I don't see how Bielema can fix his chronic problems going forward.

[ZERO]

He seems to have three major problems that are keeping us down. The first is recruiting. Because I know of the inherent challenges Arkansas faces in recruiting, I don't want to say he or anyone else on staff is a bad or lazy recruiter. However, the results we're getting are ineffective to say the least. The lackluster recruiting has made us a team without an identity for four years running. Each year we have to move players around to fill a hole because needs weren't properly addressed, and each year we have several glaring weaknesses. The second is penalties. Bielema was known for his tough and disciplined teams at Wisconsin. That was the one thing we could have been absolutely sure about. The third is we seem to give up an above normal amount of big leads, and we struggle to score points after the half. We scored zero points after halftime in the Auburn, Missouri, and Virginia Tech games, and only three after the half in the LSU game. We gave up a 24-7 and 24-0 lead in back to back games.

Do you think that after four years, there are certain things that we can safely say won't be fixed? Firing assistants isn't going to fix these problems, especially not in a timely manner. Is Bielema's plan going forward to use the time he's been guaranteed to start back at square one and do it all over again? Whatever method he had that was working at Wisconsin won't work here, and whatever altering he's done to the plan also hasn't worked. Too much time has been wasted already, he's had four years.

There has been a lot of discourse on this site over this season regarding what Arkansas is capable of, and what our expectations should be. Some say 7 or 8 wins on average. I personally think we could go 8-5 or 9-4 on average with the right coach. You see 7-6, 8-5, and 7-6 over the past three years and think Bielema can't be too far off the mark. I don't necessarily have a problem with winning 7 games. My problem is we don't have to win 7 games and be a laughingstock doing so. We certainly don't have to spend this much money to win 7 games, or draw up ridiculous contracts that lock us in for 7 wins while blowing 17 and 24 point leads in the third quarter. If we're going to be mostly mediocre, we can at least do so affordably and quietly and not make a spectacle of overblown, borderline impossible failures. I feel like almost every one of our losses under this head coach is our own variation of the Kick Six.

So what is everyone's plan at this point? How, as a fanbase, should we be responding? We're all aware that Bielema is basically unfireable thanks to the staggeringly shortsighted buyout. How do we survive the next couple of ugly years? Are we supposed to expect to miss a bowl every year and make the most of every precious win? Do we send a loud message by completely ignoring the fact that Razorback football even exists until something gives? Do we hope Bret tanks hard and fast to speed up the process? Do we accept that Bielema is likely the best coach we can get and double down and hope he works out in the long run like Bill Snyder or Frank Beamer?

I honestly feel like we don't have a right answer or winning situation. We're coming up on half a decade under this guy and time seems to be standing still.

[threeNout]

we are just going to have to suck it up and stay the course.

[Hoggish1]

He seems to have three major problems that are keeping us down. The first is recruiting. Because I know of the inherent challenges Arkansas faces in recruiting, I don't want to say he or anyone else on staff is a bad or lazy recruiter. However, the results we're getting are ineffective to say the least. The lackluster recruiting has made us a team without an identity for four years running. Each year we have to move players around to fill a hole because needs weren't properly addressed, and each year we have several glaring weaknesses. The second is penalties. Bielema was known for his tough and disciplined teams at Wisconsin. That was the one thing we could have been absolutely sure about. The third is we seem to give up an above normal amount of big leads, and we struggle to score points after the half. We scored zero points after halftime in the Auburn, Missouri, and Virginia Tech games, and only three after the half in the LSU game. We gave up a 24-7 and 24-0 lead in back to back games.

Do you think that after four years, there are certain things that we can safely say won't be fixed? Firing assistants isn't going to fix these problems, especially not in a timely manner. Is Bielema's plan going forward to use the time he's been guaranteed to start back at square one and do it all over again? Whatever method he had that was working at Wisconsin won't work here, and whatever altering he's done to the plan also hasn't worked. Too much time has been wasted already, he's had four years.

There has been a lot of discourse on this site over this season regarding what Arkansas is capable of, and what our expectations should be. Some say 7 or 8 wins on average. I personally think we could go 8-5 or 9-4 on average with the right coach. You see 7-6, 8-5, and 7-6 over the past three years and think Bielema can't be too far off the mark. I don't necessarily have a problem with winning 7 games. My problem is we don't have to win 7 games and be a laughingstock doing so. We certainly don't have to spend this much money to win 7 games, or draw up ridiculous contracts that lock us in for 7 wins while blowing 17 and 24 point leads in the third quarter. If we're going to be mostly mediocre, we can at least do so affordably and quietly and not make a spectacle of overblown, borderline impossible failures. I feel like almost every one of our losses under this head coach is our own variation of the Kick Six.

So what is everyone's plan at this point? How, as a fanbase, should we be responding? We're all aware that Bielema is basically unfireable thanks to the staggeringly shortsighted buyout. How do we survive the next couple of ugly years? Are we supposed to expect to miss a bowl every year and make the most of every precious win? Do we send a loud message by completely ignoring the fact that Razorback football even exists until something gives? Do we hope Bret tanks hard and fast to speed up the process? Do we accept that Bielema is likely the best coach we can get and double down and hope he works out in the long run like Bill Snyder or Frank Beamer?

I honestly feel like we don't have a right answer or winning situation. We're coming up on half a decade under this guy and time seems to be standing still.

Excellent post, ZERO!

The answer is in your 4th ¶.  It's the only option since he is for sure getting his 5th year here. 

I'm reminded of the guy who starts swimming across the lake and 3/4ers of the way across decides he's too tired to continue on, turns around and drownes 2/3rds of the way back to his starting point.

[buldozer]

Gas up the plane if you want to get rid of him.....

[Who is our Coach?]

There is reason to be concerned with recruiting and certainly halftime adjustments.  But my biggest problem is that Bielema's teams seem to be weak mentally.  This team especially so.  At the first sign of adversity this season, over and over, we struck the tents and looked for a place to lie down.  Unless things went nearly perfect, we found a way to lose.  And unless we dominated the LOS in the run game, any success we had was fleeting.  If we couldn't run the ball in a dominant way, we had no chance. Been a common refrain his tenure, especially this year, that we are a mentally fragile team.  It seems to happen with "players coaches" that they fail to instill that mental toughness.   It's some X's and O's, and some Jimmies and Joes.  But the mental aspect is obvious to me, and I can't think of a greater responsibility that fails directly on the head coach. 

[Inhogswetrust]

we are just going to have to suck it up and stay the course.

Please don't use the word "suck" I feel bad enough already.

[longpig]

If Bert truly cared about the fans and the UofA like he says he does, he'd do us all a solid and resign.  Good HC's are working the sidelines rallying the team when moral goes south.  He just stands there confused biting on his lip.

[PorkRinds]

If Bert truly cared about the fans and the UofA like he says he does, he'd do us all a solid and resign.  Good HC's are working the sidelines rallying the team when moral goes south.  He just stands there confused biting on his lip.

obviously you only watch on TV.

[Nuttcracker, Sweet!]

In the list of problems, you left out clock management. That said, I don't claim to have the answers as to the penalties or 2nd half collapses.

I DO know that recruiting has been and will continue to be a problem because it has been a problem for EVERY coach and staff here. Location, location, location, like real estate.

When we first joined the SEC, many prognosticators said that recruiting was going to be a problem because of Fayetteville's LOCATION. That is not an excuse, it is a fact!

We are so much farther from where most bluechip recruits are from than the teams we compete with and Little Rock does not produce the players it did in the 70s and 80s.

Look up the recruiting rankings for the last 15-20 years, I did. 24/7 has had us ranked ONE time in the top 15 in their rankings since 2000... our competitors in the SECW are there nearly every year.

That covers most of the Nutt reign of error and the entirety of Petrino's regime. Three different staffs with recruiting rankings about the same...

I have problems with BB on some things, especially the 2nd half collapses, but he cannot move Fayetteville closer to where the stud players are.

People in the western part of the state like to beat their chests about the mighty 7A West, but it produces at most 4-5 SEC level prospects a year in good years. There are plenty of SCHOOLS in other states who have that many or more on one team.

I personally think Petrino was the best coach here since Broyles in his prime, but that ship sailed years ago, he wasn't going to retire here likely since 5 years is about his max anywhere he's been.

We have to hit the JC circuit because of attrition no matter who the coach is cause not even Saban  hits on every signee.

We always lack depth and have to shuffle players around due to injuries and attrition. Been that way as long as I can remember.

We have little margin for error and as long as Saban recruits and coaches as intensely as he does, everyone else in the West is shooting for 2nd place most years.

The only exceptions are when someone has a freak like Cam Newton to ride or gets lucky on a few Kick 6 type miracle plays. Even then, Aubarn was LUCKY to comeback and beat Bama in 2010 28-27 and in 2013 when Saban was still running a caveman offense..

[JOKERHOG]

Excellent post, ZERO!

The answer is in your 4th ¶.  It's the only option since he is for sure getting his 5th year here. 

I'm reminded of the guy who starts swimming across the lake and 3/4ers of the way across decides he's too tired to continue on, turns around and drownes 2/3rds of the way back to his starting point.

He drowns either way but has the best chance if he turns back sooner.  We need to turn back now and go a different direction before it is two late

[JOKERHOG]

obviously you only watch on TV.

You been two many games? 

[reddogjcss]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Do something different

[ballz2thewall]

Funny thing is you go to the recruiting board on here and say anything about recruiting you will get hammered. It just makes me all warm and fuzzy that we are stocking our defense with 2 and 3 star players. But don't say anything in recruiting forum. Thus is the best class coming we've ever had 

the whole damn thing has made me admittedly schizophrenic.

one week, i'm convinced we don't have horses, but ponies. next week, i'm convinced our horse trainers are imbeciles. the next week, i'm blaming deutsch bank and subprime mortgages.

so; i take my medicine and chill a bit. the voices ease up and i look backwards.

what i see is the harry truman axiom "the buck stops here".

[Torqued pork]

Arkansas doesn't attract enough big-time players to get by with a HC who isn't a detail-oriented workaholic coupled with an average staff. That's always been the case and is especially true in the SEC.

[hawgon]

If you can get up 24-0 on someone, you have the horses.  No, we don't have the horses to beat Alabama, but who does?  There are problems up there right now that go beyond basic ineptitude.  I don't know what they are.

I finally listened to BB's postgame and he didn't sound nearly as gutted as I would have after something like that.  In fact, he didn't sound anything like he used to himself after a bad loss.  I don't want to say he sounded like he was okay with it, but the emotion he used to show was not there.  There might have been a certain resignation or acceptance there.  Or maybe he just doesn't know what he is going to do.

I'm not sure that if he couldn't figure a graceful way out of this mess that he wouldn't pick up and go today.  Something has changed from just last year and I don't know what it is.

[ballz2thewall]

Arkansas doesn't attract enough big-time players to get by with a HC who isn't a detail-oriented workaholic coupled with an average staff. That's always been the case and is especially true in the SEC.

there is a lot of truth in this. first and foremost, one must be willing to be a sonofabitch to be a successful head coach.

i'm convinced les miles got lazy; and thus, fired. i'm also convinced nolan got lazy after 94, and thus, fired. i'm sure there are other examples.

it seems insensitive, but successful coaches seem to have a common quality; players and subordinates are expendable.

i have a two-part anecdote: virtually every player i know from our 64' team says that cfb was a complete ass. at the 1994 "100 year" banquet, orville henry told me that cfb should feel lucky if he escapes the premises alive.

so it's a balance; convince parents to encourage kids to come here, coupled with being willing to burn them when needed.

frankly, i'm a bit worn out with tearing up at press conferences. it's wearing thin as everything kennybob.

[Torqued pork]

If you can get up 24-0 on someone, you have the horses.  No, we don't have the horses to beat Alabama, but who does?  There are problems up there right now that go beyond basic ineptitude.  I don't know what they are.

I finally listened to BB's postgame and he didn't sound nearly as gutted as I would have after something like that.  In fact, he didn't sound anything like he used to himself after a bad loss.  I don't want to say he sounded like he was okay with it, but the emotion he used to show was not there.  There might have been a certain resignation or acceptance there.  Or maybe he just doesn't know what he is going to do.

I'm not sure that if he couldn't figure a graceful way out of this mess that he wouldn't pick up and go today.  Something has changed from just last year and I don't know what it is.

I sensed the exact same thing.

[hawgon]

He'll be 47 in a month or so I think.  He has a baby on the way.  And he has more money than he will ever be able to reasonably spend and knows he could make plenty just doing TV for the next 20 years.

If you had the exact same situation, how many of us here would want to continue in a job where you needed to get up at 5:00 a.m. and put in 15 hour days with a million little bosses looking over your shoulder who felt free to criticize you for anything and everything?  I wouldn't.  I'd be on ESPN next year and never look back. 

Money aside, I can't figure a more miserable job in the world than that of a college football coach under fire.   I can't see how anyone with any options would do that for more than a second.

[depressed_fan]

Virginia Tech was a better team with better talent and a better recruiting base. They had more athletes. We didn't get 24-0 lead on them .They gave us 3 turn overs and spotted us 17 first half points.  The term is they "gave us".  Missouri was a lot better team than their record indicated. Don't ever write down a win at Missouri in the last game of the season. They're going to have just as much talent as we do too most years.

To your second point, 4 Million dollars plus whatever for assistant coaches buying 7 wins may be the best money is going to buy. But you have to agree the Alabama game was the only game we went in to knowing we were going to lose. The rest of them we thought we had a chance. Remember the John L Smith year and Belema's first year? Imagine stringing together 3 or 4 years like that in a row with an unproven coach making 2 million per year. That's basically what you're lobbying for. You've seen how low the program can go recently. Imagine bringing in a guy that's doing that in years 2, 3 and 4.  That's very reasonable to envision

[sigpooie]

Maybe we should do what Tulsa, ASU and other programs that seem to find good up and coming coaches do.. Fire Long before we do, so that we don't have to worry about who he might chose.. Or at least, steal the pens from the AD Dept and make sure he can't sign anything for a couple of years.

[Tusks]

Virginia Tech was a better team with better talent and a better recruiting base. They had more athletes. We didn't get 24-0 lead on them .They gave us 3 turn overs and spotted us 17 first half points.  The term is they "gave us".  Missouri was a lot better team than their record indicated. Don't ever write down a win at Missouri in the last game of the season. They're going to have just as much talent as we do too most years.

To your second point, 4 Million dollars plus whatever for assistant coaches buying 7 wins may be the best money is going to buy. But you have to agree the Alabama game was the only game we went in to knowing we were going to lose. The rest of them we thought we had a chance. Remember the John L Smith year and Belema's first year? Imagine stringing together 3 or 4 years like that in a row with an unproven coach making 2 million per year. That's basically what you're lobbying for. You've seen how low the program can go recently. Imagine bringing in a guy that's doing that in years 2, 3 and 4.  That's very reasonable to envision

#apologist

[Atlhogfan1]

Some of our current problems:

Oline - Too short on numbers and staff believed they needed to plug some holes with temporary fixes by signing a few JC olinemen.  This has a chance to get fixed.  Depends on how the development of the underclassmen is going and how quickly current recruits can contribute.  Oline is the one area in football which can't be fixed quickly and especially not be made into an area where we can lose players early and not have drop off. 

Defense - Shouldn't be as bad as it is.  Don't believe we have a high ceiling as a program for defense.  But it can be competent.  Staff changes have to be made.

QB position has to be up for grabs in Spring and August.  Can't have those mistakes AA made late in the season.  And AA or whomever the qb is has to be given more responsibility at line of scrimmage to change plays.  Also needs to improve greatly in recognizing where pressure is coming from.  Too much Tyler Wilson this season.

Speed - Has to increase.  Good sign seeing Hammonds in bowl game.  This can be fixed.


Losing big leads has partially been attributable to the struggling oline.  Could not run when we needed to and wanted to.  You can look at the Florida game and see how it is supposed to go with a lead.   

Another factor is depth.  We don't have it yet.  The recruiting hasn't been as poor as the OP has tried to state.  It has been lacking however in certain positions.


We avg fewer penalties per game this season than did Clemson and Louisville(118th in college football).


The program is around an 8 win a season program.  That isn't the ceiling.  Too much discussion around the avg and not if Bret's ceiling at Arkansas can match the program's ceiling.  I have my doubts.  Most all of us do.  I'm sure he does right now too.  Why I think he leaves in the not too distant future.  A question is how badly will our fans show our asses and act like complete fools and how personal do we make it as he is on his way out?

[gawntrail]

A question is how badly will our fans show our asses and act like complete fools and how personal do we make it as he is on his way out?

To the extent necessary.

[reddogjcss]

I have no confidense in Coach B anymore! NONE

[rhames]

If you can get up 24-0 on someone, you have the horses.  No, we don't have the horses to beat Alabama, but who does?  There are problems up there right now that go beyond basic ineptitude.  I don't know what they are.

I finally listened to BB's postgame and he didn't sound nearly as gutted as I would have after something like that.  In fact, he didn't sound anything like he used to himself after a bad loss.  I don't want to say he sounded like he was okay with it, but the emotion he used to show was not there.  There might have been a certain resignation or acceptance there.  Or maybe he just doesn't know what he is going to do.

I'm not sure that if he couldn't figure a graceful way out of this mess that he wouldn't pick up and go today.  Something has changed from just last year and I don't know what it is.

Sensible criticism

[Bubba's Bruisers]

We didn't know.