Love Him or Hate Him, Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema Is Definitely One of a Kind

It doesn’t really matter the setting, time of year or whom he’s addressing—when Bret Bielema speaks as the University of Arkansas head football coach, everyone can count on a few things.

His words will be emotional and confrontational, draw attention and may not be exactly eloquent. He will say what’s on his mind and what the average fan is thinking, and he won’t really care about whose coaching feathers he could be ruffling.

If you don’t wear cardinal red, then Bielema doesn’t necessarily care if you don’t like the message. He won’t make excuses for the times he doesn’t use coachspeak, and he’ll never apologize for being the biggest fan of his own players.

That’s just the way he is, like during this week’s Southeastern Conference teleconference with reporters while fielding questions about Saturday’s game at No. 8 Alabama.

"Nothing prepares you for this venue," Bielema said about Bryant-Denny Stadium. He called the 52-0 defeat there two years ago "probably one of the most embarrassing losses for me as a head coach, personally."

Regarding powerful Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry, he said, "I don’t know how pretty his stride is and all that jazz, I just know he’s a really good player." Regarding Nick Saban: "We’re trying to put a little speed bump in 'The Process.'"

And then, like usual, Bielema was a little off with a detail but otherwise dead on in his assessment: "They’re an NFL front. They have 12 to 13 guys in the interior D-line that play a lot of football. You have guys who are listed as third string who come in and make an unbelievable play."

Alabama does, in fact, have players listed as third string who are making big plays, but the number wasn't quite right. It’s been rotating 10 defensive linemen but will creatively attack with its linebackers.

The point is that Bielema isn’t a stereotypical football coach. Nor does he want to be.

He enjoys reggae music, embraces "flip-flop Fridays" and met his wife in a Las Vegas casino. Not only does Bielema frequently tweet @BretBielema, but during the offseason the couple posts recipes with step-by-step pictures.

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

"He’s his own guy, and he’s going to do it the way that works for him," said associate athletic director Kevin Trainor, who heads Razorbacks sports’ public relations department and gets the phone calls whenever Bielema says or does something out of the norm.

That’s pretty often. A perfect example was early in training camp, when reporters and players alike saw running back Alex Collins and wide receivers Jojo Robinson and Cornelius Floyd carrying a mattress around the practice field. It was their punishment for being seconds late to a team meeting.

Bielema wanted to make a point while embarrassing them in a way no one would forget. It was strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert who saw the mattress and said, "Ooh. I think it’s wet, too."

Stories like that make Bielema such a big hit with national media, along with his refreshing answers, even though they sometimes need to be double-checked.

“I love it from him because it shows that he’s human,” said Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, who calls Bielema "The Malaprop King."

But while that didn’t necessarily play well in Wisconsin (one time Bielema accidentally referred to a player as self-defecating instead of self-deprecating), he was able to quickly connect with the Razorbacks fans. Unlike his predecessors, he is viewed as being one of them.

That didn’t really happen at his previous job. Although he was Barry Alvarez’s handpicked successor, Bielema sometimes came across at Wisconsin like he does while wearing a suit: uncomfortable. Yes, he had success, but he was following a local legend who continued to cast a large shadow.

Bielema inherited some of the assistants, such as offensive coordinator Paul Chryst (now the Wisconsin head coach), but he grew frustrated at the lack of competitive salaries for them. He also publicly feuded with other coaches, including former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster and current Ohio State coach Urban Meyer—somewhat like he has this fall with Texas Tech's Cliff Kingsbury.

Year, Team	Record	AP Highest
2006 Wisconsin	12-1	6
2007 Wisconsin	9-4	5
2008 Wisconsin	7-6	8
2009 Wisconsin	10-3	16
2010 Wisconsin	11-2	4
2011 Wisconsin	11-3	4
2012 Wisconsin	8-5	12
2013 Arkansas	3-9	NR
2014 Arkansas	7-6	NR
2015 Arkansas	2-3	18
Totals	80-42

Part of the Badgers fanbase would never accept him simply because he wasn’t Alvarez, who is still Wisconsin’s athletic director. Bielema lost too many close games, or the fans accused him of running up scores. Despite having three straight Rose Bowl appearances, he was 1-5 against Ohio State, 2-3 versus Penn State and 2-4 in bowl games.

The fans were even more unforgiving when he left, claiming Bielema turned his back on the program that gave him his big chance. The truth was he had probably taken it as far as he could—somewhat similar to what his mentor Hayden Fry had experienced at Iowa. At age 42, Bielema had a 68-24 record but felt it was time for a new challenge.

"When you get a little older you get a little wiser," Bielema said. "I love to compete—don’t get me wrong. I think I used to relish that moment probably a little bit longer than I needed to, and it was competitive nature thing all the time. I was relentless at that. That probably rubbed some people the wrong way. I’d kind of remind people of it all the time. We were kind of successful, maybe a little overconfident.

"Don’t confuse confidence with cockiness. I really believe that. I want our players to be confident, as well as me, but a lot of times people confuse that with cockiness and I can see how that came across at an earlier age. I’m very respectful and humble for what I’ve been given here."

Enter Arkansas, which, after having scandalous Bobby Petrino and John L. Smith at the helm, was a mess. In addition to eight players being arrested, others were failing out of school, and the NCAA’s 2013 Graduation Success Rate report had Arkansas dead last in the SEC.

Although Bielema had been to Arkansas only once before on a recruiting trip, he liked what he saw and the program’s potential. Fayetteville was in the middle of a dramatically growing area, and five different SEC teams had combined to win nine national titles since 1998, including an unprecedented seven straight (2006 to 2012).

Why not Arkansas?

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

"First and foremost the demographics," he said. "I was excited that kind of like at Wisco you’re the main program in the state. No disrespect to Arkansas State; I love what they accomplish and what they do. To be the one program in the state in the Power Five conferences and then not have any pro teams in the state, I knew it was a chance to kind of galvanize the state if you did things right, and get everyone behind you from east, west, north, central...

"That’s been really fun."

Moreover, the money was better, not just for him but for the assistant coaches as well. In addition to Arkansas paying the $1 million contract buyout to Wisconsin, his salary went from $2.5 million to $3.2 million, and Bielema recently got a bump to $4 million this year ($4.25 from 2016 to 2020).

That was despite not having won an SEC road game yet (which he’s since rectified), but perhaps last year's defense was the best indication of the program’s progress. Arkansas went from giving up an average of 25.8 points in August and September games to just 9.5 in November.

After playing eventual SEC champion Alabama and then-No.1 Mississippi State both close, Arkansas became the first unranked team since 1942 to shut out Top 25 teams in consecutive weeks, defeating Ole Miss and LSU by a combined score of 47-0. For an encore, it limited Texas to 59 yards during a 31-7 bowl victory.

Winning that game against its former Southwest Conference rival was a big deal to the Arkansas fanbase, which Bielema understood and stoked. During a photo with Texas counterpart Charlie Strong, he appeared to give a “Horns Down” signal, which the coach said wasn’t intentional, but at SEC media days he described taking a knee in the Texas Bowl as both “fulfilling” and “borderline erotic.” 

That was definitely intentional, along with his attire. After Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen drew attention by sporting a new pair of Adidas Yeezy Boost shoes the day before, Bielema showed up wearing custom Air Force 1s and mentioned that being with Nike helped him in recruiting after being at Wisconsin (which was an Adidas school).

“When they first hit the sunlight I had to put on my sunglasses,” fifth-year quarterback Brandon Allen said. “They’re pretty out-there shoes.

"It’s just like him to wear those shoes and pull it off."

Similarly, Bielema, who was a marketing major at Iowa and has the Tiger Hawks logo tattooed on his left calf, sparked a rift with Auburn fueled by a statement during one of his numerous preseason speaking engagements: “I know you guys know I really hate Auburn.”

“He’s kind of the anti-Gus Malzahn,” Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette said about their personalities. “He has a lot of bravado. I don’t think it’s false. You can see why he’s such a good recruiter.”

At the 2014 media days, Bielema brought three seniors he thought “represent what Hog Football is all about” and topped that by putting the starting five offensive linemen on the cover of the 2015 media guide.

“I think it’s awesome. I really do,” Allen said about the cover that could have featured him or the high-profile running backs. “Playing offensive line is so tough. You play the dirtiest, the grittiest position and you get no recognition for it. So any little thing you can do, take them to dinner, put them in first class on our planes, put them on the cover of the media guide—I think that’s huge. They deserve every bit of the recognition that they get.” 

It was anything but surprising. During last season’s 45-17 victory over UAB, he had 350-pound lineman Sebastian Tretola throw a short touchdown pass. And not only did Bielema say during his halftime interview “Coming to Arkansas, if you’re an o-lineman, we’ll make you famous,” but the school started a mock Heisman Trophy campaign for the guard. 

That’s the real key of Bielema’s success—the way he’s been able to relate to his players. Sometimes it’s with humor or how his emotions show through, like when he started to tear up on senior day when players he didn’t recruit were being honored.

They’ve responded, and although Arkansas is off to another tumultuous start, having lost to Toledo, Texas Tech and Texas A&M (in another heartbreaking defeat), only to turn around and win at Tennessee, the coach continues to take the pressure off the players and keep Razorbacks football fun. 

“I feel like it was a blessing in disguise,” said senior running back Jonathan Williams, who was sidelined by a foot injury during training camp, about the turmoil during his first years on campus. “Nothing against the former coaching staff, I liked them obviously because I committed to them, but having Coach Bielema the way he is, how personable he is, how much of a competitive coach he is, I see the program turning around.”

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.