Bret Bielema vs. Urban Meyer: Has the Wisconsin Coach Doomed Himself?

This week brought National Signing Day in college football, and most of the Big Ten recruiting classes are finalized pending one or two more late additions. Although the focus on National Signing Day is usually on the recruits, Bret Bielema and other Big Ten coaches made sure the focus was on them this week.

When Urban Meyer was hired two months ago, he needed to quickly rebuild a recruiting class that had broken apart following the dismissal of Jim Tressel and the weak 6-6 regular season under interim coach Luke Fickell.

Meyer and his staff did just that by flipping 10 recruits that had previously left Ohio State for somewhere else or were committed elsewhere to establish one of the top five recruiting classes nationally. Several of these recruits were snatched from other Big Ten schools like Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Penn State.

But this type of last-minute switching happens all the time in college football. While it makes headlines to show how beneficial the Meyer hire was for Ohio State, most pundits thought nothing of these switches.

Apparently Bret Bielema disagrees. During his National Signing Day press conference, Bielema accused Meyer of unethical and "illegal" recruiting practices. However, Bielema indicated that whatever the issue was, he called Meyer and worked it out so that the practices stopped.

Bielema also cited the so-called "gentlemen's agreement" in the Big Ten that used to prevent coaches from continuing to recruit players who were verbally committed to other Big Ten schools. Although such an agreement is outdated and silly when dealing with your annual competition, Bielema went ahead and cited it the next day when criticizing Meyer again.

But has Bielema poked the wrong dragon and bitten off too much to chew? Will the conduct of this week be a turn of the tides that ends up forcing Bielema out of his job? Unfortunately for Badger fans, this result seems more likely than not.

As a preliminary matter, a team like Wisconsin is a program on the rise as well as a two-time defending conference champion. Part of Wisconsin's advantage over Ohio State is the same advantage other teams have: the Buckeyes represent the regular-season Super Bowl for these teams.

The extra motivation can lead teams, especially talented teams like Wisconsin, to outplay the talent which is usually a bit better at places like Michigan and Ohio State. But these teams have to be careful to not force Ohio State to treat them like a big game every year, or else this mental advantage is mooted.

Yet that is precisely what has now happened with Wisconsin. The Ohio State coaching staff and perhaps more importantly, the fanbase, is incensed and ready to knock Wisconsin back down to where they were two decades ago. Although Michigan will always be "the game" for the Buckeyes (and follows one week after the Wisconsin game next year), the new division rivalry with the Badgers will likely be bad news seeing how good Urban Meyer is at recruiting.

If Meyer is half as good at coaching as he is at recruiting, Bielema has drawn the focus of the wrong rival if they want to continue building towards football power status.

Another problem is Bielema's loose language at press conferences, highlighted most notably this week. By dropping the word "illegal" multiple times when referring to the SEC and now Meyer's staff, Bielema is shedding a very specific and poor light on a team that is currently working through NCAA sanctions.

As a result, the NCAA will take these accusations (if they are accusations) very seriously. If Bielema does not have the proof to back up his claims, then the scrutiny will turn to him and his program. No matter how cleanly Wisconsin lives, NCAA scrutiny is not something any school or coach wants directed at them.

When Bielema also states that his athletic director will take up the issue with conference commissioner Jim Delany, and then that athletic director directly controverts that statement the very next day, it shows how off the leash Bielema is. He's clearly not on the same page with his superiors and is talking without anything to back up his words.

That type of behavior will eventually lead him down the path of ruin, as proven by many other coaches. Bielema does not want to bring the wrong kind of focus on his program and school by carelessly running his mouth, but that seems to be what happened this week.

Finally, Bielema has been successful, but he does not have the achievements to make him invincible. While it is impressive that Wisconsin won two Big Ten championships and went to two straight Rose Bowl games, both of those games ended in bitter disappointment. Moreover, Wisconsin has not been able to take the next step by winning a BCS bowl game or running the table during the regular season.

With Michigan and Ohio State both hiring great recruiters and seemingly great coaches to move them back to elite status, the window may be closing for Wisconsin to dominate the Big Ten. The road appears to be getting tougher soon, and Wisconsin fans want even better results. If the program is not moving forward, the finger-pointing will begin and Bielema will be the primary target.

Especially after losing the majority of his staff to attrition this year, Bielema needs to motivate his team to win now or risk moving in the wrong direction. There will be nobody left to blame if things begin to go south, and a change will be made if Bielema makes himself an easy target by continuing this type of conduct.

Let's hope we look back in a couple of years at this week as an outlier in an otherwise strong leadership of the Wisconsin football program, rather than the turning point when it all started to fall apart for Bret Bielema. If Bielema wants respect and gentlemanly conduct in the Big Ten, he should start by looking in the mirror and making the necessary changes.

Only then can Wisconsin continue towards the elite football program they desire.