Coaching Candidate: Bret Bielema

Bret Bielema

Bret Bielema
Age: 44
Current position: Arkansas Razorbacks head coach
Salary: $2,950,000 per year
Head coaching experience: 9-15 at Arkansas Razorbacks (2013-2014), 68-24 at Wisconsin Badgers (2006-2012), 77-39 overall
History: Bielema grew up in Illinois and got a scholarship to Iowa as a defensive tackle. After a short playing stint in the Arena Football League, he latched on at Iowa as a graduate assistant and then the linebackers coach from 1996-2001. Kansas State hired him away as a co-defensive coordinator in 2002-2003, and then he was hired by Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez as the defensive coordinator for 2004 and 2005. After Alvarez retired from coaching, he handed over the reins to Bielema. The Badgers continued their string of highly productive running backs, starting with P.J. Hill (1,161+ yards from 2006-2008), John Clay (1,012+ yards from 2009-2010), and Montee Ball (1,830+ yards in 2011-2012). Bielema and Wisconsin had developed a reputation for producing big-time running backs and big-time offensive linemen. In a bit of a surprising move, he took the head coaching job at Arkansas after the 2012 season. The Razorbacks won their first three games of 2013 but then lost nine straight to end the year, and they are 6-6 so far this year with a bowl game against Texas pending. Meanwhile, his teams' rushing prowess has continued with two 900+ yards rushers in 2013 and two 1,000+ yard rushers this season.
My thoughts: I hate Bret Bielema. "Hate" is a strong word, because he's not a criminal or anything. But as far as coaches go, he's a notch below the likes of Bobby Petrino and Mark Dantonio in my book. Bielema is pompous and a little bit slimy, and he comes off like a meathead. All that aside, he appears to be a pretty darn good football coach. His offensive lines have typically been excellent, and his running backs have been outstanding (at least in college); his quarterbacks have been game managers, and his defenses have been solid (#24 in total defense in 2014, #15 his last year at Wisconsin). It's hard to argue with his success at Wisconsin, and his current Razorbacks program is headed in the right direction. Michigan is built like a Bret Bielema team - there are highly touted offensive linemen used to a pro-style offense, there are between-the-tackles runners in the stable, and there are pocket-style quarterbacks who should be able to manage games if the running component can improve. At the same time, a move from Arkansas to Michigan after only two years would indicate some instability and make me wonder what his long-term goals would be. Would a successful run in Ann Arbor lead to a jump to, say, Alabama or USC or possibly the NFL?
Likelihood of coming to Michigan: Between the lines, Bielema seems like a great fit at Michigan. His current salary is not steep enough to ward off the Wolverines. His personality might not exactly fit, but he's familiar with the Big Ten and surely recognizes the traditions, rivalries, etc. Arkansas is a step ahead of Michigan when it comes to their current programs, but he has to understand that Michigan's ceiling is significantly higher. However, unless he views Michigan as a dream job, it would be hard to jump at this point. I do think Bielema should be on Jim Hackett's list of potential candidates, and probably higher than just about any other reasonable option.

My wish list (updated):
1. Jim Harbaugh
2. Bob Stoops
3. Bret Bielema
4. Dan Mullen
5. Tom Herman
6. Jim Mora, Jr.
7. Les Miles
8. Greg Schiano
9. Pat Narduzzi
10. Mike Shanahan
11. Steve Addazio

Random Thoughts

Joselyn Cano is attractive.

It's Sunday and Michigan didn't play football yesterday.

I am lost.  So here are some random thoughts about football and other things:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Wisconsin beat Michigan State last night.  Bret Bielema and Mark Dantonio are the two biggest tools in the Big Ten, but Dantonio takes the cake.  And the reason Dantonio's team lost was its stupidity and lack of discipline shown by running into the kicker during a critical play at the end of the game, allowing Wisconsin to get a first down and run out the clock with a 42-39 lead.  Maybe if Dantonio didn't condone criminal and unsportsmanlike activity from his players, he might have a Big Ten championship.

Sorry, people, but Alabama deserves to play in the national championship game.  Their lone loss came to an undefeated juggernaut in the form of LSU.  Oklahoma State lost to a 6-6 Iowa State team.  Stanford got blown out by Oregon.  Houston lost to a Southern Mississippi squad that had two losses, to schools such as UAB and Marshall.  Boise State plays a weak schedule and lost to the weakest TCU team we've seen in a few years.  The Crimson Tide played five teams that are ranked at the end of the season; they went 4-1 against those teams and the loss to LSU was in overtime by a score of 9-6.  In those other four contests, the average score was 36-12.  The closest margin of victory the whole year was a 16-point victory over Penn State.  If no other team is a compelling candidate, then a team with a three-point overtime loss to the 13-0 shoo-in deserves a rematch.

The sad thing about rematches is that they don't necessarily solve anything.  If Alabama gets to the national championship game (and I think they will) and beats LSU, then the two best teams will be 1-1 against each other.  The only way for the championship game to be completely satisfying is for LSU to win.

I laughed when I saw Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Fedora exclaim that his team "proved" that they deserve to be in a BCS bowl game.  You play in Conference USA, you ignoramus.  The only thing you proved is that Houston isn't that great, either.  There is a long list of teams that deserve BCS bowl game berths ahead of Southern Miss.  Get over yourself.

Michigan beat Iowa State in basketball yesterday by a score of 76-66.  I don't know much about basketball, so I keep my thoughts on that sport to a minimum . . . but the team's starters look solid.  The bench is very iffy.  Good teams can bring guys off the bench who jump start the offense or at least fit in somewhat seamlessly.  I don't see that with Michigan.  If they can stay healthy, though, they might be able to make another run in March.  It was nice to see the Wolverines beat some former Big Ten castoffs.

I know I'm late to the party, but I just watched Blue Chips for the first time.  If you don't know what it is, it's a movie about big-time college basketball recruiting starring Nick Nolte, Shaquille O'Neal, Anferneee Hardaway, and some of the worst acting I've seen in a long time.  It was poorly written, poorly acted, and completely ridiculous.  The only good thing about it was the basketball action looked somewhat realistic, unlike sports movies such as The Program and Major League.