My initial thoughts when I heard Bielema was the man were
“No. Way…….Puke. Jeff Long seriously
just went north of Bentonville and got a coach?
The same guy that gave us a physical butt whippin and out coached
Houston Nutt in the Capital One Bowl???
From the Big 10??!!!! Fat. Slow.
This can’t be happening.” So, I
checked all my “sources” (who had Chris Petersen all but moved in to The Links
on Monday night) and sure enough Bret Bielema was leaving the land of cheese to
call Hogs.
Bret Bielema.
Ba-lee-me-uh Bee-li-muh. Bee-la-muh.
I can say it 10,000 times and
still not say it right. People have
asked me to spell it and my reply is simply, “It just has one ‘T’.” I’ll give him 3 trips to the overpriced
catfish place before he’s just Coach B.
So, no matter how many times I practiced his name and got it right and
then wrong and then right again, I figured I better track his history and see
what we’ve got ourselves into.
Bee-la-ma…….
In seven seasons at Whisky Coach B was 68-24. Again, one of those wins came in the 2007
Capital One Bowl which I will discredit in this space as in hindsight we now
know that Hootie was texting just minutes before kickoff as he dropped a
pre-gamer. Even taking that win away, B
had a 73% winning percentage. In those 7
years Whisky kept their bowling shoes slick, as they bowled every year
including 3 straight Rose Bowls (this year a little farce as Ohio St cheats and
State Pen is on proby). Regardless, 3
straight Rose Bowls has never been done at Wisconsin.
Bielema’s recruiting can be looked at from both sides of the
fence. His last 3 classes ranked 88th,
40th and 56th.
Those types of classes aren’t going to win National Championships, much
less the SEC West. Or are they?? Wisconsin can be compared almost directly to
Arkansas as far as in state talent, and Bielema sets his foundation in
state. 88th, 40th
and 56th went to 3 straight Rose Bowls. Yes, they’ve been to the Rose Bowl. No, they haven’t won any of them.
This is where the negatives come for Coach B. That 68-24 record broken down looks like
this: In the BIG Bielema and Wisconsin were
23-1 against Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue. He has never lost a game in the state of
Indiana. But against the “BIG Boys”
Bielema’s Badgers were just 16-18 and possibly the scariest stat of them all is
that Wisconsin never beat a team ranked higher than them on the road.
Bielema won the press conference with Arkansas fans this
week, a task that wasn’t hard for him to do at all. After all, the guy was raised on a 2,500 head
hog farm. Some things are just meant to
be. Bielema has a blue collar work ethic
and his statement that players in year one here will be good but in year four
will be great is what gives me the most hope in him. He has a passion for people, especially those
that love what they do, and a passion for the game of football. His personality will be contagious and his
work ethic will be rigorous. How
contagious is he? Enough that doubling down
on a hard 12 and splitting 7’s at a blackjack table landed him his 28 year old
wife. This guy goes for it on 4th
and 4!
There’s a lot to like about Bielema and there’s a lot not to
like. But he’s the man that Jeff Long
has put in charge and he’s here to “give us things we’ve never had.” It may be a bit of a process, but I think you’ll
know if he’s a winner after one season.
If he can win 6 games with what he just walked into, he can flat out coach. Most have called the hire a “home run” or “walk
off grand slam.” That’s baseball talk
folks. This is football. Once Bret
Bielema gets a taste of Grub’s Pizza dip, the Total Package Burger and some
fries, this hire will be a 6 minute, 99 yard, smash-mouth, touchdown drive!!
Merry Christmas and Happy Hogidays!!
Superfan
