Bielema Introduced As New Razorbacks Football Coach

Personally, I was impressed. He is clearly a top tier talent. He appears to be what you’d get if Les Miles and Nick Saban had a baby. And, if he succeeds, he will be here long after those two have gone into the Hall of Fame (if he doesn’t replace them.)

I think it really says a lot about Arkansas Football that, for the second time, a quality coach has chosen this program as vehicle for success. In the new and evolving world of college football, Arkansas is one of the winners. Certainly the SEC is a great calling card and, we are long famous as the only game in town. But, I think our location in the near Midwest as well and the rural nature of NW Arkansas are appealing to coaches wanting to recruit high character kids.

I hate that we back to rebuilding again so soon. And, although Bret looks like a fine hire, the whole staff, recruiting, rebuilding thing is far from certain. Sure he will need plenty of time for his player development style. But anytime you find yourself here there are no guarantees of success.

Congrats to Jeff Long. I know he will sleep well for the first time this year.

I’m laughing my head off (actually another part of my anatomy. Long kept an inscrutable smile on his face like the cat that ate the canary absent a feather on the mouth. Meanwhile the Long haters came out in full force looking for a scapegoat for something that was B. Petrino’s fault alone. The Board gave Jeff a raise and the Longophobes went ballistic. They blamed Long for faulty judge of character and the disasterous last season by not rushing into hiring a new coach. My guess is that the Longophobes are divided into two camps: One which wanted Long to keep Petrino and were disappointed that Long did not use some self imposed Ohio State standards and one camp which hates Long for the UA getting shuck of Nutt. These folks have never gotten over Nutt’s leaving and have been further inflamed and incensed by Petrino’s success and Nutt’s failure. So dump on Long. Now Long’s detracters not only have egg on their faces but a grand slam beakfast.

For those Long haters consider this: The Hogs have snagged the most succesful Big Ten coach BM (Before Meyer). Three sucessive conference titles, All Americans and recently he was smart enough to grab tthe most underrated QB in the country, Russel Wilson. Bielma is top drawer and it justified waiting (who could have predicted that the coaching by committee would have been so bad, really bad – an object lesson for other ADs.) Now one never knows how things will turn out like with Mike Leach at Wazzoo, but that story has yet to be finished). This hire not only stunned Wisconsin but the news media who are still trying to digest it. Long (and Malzahn) have made the State looked good. Gus and Hugh have now createdd the legend of ASU as the incubator of SEC coaches, something that the MAC had for the Big Ten. However, as an astute letter writer to the Demo-Zette said that Malzahn was unfortunately an impossible hire ( read that as because of the large residue of Nutt fans in the state).

A curious question is what was Bielma’s primary motivation for leaving the Badgers? When Saban left MSU he said he was going to were the talent was. He also didn’t like playing second fiddle to Michigan. As Cowherd said not only is Arkansas the big dog in the State but is surrounded by talent in other states implying that the upper Midwest is not brimming with skill prospects. Also, there is no first fiddle in Arkansas like the Packers (PR-wise). It would seem to me that the problem may have been Bielma’s relationship with Alvarez. Bielma’s says that it has to do with assistant salaries but there must be more to it since Barry was disappointed that Brett didn’t (according to Barry) come to him about it. I suspect, as others have implied that one factor was to get out of Barry’s shadow (sound familiar) and perhaps, perhaps, ole ball coach Barry was a bit too “helpful” in regards to the football program (sound familiar). So here was an oppportunity for Brett to get on his own, get more money, and get into the SEC. What’s not to like? Also, to come in after such a season, not much will be expected in the first two years with the fan base being happy to be in the Liberty Bowl. Looks like a win-win for evrybody – except Wisconsin.