfied with Alvarez/Bielema.
This is huge, because I wonder how long Alvarez wants to stick around. Does he want to do a coaching search? Is a new coach hampered by the fact that Alvarez might hire him and then soon after be gone? (See, e.g., Martin, Bill / Rodriguez, Rich)
I'll admit, its somewhat hearsay. The best I can say is I have a lot of family and friends who went to Wisconsin, and I grew up with them tied with michigan as my team. Ever since the TCU loss people havn't been satisfied (there was some suspect play calling at the end of that game). Then there was a sense that last years team was their shot, and that didn't even work out as they hoped (again, suspect play calling like trying for the win against MSU, which gave them the ball back to get the hail mary). Remeber too, this year he lost a lot of his staff (i can't recall who off the top of my head, sorry) then fired his OL coach during the season. There was a sense that the ship was sinking, if not this year, then soon. Also, with Ball leaving, and no transfer QB in sight, they were not going to imrove next year.
I'm still pretty shocked, but things were definetly not warm and cozy in madison anymore, and they were headed the wrong direction.
If Badger fans are calling for a Wisconsin coach's head for losing tight games in Rose Bowls, they're delusional.
Not sure why he would want to leave a solid gig at Wisco for Arkansas.
with Arkansas' (S-E-C) name. This is bad news for the B1G.
The truly ironic thing is that no more than 6 months ago, Burt was saying that the B1G wants nothing to do with the way the SEC recruits.
He had problem with Urban Meyer's recruiting...then goes to the SEC
Makes no sense
SEC always gotta be hiring B1G coaches. With the money our schools dish out you'd think more of them would go after top coaches.
I grew up a Wisco fan, and I have a lot of family and friends from Wisconsin. His popularity was actually very low by the end of this season. Had he not pulled that Nebraska victory out of nowhere, my money was on him being gone anyways. Ever since the TCU rose bowl people have been getting frustraited.
Arkansas is tossing around $5 million a year offers to coaches like Les Miles. Bielema made $2.5 million at Wiscy. If Bielema does sign for this much, though, I will be surprised that Arkansas didn't find more for their money.
is a douche.
I have no thoughts on the substance of the article. Just felt like that needed to be said.
Ummmm wow is really an understatement....really Bielema?
I will not be too upset if I never have to see him on the sidelines again, but the loss of a head coach with his record of winning is bad for the conference.
Let the pilfering of recruits begin.
If he makes it last that long, we just scheduled Arkansas for 2018-19
Wow, that's a pretty great hire for Arkansas.
Amazing how on the day Brian writes in Unverified Voracity about underwhelming coaching hires, one of the league's best coaches gets poached by the SEC. That just says everything you need to know about the league.
See ya! Even Wisconsin fans will hate him now.
So who will Wisconsin go after now?
Tressel, Gruden or Jesus. No peticular order.
Wisky QB, four-year starter, currently offensive coordinator of the Seahawks.
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John L Smith. Heard he has Big10 experience.
Steve Mariucci
That's a lateral move if I've ever seen one. Must be the $. Who should Wisconsin go after? Petrino? Gruden?
petrino. one d-bag for another.
Paul Chryst?
Good call.
The guy peaked at Wisconsin, but wow, this is a shock.
And the leaders division gets even easier for OHIO.
Gets even easier.
Considering how dominant Wisconsin has been in the Big Ten, really surprising move.
Wow, if he thought talking to other team's commits was dirty, wait til he experiences recruiting in the SEC.
OP beat me to it.
Can't believe Bielema wants out, and have a hard time believing Wisconsin wouldn't pony up more money to keep him there. Let's see how Arkansas likes MANBALL.
In shock here.
Well that's underwhelming. And to think, he's going to coach those kids in the Rose Bowl
my thoughts exactly.. I would love for a big name like Petrino to take the job for the sake of Big Ten competition. It would be nice to establish a reputation for stealing head coaches away from the SEC, maybe eventually steal some of their players. Crist was the first name that came to mind though. Love/hate this time of year
Pitt's my #2 team, but hell, even I think that would be kind of funny.
We're destroying traditions and expanding to make money, right? So, why is it that the conference doesn't pony up for football (except OSU who's dominated the conference).
Thankfully it looks like we're starting to realize that we need to spend money on coaches to win, but the rest of the conference is a joke.
It's time for the Big Ten to start doing what it did in basketball and start hiring some good coaches. Hopefully Wisconsin can hire Petersen or Patterson and doesn't go after some MAC guy or something.
Yeah hopefully not some MAC guy like Bo or Hoke...
and Bo was hired 50 years ago. It's not the 1960s anymore.
Obviously, but discrediting a conference which the two best coaches in the conference have ties to is just asinine
do you not? So did the late Randy Walker and Brian Kelly. 4 of the top 10 coaches in American coached in the MAC. MACTION might get scorned on here, but it is quality football for what the schools have to work with.
MAC football is fun to watch and cheap to see. Why scorn that?
It's more that it's not a good idea to hire a guy straight out of the mac. It rarely has worked out lately.
vvdv
Kill seems like a good coach. If he can get his seizures under control Minnesota might develop into a solid squad. The late Terry Hoepner did a good job of making IU competitive again. If not for tragic deaths the Big Ten would have two solid coaches who came straight from the MACTION.
If anything it seems that coaches who come straight from the MAC seem to suffer health crisies.:Hoepper(cancer), Walker(heart attack), and Kill(seizures). It
He was a very average coach who was likable and died tragically. He had one year where he tied in a three-way tie for first. Northwestern "won" the Big Ten while being unranked because they managed to upset us and not play OSU. They went to the Alamo Bowl.
Outside of that one year he had one other year with a winning season where he went 7-5.
Kelly was at Cinci before ND.
Saban was the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator before he went to Sparty, he was at Toledo for one year.
Randy Walker had a losing record in the Big Ten, even if you remove his first season.
Urban was at Utah, then Florida
Hoke was at SDSU
Who exactly are you talking about? Almost no one goes from the MAC to a big time program and succeeds.
what the
is also reporting this on the scroll at the bottom of the screen.
When a coach walks away from a game in the Rose Bowl as league champion and goes to an SEC team in serious trouble.
If this is true, it's a humiliation for the Big Ten. The coach of our league's 3-time champ, who has no ties to the South whatsoever, would be leaving for a mid-tier SEC program. Sobering.
We're about to find out if MANBALL can work in the SEC. He's clearly better suited for that conference, what with his enjoyment of running up the score on opponents like an a--hole. Good riddance, I say.
I don't care for him as a person, and I don't even know how a great a coach he even is, but this makes the Big Ten look small time. Arkansas should not be able to raid one of the best Big Ten programs of its coach.
Agreed. Then again, everyone is always talking about money in college football (Dave Brandon likes to on national television). This had to be a money grab on Bielema's part. Sometimes employers are simply unwilling to match competing offers. Good for Wisconsin if they decided not to play the Les Miles/LSU game of chicken.
If Wisconsin thinks Bielema is a great coach and got outbid by Arkansas, they definitely lost. He made $2.5m in 2011, and a good coach could be worth another million. Unless Arkansas is making him a Ferentz-like offer, Wisconsin took the short end of the stick on this one.
True, but these things never end up well for the people that are in comfortable positions but are looking for more money. Inevitably, the current employer eventually tells them to go pound sand, the employee leaves for "greener" pastures and finds that everything other than the money is sh-ttier than their previous position. I've seen it numerous times in my personal life. As I get older, the more I realize that money isn't everything (and this is coming from a lawyer that will be paying off his school loans until the year 2419).
Yeah, it appears the clock for Alabama and their frilly spread has finally run out.
I think that Alabama has proven that MANBALL can work in the SEC. Problem is, Saban has no shame in bending the rules to the limit with regards to recruiting...so MANBALL at Arkansas will have to work without the best talent in the country year in and year out. Good luck with that.
That's about how I see it as well. I can only imagine this had to do with money or that Bielema clashed with the AD on some issue (similar why RR left WV). With all of the money the B10 network is raking in, it is absolutely puzzling why a coach of one of the conference's top programs would bolt for a midling program in the SEC. Even as it gets richer, the B1G continues to get worse.
Joe Schad reports now. LOL. Bye bye wisconsin.
It's really not that funny... i mean i can literally see the path for Ohio to the B1G game as we speak
and PSU was slammed by sanctions, Ohio was going to have a cake walk. Meyer.>>>>>Bielema.
I do think realignment is in order now that Maryland and Rutgers are coming into the conference. I suspect Ohio will be given some stiffer competition at that time.
I can't wait to see him try to run up the score in the SEC.
i wonder if he would come back for a year, so they could do a full coaching search.
Arkansas knows a guy who can step in for a year to allow for a full coaching search after a coach surprisingly leaves...
Guess he really is as dumb as the look on his face !
Although He's lost some of his closest assistants over the years, I just don't see, outside of a money grab, that this makes any sense. You compete year in and year out (3 straight B1G titles), have a niche recruiting market in the Wisconsin/MN area, great fan base, etc... It all speaks to one of two things.....or probably both. 1. Money 2. Ego/desire to win bigger things
Now that I think about it, I guess I can't blame him for it.
Not really that strange given the recent collapse of the Big tens football programs. The mac is probably better from top to bottom than the big ten right now. The SeC is best conference in football by far , so maybe he wanted a chanllenge.
To the folks saying bye bye Wisconsin. i remember folks saying the same thing when Alvarez retired. They've had more success under bielima than they did under Alvarez. We'll see who they hire
You realize the eleventh place Big Ten team beat the Orange Bowl bound MAC champion, right? The other team in that game lost by 33 to a two win Kentucky team. Here's that slate, by conference standings. Also, Sagarin Predictor spreads for a neutral site game:
NIU v. OSU -5
KSU v. Nebraska -10
BGSU v. Michigan -16.5
Ball State v. Penn State -13
Toledo v. Northwestern -11.5
CMU v. Wisconsin -28
Ohio v. Michigan State -18
Buffalo v. Purdue -16.5
Miami v. Indiana -13
WMU v. Minnesota -8
UMass v. Iowa -29.5
EMU v. Illinois -7.5
That's not factoring in Akron (0-8, eight point loss at home to UMass) into the equation; the Big Ten is favored by double digits in 9/12 games, and is more than a touchdown favorite in two others.
Don't see him doing well at Arkansas. So much for Chris Petersen going there.
He sure as hell isn't going to win his conference again.
Live in little rock and all news stations here just verified!! Wtf!!! Shocker here...
In the community.
Unless there is $ at stake.
It's all about the journey.
I'm making my prediction now. The B1G is in negotiations to add Arkansas as its 15th member. As part of the agreement to join, Arkansas gets Bielema and assistant coaches to be named later from the B1G. In return, the B1G gets to again expand it's footprint.
of the SEC coaching fraternity. He's also really relatable to a lot of Arkansas fans.
The natural string of events is:
Bielema to Arkansas
Chryst to Wisconsin
Todd Graham back to Pitt. I hear he's got family up there. Or something.
Granted I wasn't following this coaching search closely, but I was under the impression that not only was Chris Petersen pretty much a done deal, but that the quite successul and beloved hand picked heir to the Alvarez throne would never think of leaving. Wow. Just wow.
Dave Doeren feels like an idiot right now
This won't end well for Bielema. Petersen rejected them and they grabbed the first name coach they could. Tenn did this with Kiffin.
I think this is a dumb move. He is a midwest kid that has a good thing going on at Wisconsin. I could see him havinfg several medocre years at Arkansas then geting fired. He would then have a tough time getting a job as good as Wisconsins ever again.
He may make more money in the short run, but long term this is a bad move.
I can be the Les Miles of Arkansas. Though the recruiting situation is very different. He may also have NFL aspirations and know that he's going to never have a run like this again with OSU on the rise under Urban Meyer.
I think it's a bold move and I admire him for it. Yes, it makes the B1G look inferior (highly) to the SEC but that's the reality.
The ultimate jerk to the ultimate cheater conference. I love it.
Wow. This would be the definition of things no one saw coming.
That being said, I will agree with others who said this is a bit of an indictment on the state of affairs in the Big Ten. Bielema is (now, was) 68-24 with multiple 10-win seasons and three trips to the Rose Bowl to his credit, so it certainly wasn't a move in advance of potential unemployment. Reports also say he wants to coach the Rose Bowl game, so that will be an interesting atmosphere in Madison for the next month.
Definitely an upgrade from John L. Smith, of course. In a strange season for the Big Ten, this has to be one of the strangest things to come out of it yet. The few tweets that I have seen from Arkansas fans show some underwhelmed responses, but then it basically just happened.
What's the point of all the btn $$$ if the most successful coach in our league (wow that is pathetic in itself) leaves for a mid tier school
Hold me, Matt Godin.
Paul Chryst to Wisconsin?
LOL Pitt.
Lost the quick draw. Nice call.
hope he is happy with his decision... i can see him looking for another job in the next 3-5 years
Charlie Chryst back to Wisconsin
Well, hiring the former Governor of Florida would definitely make headlines and give a recruiting edge in SEC country
who is charlie chryst??... do you mean paul chryst
Jesus Chryst.
He is expected to be their savior.
it would be his second coming
wow, way to abandon your team before its third straight rose bowl. what's next? wisconsin running the spread?
Someone is scared of urban Meyer...
"Hold me, Nick Saban!"
- Bret Bielema?
Moreso meant that he was afraid of his recent shine wearing off preventing him from getting an Arkansas type job. Not that there is less to fear in the sec.
urban to Wisky
it's one of his 12 dream jobs
Milwaukee resident here: people I know are not upset about this, mostly because they have always known how much of a douchebag he is. They are of the opinion that he has coasted on the success of Alverez and that the next coach will pick up right where Burt left off. I am unqualified to have an opinion on Bielema's ability to coach, but I d know that he's a total ass hole and am personally glad that he is no longer associated with Wisconsin. I know many will say that I am wrong because he wins, and winning is more important for the conference than not being an ass hole, but I disagree. I think the most important rule in life is don't be an ass hole
I suspected something like this. Either he was coasting somehow or he knew that Wiscy would have some difficulties ahead.
That rule should be codified somewhere. Its a pretty good rule.
I will be crucified for this, but I am really not all that concerned with losing Bielema. I realize he has had success at Wisconsin (3 Rose Bowls) and a winning record. I also understand this looks bad for the big Ten, but i think Wisconsin can bring in someone to do just as well. It is not like Bielema was a sexy hire when he was promoted to Head Coach. I just was never impressed with him as a head coach. I think a lot of the success was driven by his coordinators, which of course reflects well on him as the head coach as he hired them. I just do not believe he will be successful with his style of football in the SEC unless he is able to do some phenomenal recruiting. Wisconsin when compared to an SEC program like Arkansas does not have near the pressure to win. He is going to feel that pressure to win from day one. I understand the allure of the SEC as they are the hot conference and the South is a hotbed of recruiting, but be careful what you wish for. Win big and win fast or get fired before they contract is up.
to mention that much of his success was recruiting luck. Not trying to knock him for it, but let’s be honest. He managed to get Russell Wilson for one year. No way they would have had success last year without him. Same comment in regards to not having Montee Ball. This year they really were not very good in a weak Big ten conference. Yes they are going to the rose Bowl, but they back doored there way in with 2 teams in their division not being bowl eligible.
I am suprised that no one has metioned this yet so I must be crazy. I don't think he was scared of Urban and OSU but after 5-6 great years at Wis and having the pick of the litter when it came to HUGE OL and POWER running back recruits with the increased number of B1G teams going to the spread (RR years), Now Hoke is putting togather a better version of what he wants to do and Wisc wont be able to recruit the guys they want. Maybe I am crazy but I think he saw that there was no where to go but down in the pecking order in the B1G and now is the best time to get out. Thoughts?
A better version of what [Bielema] wants to do...? What? What have we done that looks anything like Wisconsins running game, much less to do so better than they do...
This looks real good. Big Ten champs lose their coach to a middle of the pack SEC team. Big Ten, start opening your checkbooks god dammit.
Wisconsin has the 6th best record in a 12 team conference. Arkansas had the 12th best record in a 14 team conference. Maybe Arkansas just wanted to be back to the middle of the pack...
Honestly, he jumped ship when the time was perfect for him. He'd gone to 2 Rose Bowl games previously (legit), then was gifted a 3rd for his resume...that's as much as he could hope for. I'd bet that Dantonio is wishing he'd have gauged interest after last year, as his stock may have peaked and he may have missed any potential opportunities.
Only problem I have with it is that is leaves the school you're bailing on hanging, along with the recruits that these coaches had built relationships with. The NCAA obviously has more flaws than can be counted...but this is one of many rules that should be changed. Make them wait until after the bowls to talk to potential suitors. Maybe this would get the bowl games bumped up a bit a week as well.
This will basically assure that one of them goes to the Big Ten CC every year and the loser still probably goes to a BCS game as the "2nd best" team in the conf.
a win win for the Big Ten with both programs in the BCS most years.
A move like this isn't necessarily about B1G vs SEC.
There might have been some friction between Bielema and Alvarez that we don't know about. Sure, it might have been the money, maybe Alvarez is just cheap. It might have simply been time for him to make a move just because he wanted to do something different. He's a pretty young guy. Maybe he just felt itchy.
I don't much care for the guy, in any event. Wisconsin will (I hope) maintain its profile as a good team, because the B1G needs good teams.
Totally didn't see this one coming
Bielema a is running away from Urban Meyer only to land right in Nick Saban's lap.
Smart move, Bielema......
If Wisconsin wants to hire Alvarez back, I'd have no problem with that. We had no problem beating him every year.
and I'm sure these sentiments are shared by any Stevie Breaston fan:
good riddance to that prick!
Rich Rod
