CBB places blame on Petrino, JLS

[Atlhogfan1]

Absolutely it was an excuse. Because of Bobby Petrino is why we suck this year. That's pretty much what he is saying.

What's interesting is one could make the argument that the more the Petrino recruits got recycled with his recruits the program continued its downward slide.

Razorback football is pretty neat these days. Gonna be a fun Saturday to watch Auburn smoke us into oblivion. Too bad Bielema doesn't have a 2007 version of Indiana to coach against and run the ball 100 times and pretend he's a football mastermind.

It was a long answer to say yes it was tougher than he thought it was going to be. 

[SemperHawg]

Its not me.... It's everyone else.

That is all I here when he opens his mouth right now.... BUT let them pull something off agains Aubbie and he'll be back up there telling us how he knew it was coming all along.  Winning despite the negativity ect...

I am over this dude.

[Ham Ham Pigelow]

I read somewhere this week that reasons for lack of success in year two sound like excuses in year 5.

Bottom line? Our job is not an easy one. It was made more difficulty by what Bret alluded to with Petrino and John L. Smith. Throw in the mix Bielema's football philosophy, which wasn't a great fit to begin with and is now being altered mid-stream, and you get his record at Arkansas and our present position.

I personally thought the philosophy was just fine before Enos.  In the first couple of years, Bielema would quote Hayde Fry (or Alvarez) about "not flinching" in regards to philosophy.  Well, he flinched big time and it will ultimately cost him his job.  I would rather have a concrete identity (think Iowa or Georgia Tech) than program reinvention every year. 

[Vantage 8 dude]

....they made Arkansas a tougher job

Challenges turning around the Ark program

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/arkansas-football/bret-bielema-reveals-biggest-challenge-turning-around-arkansas-football/

So wait a minute: CBP and JLS are the ones to blame for our struggles the past two years. They're responsible for our infamous second half collapses against Missouri, VTech and our continued inability to close out against TAM and our miserable performance against USCe a couple of Saturday's ago Dang, I never realized that in his fifth season he'd still be fighting against the "coaching ghosts of years past".

[LRHawg]

If anything, Petrino's defensive recruits actually performed better than any of Bert's.

This. The cupboard was not bare when he got here. He's just a mediocre coach out of his league.

[jst01]

I personally thought the philosophy was just fine before Enos.  In the first couple of years, Bielema would quote Hayde Fry (or Alvarez) about "not flinching" in regards to philosophy.  Well, he flinched big time and it will ultimately cost him his job.  I would rather have a concrete identity (think Iowa or Georgia Tech) than program reinvention every year. 

And it really hurt when he replaced a proven old school O-Line coach with some guy that was an assistant to the assistant O-Line coach in the NFL.

[Atlhogfan1]

I personally thought the philosophy was just fine before Enos.  In the first couple of years, Bielema would quote Hayde Fry (or Alvarez) about "not flinching" in regards to philosophy.  Well, he flinched big time and it will ultimately cost him his job.  I would rather have a concrete identity (think Iowa or Georgia Tech) than program reinvention every year.

Perhaps it was a result of recruiting to Arkansas and what he thought he could get after he started recruiting here.  You would have thought he could have attracted more olinemen.  We have had some success recruiting RBs.  You would have thought BP would have recruited WRs and QBs on a higher level than he was able to do.  Part of it is the coaches recruiting and part of it is recruiting to Arkansas.  I do agree I wish BB would have went more all out imposing what he said he was going to do instead of morphing it into some in between nonsense.  We should have been signing 4-5 HS olinemen a class and redshirting as many as possible early on.  Unfortunately the state of the program early forced us into playing true Fr and then the numbers weren't there for whatever reason. 

[Cinco de Hogo]

He answered a question.

Well yes he did.  Does the answer do something for you?  Fans of BB been pointing this out for years but with hindsight now it's not much of an excuse.

[greenEGnHAWGS]

Coach BB Quote"Allen continues to make strides. He (did not practice) but he could (play) Saturday". He is really unreal as a coach.

This is what all coaches do with injured starters. No need to tell the team your playing who to prepare for. Smh

[PonderinHog]

So wait a minute: CBP and JLS are the ones to blame for our struggles the past two years. They're responsible for our infamous second half collapses against Missouri, VTech and our continued inability to close out against TAM and our miserable performance against USCe a couple of Saturday's ago Dang, I never realized that in his fifth season he'd still be fighting against the "coaching ghosts of years past".

Exactly!  Try to keep up!

[PorkRinds]

It's his 5th year - kids don't even remember what happened with Petrino / JLS - they just see us failing NOW

Remember last Saturday? Recruits watch those games and they don't put a positive spin on it like fellow Hogville posters try to do.

If you were a recruit and were the CURRENT product on the field, would you want to come to Fayetteville?

He was asked a specific question and answered it. He never said there weren't problems currently. In fact he's said the oppisite recently and said he had made mistakes recruiting. Specifically not getting enough guys at OL positions early on. I get that you are looking for anything you can find at this point but what he said was an indisputable fact. The Petrino/JLS situation did make the rebuild harder. Hard to argue that point.

[PorkRinds]

So wait a minute: CBP and JLS are the ones to blame for our struggles the past two years. They're responsible for our infamous second half collapses against Missouri, VTech and our continued inability to close out against TAM and our miserable performance against USCe a couple of Saturday's ago Dang, I never realized that in his fifth season he'd still be fighting against the "coaching ghosts of years past".

You do realize that's not what he said right?

[twistitup]

Why do you have to believe that?

You are joking, right? You do know what happened at P state, don't you?
It is amazing some can downplay what happened there...

We live in a Fed up 🌎 if people don't take the scandal at P State seriously....what Bobby P did is not in the same league

[twistitup]

He was asked a specific question and answered it. He never said there weren't problems currently. In fact he's said the oppisite recently and said he had made mistakes recruiting. Specifically not getting enough guys at OL positions early on. I get that you are looking for anything you can find at this point but what he said was an indisputable fact. The Petrino/JLS situation did make the rebuild harder. Hard to argue that point.

Year 5

[Ironhawg]

I don't see a lot of benefit from dwelling on who bears the blame for the current state of the program.  What I do see is that things are not working with Bielema at Arkansas.  I'm ready to have hope for Razorback football again.

[Tusks]

I didn't know when I got to Arkansas I should of come in guns a blazing and hit the ground running vs wearing flip flops and running my mouth.  I didn't really know what I was doing.

[jkstock04]

You are joking, right? You do know what happened at P state, don't you?
It is amazing some can downplay what happened there...

We live in a Fed up 🌎 if people don't take the scandal at P State seriously....what Bobby P did is not in the same league

The Penn State scandal went down around the same Petrino was fired. I remember there were a few on here that compared our situation to the Penn State situation. Not surprising.

That notion got shot down for the most of the part..but I don't doubt there are a few Bielema apologists that think this way.

On a side note it's amazing to me what James Franklin has done there.

[Vantage 8 dude]

You do realize that's not what he said right?

Perhaps not directly; however, he did allude to the fact they having been here that this created some issues for him. Besides, why even bring them into the picture. Just address the challenges HE'S faced rather than including them in the discussion. By now he should be standing (or not) solely based on HIS (de)merit(s).

[snoblind]

whoiskid is to blame, doesn't surprise me.....

What happened to him?

[PorkRinds]

Perhaps not directly; however, he did allude to the fact they having been here that this created some issues for him. Besides, why even bring them into the picture. Just address the challenges HE'S faced rather than including them in the discussion. By now he should be standing (or not) solely based on HIS (de)merit(s).

He answered the question. Butt hurt responses from angry fans don't change that.

[ArkansasI]

You are joking, right? You do know what happened at P state, don't you?
It is amazing some can downplay what happened there...

We live in a Fed up 🌎 if people don't take the scandal at P State seriously....what Bobby P did is not in the same league

There are 13 million people in the State of Pennsylvania.  Kids grow up in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, points beyond and all points in between hoping for a call from Penn State.  Penn State is an excellent school near their families and friends.  The offense of the tragedy to which you infer was greatly expelled by the complete change in coaching staff.

There are perhaps 3 million people in the State of Arkansas.  Many of the kids in Arkansas hope for a call from the Hogs.  Fans on this board criticize the University of Arkansas for working on being a better school.  We have to hope that kids outside the state will forgive our mistakes sufficiently to accept an offer from, at best, their second choice.

And since it's true that we have a tendency to prefer focusing on the negative, it gets tougher to sell to those recruits that are out of state.  I don't think Arkansas is having a terrible time keeping its home state players.  There's just not enough of them.

[nwahogfan1]

Placing his O -Line on the cover of the media guide a couple of years back and bragging about the O-Line recruits he was getting.  He owns this.  Suck it up buttercup!

I thought the OLM on the cover would help recruiting.  If it did we did not get the ones we needed.  OL stinks.  No push for the runners and no pass blocking for the QB.  Double negative. 

I did not really get out of the article he blamed anyone but this is year 5 and all of the past is over.  CBB has made some big mistakes on assistant coaches he has hired and evaluations of talent and development of that talent.

he has had time to get the job done.  if I thought it would be better next year then I guess I could wait but not like it but I see nothing getting better. 

Time to get it done CBB or walk away.

[bphi11ips]

I read somewhere this week that reasons for lack of success in year two sound like excuses in year 5.

Bottom line? Our job is not an easy one. It was made more difficulty by what Bret alluded to with Petrino and John L. Smith. Throw in the mix Bielema's football philosophy, which wasn't a great fit to begin with and is now being altered mid-stream, and you get his record at Arkansas and our present position.

Pretty much true. 

I'm not so sure the philosophy was a bad fit as much as the game itself has changed.  Even Alabama has changed.  It happened in the late 60s and again in the mid-80s.  You could see it coming again when Pat White and West Virginia shredded a good Georgia defense in the 2006 Sugar Bowl.  Before long Rich Rodriguez was the hottest name in college coaching (interesting that his offense didn't work quickly at Michigan?).  Chip Kelly made Oregon a top program with the read option spread.  That was a run based offense that demands a QB who can read, run, and throw effectively enough to force the defense to respect the vertical passing game.  Gus Malzahn said the other day his offense is a "run, play-action, vertical" offense.  That's what it is.  That's what Alabama is doing. That's what Deshaun Watson did to Alabama and is now doing at Houston.  In fact, the RPO is starting to gain some traction in the NFL.  Like Broyles said in 2006, the offense depends upon the QB's ability to run.  Cole Kelly may be able to run well enough to execute it.  Austin Allen certainly can not.  So - if we are trying to make a transition to a run-based spread, we don't seem to have the QBs for it.  If we are trying to go to the dink-and-dunk 7-on-7 version run by Mike Leach and Kliff Kingsbury, maybe we do, but that isn't the direction championship football is heading.

I took CBB's comments to be directed more to the current negativity in the fanbase than as an excuse for his record.  He seemed to be saying that it's hard to be positive after what happened with BP and JL and when the team is not winning.  I agree with him that losing can become a habit.  This team has the ability to win the rest of its games if it believes it can.  But they can't win the rest unless they win the next one.

[Atlhogfan1]

The Penn State scandal went down around the same Petrino was fired. I remember there were a few on here that compared our situation to the Penn State situation. Not surprising.

That notion got shot down for the most of the part..but I don't doubt there are a few Bielema apologists that think this way.

On a side note it's amazing to me what James Franklin has done there.

Addressing this awful Penn St comparison again and why it isn't so amazing they are winning again:

Penn St's recruiting:

2012 with scholarship limitations they signed 3 4 stars and 16 3 stars, finished 47th which was still good enough for 6th in the B1G.

2013 with scholarship limitations they signed 1 5 star, 3 4 stars, 11 3 stars to finish 33rd and 4th in the B1G in recruiting.

2014 scholarship limitations gone:  24th ranked class which was 3rd in the B1G

2015 14th ranked class- 2nd in the B1G

2016 20th ranked class - 4th in the B1G

2017 15th ranked class - 3rd in the B1G

5 straight classes from 2nd to 4th best in their conference. 

[870hogfan]

Our fans find anything to rip the coach it's pathetic.

[Pigsknuckles]

Bret and Hillary need to collaborate on a book.

[Vantage 8 dude]

He answered the question. Butt hurt responses from angry fans don't change that.

Not "butt hurt", not in the least. Again, what's his reason for bringing either one of our former HCs into the conversation? I mean I might be able to see such if he was in his second or even third season. However, as we know he's half way through his FIFTH. Whatever problems/issues/challenges he feels he might have encountered-whether it be lack of talent, player development, attitude, coaching, or whatever else-from previous staffs is LONG, LONG gone. He's had adequate time to run the program based on HIS guys, both players and staff, so why even bring it up  

[Tusks]

He answered the question. Butt hurt responses from angry fans don't change that.

He sounds like a butt hurt coach that didn't realize he should have been working instead of playing.  hell he probably didn't even know what questions to ask when he got to the UA.

[twistitup]

Why did he take the job again? Wait he wrote a letter begging for the position- true?

He knew the situation- don't go there in year 5

[Vantage 8 dude]

Our fans find anything to rip the coach it's pathetic.

Well apparently so does our HC when it comes to facing the issues/problems going on NOW. As I've asked before: why does he even need to bring either one (or both) into the conversation when you're currently half way through your fifth season. The program-good or bad-is now ALL YOURS.

[Atlhogfan1]

Bret and Hillary need to collaborate on a book.

This like watching Maddow on MSNBC.  Reaching for constant criticism even if it has to be manufactured. 

[Atlhogfan1]

Well apparently so does our HC when it comes to facing the issues/problems going on NOW. As I've asked before: why does he even need to bring either one (or both) into the conversation when you're currently half way through your fifth season. The program-good or bad-is now ALL YOURS.

Because it is part of the answer to the question asked. 

[twistitup]

Because it is part of the answer to the question asked.

So he does vague coach speak most of the time....but this interview...

The timing is odd-

Sounds like hotseatspeak

[GuvHog]

I personally thought the philosophy was just fine before Enos.  In the first couple of years, Bielema would quote Hayde Fry (or Alvarez) about "not flinching" in regards to philosophy.  Well, he flinched big time and it will ultimately cost him his job.  I would rather have a concrete identity (think Iowa or Georgia Tech) than program reinvention every year. 

Actually it's just the opposite IMO. Dan Enos prefers the up tempo no huddle offense. Had Bret gotten out of Enos's way in the beginning and let him run the offense he wanted to run, the last couple of years would likely have had a much different outcome. Bret finally gave in last Saturday and let Enos run that up tempo offense for a bit. It resulted in the Hogs passing for over 200 yards against the #1 team in the nation. Even though the Hogs lost big, the signs of what could have been were very obvious. Bret needs to let go of that Big 10 offense and let Enos run HIS offense.

[Inhogswetrust]

....they made Arkansas a tougher job

Challenges turning around the Ark program

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/arkansas-football/bret-bielema-reveals-biggest-challenge-turning-around-arkansas-football/

Good grief. After reading that I'm no longer willing to give him any benefit of the doubt. He's been here enough years to get over any perceived issues with the Petrino/smile years.

[hehawg]

Give the guy credit for being honest.  He wasn't necessarily making an excuse about the current state of the program.  He simply answered a question about the rebuild and the dealing with the perception challenges.  Which, let's be honest, our program had been a comedy of errors since about 2008.

Had been? You mean "still is, and will continue to be ".

[Inhogswetrust]

Actually it's just the opposite IMO. Dan Enos prefers the up tempo no huddle offense. Had Bret gotten out of Enos's way in the beginning and let him run the offense he wanted to run, the last couple of years would likely have had a much different outcome. Bret finally gave in last Saturday and let Enos run that up tempo offense for a bit. It resulted in the Hogs passing for over 200 yards against the #1 team in the nation. Even though the Hogs lost big, the signs of what could have been were very obvious. Bret needs to let go of that Big 10 offense and let Enos run HIS offense.

I guess Enos prefers it so much he run that all the time as a head coach in Michigan............no wait he didn't.

[Vantage 8 dude]

Because it is part of the answer to the question asked.

One always retains the right NOT to answer ANY question asked. There you go.........

[Redhogs]

Give the guy credit for being honest.  He wasn't necessarily making an excuse about the current state of the program.  He simply answered a question about the rebuild and the dealing with the perception challenges.  Which, let's be honest, our program had been a comedy of errors since about 2008.

Yes he was making an excuse...he's been a poor coach since he's been here..plain and simple. Good coaches do their talking on the field. what about when he said at the beginning  of THIS YEAR  "yea I get it this is year 5 and these are my guys, I feel good about where we are as a team and program"...which is it Bert??  Mr. integrity....

[PorkRinds]

Not "butt hurt", not in the least. Again, what's his reason for bringing either one of our former HCs into the conversation? I mean I might be able to see such if he was in his second or even third season. However, as we know he's half way through his FIFTH. Whatever problems/issues/challenges he feels he might have encountered-whether it be lack of talent, player development, attitude, coaching, or whatever else-from previous staffs is LONG, LONG gone. He's had adequate time to run the program based on HIS guys, both players and staff, so why even bring it up

He brought it up becuase it's part of the answer to the question he was asked.

[Gonzo]

Deflection.   Too little, way too late.



Go Hogs!

[Ex-Trumpet]

Why do you have to believe that?

Because a coach butt-slamming boys in the shower is a bit worse publicity than wrecking a bike.

[GuvHog]

I guess Enos prefers it so much he run that all the time as a head coach in Michigan............no wait he didn't.

Enos stated the other day that he prefers the up tempo offense but Bret is the Head coach and he follows Bret's orders.

[Redhogs]

Why did he take the job again? Wait he wrote a letter begging for the position- true?

He knew the situation- don't go there in year 5

THANK YOU.

[Pork Ranger]

CBB places blame on everyone.....but CBB

[PorkRinds]

Enos stated the other day that he prefers the up tempo offense but Bret is the Head coach and he follows Bret's orders.

No he didn't.

[Vantage 8 dude]

One of life's simple truths: One man's answer is another man's excuse. 

[GuvHog]

No he didn’t.

Yes he did, in a post game press conference. Going up tempo against Bama was HIS idea. Bret finally relented and let Enos run it some against Bama but Bret is too stubborn to give in and totally commit to it.

[LJHOG]

I gotta believe Penn State might have been a tougher turn around than Arkansas.

I gotta believe you know nothing about CFB.

[PorkRinds]

Yes he did, in a post game press conference. Going up tempo against Bama was HIS idea.

No he didn't. I heard the presser. That's not what he said.