As far as the Nick Saban comparison, by foreverlsu, I don’t remember hearing any MSU fans being happy about losing Saban, I also doubt you do too (I’m calling you a liar).
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Sure raider, I’m making it up. …and exactly why would I have a reason to do so??? Believe me I could not care any less about Wisconsin or ArKansas.

I’m hearing Bielema went to Arkansas because Arkansas is committed to winning (financially) and Wisconsin is not. When Chryst left, he took four assistants with him to Pitt because they were not being compensated well enough – makes sense to me, why else would they leave? This will not be a problem for Bielema at Arkansas as his assistants will be compensated well (insert SEC jealousy comment here).

As far as the Nick Saban comparison, by foreverlsu, I don’t remember hearing any MSU fans being happy about losing Saban, I also doubt you do too (I’m calling you a liar). Also, Saban went to Alabama, a school with prominence that was in a slump, Arkansas is not Bama. All schools in the SEC are not Bama, so don’t act like they will all be as successful as Alabama.

Go Buckeyes

I was a little surprised that Bielema left also, but after reading all these comments from Wisconsin fans, I don’t blame him for leaving and am not surprised anymore.
Wow, bunch of ungrateful, spoiled rotten, high and mighty, your shit don’t stick, arrogance, know it all fans!!!
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I agree! I also recall a very similar reaction from the Michigan State fanbase when one Nick Saban left for greener pastures in 2000. Spartan fans were convinced they were going to get a much better coach than Saban (Bobby freakin Williams?). Although Bielema is not a Nick Saban, his resume is very similar to Saban’s at the time. Time will only tell.

The way the Wisconsin fans have responded on this site (Packerbadger is a fine reflection of the fanbase), I will enjoy seeing them return to the basement and restore order.

Congrats Arkansas! Nothing wrong with hiring a 42 year old coach with three Big 10 titles.

But without Russell Wilson, WI doesn’t repeat; and Paul Chryst was instrumental in recruiting Wilson, not Bielema. And the three-peat doesn’t happen without, OSU and PSU serving suspensions.

I think it’s going to be Chryst, Alvarez just needs to keep raising up the ante, until He can’t refuse.

But how fun would Jon Gruden be?

Secondly, as a Badger fan (living in Ohio so I’m somewhat distanced from Wisconsinites), I’m somewhat conflicted about this. I feel like Bielema had reached his potential, and would never take us to the next level, but I’m afraid we will hire somebody worse, and be buried underneath Ohio State indefinitely. I have no preference as to who they hire; I just hope that it’s their first choice, and they’re not reaching for somebody who isn’t ready yet.

For the record, I tried to talk myself into not thinking Chryst would be the guy just so I could piss on the obnoxious fans parade since that’s who they all seem to want. But I couldn’t. I can’t imagine he’s not the guy. But if I was Alvarez I would def want to talk to Bevel and Smart.

The funny thing about success is it makes an ass out of a fan base. For every educated fan there’s a blow hard homer that has no idea what they’re talking about and just goes on a message board and regurgitates what they read on Bleacher Report. I sense that’s what happened here. Because the last couple fans actually made sound, educated points. The first ones….I feel bad for the ones that have to sit next to them during the winning seasons. You won’t have to worry about them during the rebuilding ones.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/bret-bielema-1.html

Notice, 2-4 in bowl games.

Don’t read into it, not saying the guy is terrible, but for those asking why Wisconsin fans range from excited to see him leave to not upset by it, this kind of explains it as well.

Now excuse me while I leave my ivory tower to double check that I still have pubic hair and a deep voice. Gotta go to work. Somebody needs to pay the mortgage.

I think Wisconsin fans are asking the question, why is Arkansas chasing a coach that has lost two straight Rose Bowls and never won one? We don’t think Bielema is all that good of a coach. Not that our program is awesome, he just isn’t an elite coach. He is not a National Championship caliber coach.

And if you are an Arkansas fan, you should find the tapes of both of those games. Wisconsin should have won both of them with better in-game coaching.

Don’t forget, Bielema was humiliated by Florida St in a bowl game as well.

Bielema is a good recruiter. I think he may struggle against elite recruiters in the SEC, even with the Arkansas brand behind him. Bielema did not bring out out of state five star recruit into Wisconsin.

Bielema is a great marketer. He branded Wiscsonsin very well and he marketed the brand very well.

Bielema has a big question mark about managing his coaching staff. All the major assistant coaches were Barry’s guys and there is still a big question mark about how almost his entire staff left last year. There was never a good explanation as to why. Local rumor mill says the guy is a jerk in person, maybe that is true and it rubs off on his colleagues??? Just rumors though so who knows.

Bielema is an ok game coach. He makes very questionable time management decisions. He puts up 80 points, but only against inferior opponents. Big games he is about .500 and they are always a dogfight. Outside of the most recent Nebraska game, he rarely dominates against quality opponents. Quite often he has gotten to 17 pt leads on quality opponents and found a way to lose the game.

I don’t know if the grass will be greener, it will be hard to find a better coach especially in a short window. But I think this program has gone about as far as it could under Bielema. A regular top 10-15 type team, a regular 25 – 35 recruiter, but rarely if ever a top 5 team.

If we can’t get Cryst or Gruden or some other splash, I would love to see BA come back for a year or two until the next great coach is ready to run the program.

Good Luck and Good wishes to Arkansas, I don’t hate Bielema and wish him well, I guess I will now root for Arkansas out of the SEC, but I am not sad to see Bielema leave.