Ex-Badgers head coach Bret Bielema hasn’t had the greatest of careers since he left Wisconsin. In his post Wisconsin coaching life, Bielema’s combined record at both Arkansas and Illinois is 34-41. While he has won two bowls, Bielema has yet to appear in a January bowl game like he did at Wisconsin. I believe his tenure at Illinois will define whether he is actually a successful or was it because of Barry Alvarez.
Bret Bielema was tabbed as the next Badgers head coach after Barry Alvarez resigned to focus on being the athletic director. He had previously been Alvarez’s defensive coordinator from 2004-2005. In six years at Wisconsin, Bielema had an overall record of 68-24. This included three Big Ten Championships, one coach of the year award, two bowl wins, three straight Rose Bowl appearances and finishing ranked in the polls in all but one year.
Failure In Fayetteville
Despite all that success, Bielema decided to abruptly and brainlessly depart for Arkansas in 2012 after six seasons. The Razorbacks were a program that needed to be rebuilt and played in the same SEC division as Alabama. Arkansas did win two bowls during his time in Fayetteville. However, Bielema never able to duplicate the success he had at Wisconsin. Overall, he went 29-34 and never finished ranked in the polls in his five seasons in Fayetteville. His best record at Arkansas was 8-5 and his best finish in the SEC was third place. In three of those seasons his Razorbacks finished in seventh in the SEC and once in fifth. Bielema would be fired after five years at Arkansas.
Bret’s Back In The Big Ten
After three years of coaching in the NFL, Bielema returned to the Big Ten as head coach of Illinois. In his first season, Illinois went 5-7 but upset Penn State and Minnesota on the road. His Illini team nearly went to a bowl game as well. While he seems to be off to a good start at Illinois; it remains to be seen whether he can make the Illini a consistent winner.
Bret Bielema Has A Lot To Prove
With how his post-Wisconsin career has gone so far; I think its alright to think that Bielema was only a shepherd for Wisconsin. Barry Alvarez built that program and prior to Bielema’s arrival, Wisconsin already had experienced lots of success. Alvarez had already built the foundation that any coach who takes over Wisconsin will be successful. All Bielema had to do was not mess up what had already been proven to be successful.
You could argue that Bielema’s current job is a lot harder than his previous head coaching stop at Arkansas. The University of Illinois hasn’t been consistently successful at football in a very long time. The only coaches to leave Champaign with a winning record were Mike White and John Mackovic back in the 1980’s! Since that time, every coach who has been hired and fired by the University has left with a record below .500.
Bielema led Illinois to a 5-7 and nearly made a bowl game in his first-year last season. This is a good start for a program that is rebuilding. However, Bielema still has a lot to prove if he still doesn’t want to be known as “Barry Alvarez’s program shepherd.” Remember out of Bielema’s 101 coaching wins, 68 of them came at Wisconsin. If Bielema can have his Illinois team be a consistent winning program, then we can shed the “shepherd” label.
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