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That tidal wave loses a lot of its credibility when good coaches jump ship for a middle of the pack SEC team
Yeah, what I'm wondering is why he didn't do this *last* year, when he had Tyler Wilson and a team that was fresh off a year in which they competed for the SEC title and had lots of returning starters.
You would get an argument from a lot of Badger fans as to your claim that Bielema is a good coach.
There are always those who think, unless you go to a bowl game and win every year the coach isn't a good coach; it takes a good coach and talent to win year in and year out..plus there is a difference between being a "good" anything and being a "great" anything.
As for your comment about talent: have you forgotten or did you even know when Patrino came to AR they were in the process of re-building. This doesn't happen overnight...Unfortunately he also choose to embarrass the school and himself, leaving Jeff Long with no option but to let him go. The year would have been different had Patrino been coaching but finding a top coach in the spring was next to impossible..We had to take our licks this year.
Im not sure this coaching move improves Arkansas status in the SEC West. I will be interested to see how this plays out.
Well if it doesn't wrok out Jeff will be looking for a new coach next year, this time, but he certainly did well with WI...He may not have been who we all thought would get the job, he might not be a great coach:time will tell....
Is it just me or is he talking in a southern accent for this press conference? Maybe he's always talked this way, but I listened to an interview on youtube & he didn't. Smart man to be appeal to the crowd.
Now he (Bielema) said that he heard Alvarez is coaching the bowl game.
Last edited by everwinter; 12-05-2012 at 03:31 PM..
I really think people put too much into the coach and not enough into the players. I also think when a team loses bowl games for consecutive seasons or 2 out of 3 or what not that too much of a deal is made about it. You made it to a bowl game and not once but multiple times in a short period of time.
Right, raw talent is fine but without someone there to cultivate and nurture it, it can be squandered. Longevity and a well-established coaching staff that isn't always bolting for the next best thing helps establish long-term success instead of random short-term periods of success followed by periods of ineptitude. Look at what Pat Fitzgerald and Gary Patterson have done at Northwestern and TCU in their tenures. Yeah they've had a couple down years here and there, but for the most part, they've fielded relatively consistent and successful teams, and I think that helps not only with recruiting (stable programs) but also helps with player development over the long term (getting the most out of their recruits and whatnot)
Of course on the flip side of that argument, look at what's happening at Iowa, and they have no hope of dumping Ferentz without parting with a huge chunk of cash as part of a buy-out and until this season, Jeff Tedford at Cal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmasterb
You would get an argument from a lot of Badger fans as to your claim that Bielema is a good coach.
I was trying to be diplomatic. I'm a Buckeye. To be honest, I hate Wisconsin and I hate Bielema almost as much as I hate Michigan (although to be fair, I hate Michigan but respect the hell out of their program and history, whereas I had little respect for Bielema even before this debacle). That Bielema was able to maintain success in the wake of Barry Alvarez' departure (helps that Bielema was hand-picked by Alvarez) shows that he knows what he's doing. Wisconsin was never going to be on the same level as Michigan, Ohio State and maybe Penn State and Nebraska in terms of prestige and stratospheric success, but what he did while he was there is commendable.
To be honest, people are giving him hell for trying to go up against the likes of Saban, Miles and Sumlin for recruits (and possibly Malzahn once he turns things around at Auburn), but a good chunk of Bielema's success at Wisconsin came from stealing players from elsewhere (Russell Wilson being the ultimate example). I don't recruiting will be a problem for Bielema at Arkansas so much as trying to maintain some level of consistency in the wake of Petrino's departure and John L. Smith doing whatever the hell it is he does that ruins programs (anyone else remember his tenure at Michigan State?).
A couple UW guys I talked with last night didnt think losing BB was a big dear, they both questioned his ability to coach.
That did seem to be an issue, which is something that even he addressed at Arkansas' press conference to introduce himself. Seems to me like he had trouble filling the shoes of Alvarez and was having a hard time dealing with the pressure. To his credit, they were competitive in their bowl losses to TCU and Oregon, but they still lost those games and Wisconsin fans expected victories.
I don't know if he's going to be what the Razorbacks are looking for. Petrino brought in a completely new and innovative system and he was also able to recruit some players on defense as well. At Wisconsin, Alvarez handed over an established program that was competing in what was one of the elite conferences at that time, and it's not clear how well Bielema maintained that program. At Arkansas, he will have more of a rebuilding project on his hands. He has access to good talent and he already has talent, but the program's direction is less clear at Ark than it was at Wisconsin. And he's now in the most competitive conference in the nation.
That did seem to be an issue, which is something that even he addressed at Arkansas' press conference to introduce himself. Seems to me like he had trouble filling the shoes of Alvarez and was having a hard time dealing with the pressure. To his credit, they were competitive in their bowl losses to TCU and Oregon, but they still lost those games and Wisconsin fans expected victories.
I don't know if he's going to be what the Razorbacks are looking for. Petrino brought in a completely new and innovative system and he was also able to recruit some players on defense as well. At Wisconsin, Alvarez handed over an established program that was competing in what was one of the elite conferences at that time, and it's not clear how well Bielema maintained that program. At Arkansas, he will have more of a rebuilding project on his hands. He has access to good talent and he already has talent, but the program's direction is less clear at Ark than it was at Wisconsin. And he's now in the most competitive conference in the nation.
Well, Wiskyfan must be thinking everyone they face in the Rose Bowl is Indiana. Not so.
As for what the Hogs are looking for, they hired him, so he must be. It's up to BB to steer them in a right direction. He accepted a pretty tall challenge, but doing that didn't hurt Kevin Sumlin...and I'd want to coach against the best and get a raise for it if I was in that spot, too.
A couple UW guys I talked with last night didnt think losing BB was a big dear, they both questioned his ability to coach.
It took Alvarez 15 years to win three conference titles. It took BB six years to win three.
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