From the Bench - Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

[Robert Shields]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

Robert Shields

Summer sports talk is always slow in SEC country where football is the only thing that really matters.

It was exciting for Vanderbilt's baseball team to vindicate the SEC when so many were blasting the conference for being overrated and having so many teams knocked out of the tournament early. Yet, in the end, an SEC team proved it was the best as usual.

But now that college baseball is over and we have more than a month before football teams begin two-a-day practices, some fans just have to find something to talk about to fill the time.

The recent soup du jour stirred up by an online column from MRSEC.com is the debate as to whether Bret Bielema is the right fit at Arkansas.

As much fun as it is to talk about, Bielema's "fit" at Arkansas is really an irrelevant question because you can be a bad fit and still win at Arkansas, which was the case with Bobby Petrino. Or you can be a great fit like Houston Nutt, but he had to go.

The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season. The only thing that matters is if he wins.

The caveat to that rule is you can't wreck your motorcycle with your girlfriend that you hired on the back of it and lie about it. For me, that was still not enough to fire him because I don't have any other delusion except that winning in the SEC is the only thing that matters. I left behind a long time ago that college sports is a business of integrity.

Razorback fans had to feel for a brief moment when Petrino was here that they were about to defy the gravity of the SEC and break the event horizon. But instead we all got sucked back into the depths of the black hole and compressed into something unrecognizable.

It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good.

The downside is that when you arrive and proclaim you came to beat Alabama and then get pummeled by Alabama 52-0, every other SEC coach makes sure they are not the first to lose to the new kid on the block that won't shut up about himself.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to win and win soon. Winning brings money and that is the primary reason the UA wants to succeed in college football.

The Razorback Foundation is $10 million behind in donations for its last fiscal year. They had an explanation that it was caused by the expansion of facilities, yet it's still a scary fact for the UA if that trend continues. There has always been some sort of expansion going on somewhere at the Razorback Sports-Industrial Complex.

The football team still being in the midst of its longest losing streak with no SEC wins last year plus a lackluster Red-White game in the spring has not been inspiring for fans statewide, and it will be interesting how donations will be affected.

Money talks and if the team is not winning, not selling tickets, and donations are falling off, Bielema won't get to stay. It won't matter if he fits or not.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to at least make fans feel that the Razorback team will be competitive. Right now, that does not exist in many fans' minds. The team opens with Auburn on the road, which is a tough task to start the season.

Bielema needs to at least provide hope and the team needs to at a minimum find a moral victory. I believe in moral victories because sometimes you can still leave with pride after defeat.

Blowing a big lead in some obscure village in New Jersey last year to Rutgers was the exact opposite of a moral victory. It was a stunning defeat, which is difficult to overcome. The Razorbacks cannot suffer that kind of defeat again.

The MRSEC.com article points out the lackluster recruiting at Arkansas, which in Bielema's defense is commonplace since Arkansas arrived in the SEC. Arkansas is typically always in the lower half of the conference rankings when it comes to recruiting.

This means on average that the Razorbacks will probably have less depth and typically a slightly lower-caliber player. The question becomes, can Bielema win against his peers with slightly lesser talent.

Last year did not lead to that conclusion. In three games in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have won against LSU, Rutgers, and Mississippi State, Bielema's teams found a way to lose all three.

I believe you can win at any school with any scheme if you have the right players and the right coach. And here is the test if Bielema is the right coach.

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

There are coaches who are successful because they are good mimickers and can take something that someone else did and make it better. They can recreate and they can be successful. Then there are those coaches who truly understand what they are doing and innovate to be successful.

As a former Outstanding Student of Economics at the UA, I see this all the time as people use statistics and know how to use the formula and do it correctly, but if pressed they don't know why you can use certain variables and why you cannot on others. They just know how to follow the rule without understanding why it exists.

Love or hate Nolan Richardson, he understood the whys of basketball. He knew what the other coach often was going to do before they knew what they were going to do and why. Nolan could just see the game in his head.

For Bielema to be successful at Arkansas, he also has to be that kind of coach who isn't just mimicking college football fundamentals and putting X here and O there because that is what the book says.

I go back to the time after beating Ole Miss when Houston Nutt spoke his infamous quote, "I called that play, Chuck." He was obviously excited and I think for once he had been ahead of the opposing coach. He knew what Ed Orgeron was going to do before Ed did and that felt great.

To succeed at Arkansas, Bielema will have to always be ahead of the opposing coaches with the scheme he is trying to implement, and that will determine if he is the right fit. He will have to call that play, Chuck.



Send your short list for the next Razorback football coach to fromthebench@yahoo.com

[ricepig]

Ignorant as usual.

[The_Iceman]

[Boardon Hamsay]

Obligatory Who Is Robert Shields?

[GuvHog]

Ignorant as usual.

Actually for once, he's absolutely correct.

[Hoggish1]

Well, duh...

[Dr. Starcs]

Mr. Shields, what you've just written... is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[Rockinghog]

With that title it will be difficult for him to be wrong.

[chitwnhog]

It seems that RS trolls Hogville to find subject matter for his "column".

[ricepig]

Actually for once, he's absolutely correct.

Umm, no, Bielema is here next year, and more than likely a minimum of two more.

[OTTER]

Asinine!

[Pickwick Hog]

"The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season".

Null and voids the possibility of there being a coherent thought in that diatribe.

[cosmodrum]

As opposed to all those other coaches that would be a good fit if they lose.

Find another hobby.

[Vantage 8 dude]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

Robert Shields

Summer sports talk is always slow in SEC country where football is the only thing that really matters.

It was exciting for Vanderbilt's baseball team to vindicate the SEC when so many were blasting the conference for being overrated and having so many teams knocked out of the tournament early. Yet, in the end, an SEC team proved it was the best as usual.

But now that college baseball is over and we have more than a month before football teams begin two-a-day practices, some fans just have to find something to talk about to fill the time.

The recent soup du jour stirred up by an online column from MRSEC.com is the debate as to whether Bret Bielema is the right fit at Arkansas.

As much fun as it is to talk about, Bielema's "fit" at Arkansas is really an irrelevant question because you can be a bad fit and still win at Arkansas, which was the case with Bobby Petrino. Or you can be a great fit like Houston Nutt, but he had to go.

The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season. The only thing that matters is if he wins.

The caveat to that rule is you can't wreck your motorcycle with your girlfriend that you hired on the back of it and lie about it. For me, that was still not enough to fire him because I don't have any other delusion except that winning in the SEC is the only thing that matters. I left behind a long time ago that college sports is a business of integrity.

Razorback fans had to feel for a brief moment when Petrino was here that they were about to defy the gravity of the SEC and break the event horizon. But instead we all got sucked back into the depths of the black hole and compressed into something unrecognizable.

It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good.

The downside is that when you arrive and proclaim you came to beat Alabama and then get pummeled by Alabama 52-0, every other SEC coach makes sure they are not the first to lose to the new kid on the block that won't shut up about himself.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to win and win soon. Winning brings money and that is the primary reason the UA wants to succeed in college football.

The Razorback Foundation is $10 million behind in donations for its last fiscal year. They had an explanation that it was caused by the expansion of facilities, yet it's still a scary fact for the UA if that trend continues. There has always been some sort of expansion going on somewhere at the Razorback Sports-Industrial Complex.

The football team still being in the midst of its longest losing streak with no SEC wins last year plus a lackluster Red-White game in the spring has not been inspiring for fans statewide, and it will be interesting how donations will be affected.

Money talks and if the team is not winning, not selling tickets, and donations are falling off, Bielema won't get to stay. It won't matter if he fits or not.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to at least make fans feel that the Razorback team will be competitive. Right now, that does not exist in many fans' minds. The team opens with Auburn on the road, which is a tough task to start the season.

Bielema needs to at least provide hope and the team needs to at a minimum find a moral victory. I believe in moral victories because sometimes you can still leave with pride after defeat.

Blowing a big lead in some obscure village in New Jersey last year to Rutgers was the exact opposite of a moral victory. It was a stunning defeat, which is difficult to overcome. The Razorbacks cannot suffer that kind of defeat again.

The MRSEC.com article points out the lackluster recruiting at Arkansas, which in Bielema's defense is commonplace since Arkansas arrived in the SEC. Arkansas is typically always in the lower half of the conference rankings when it comes to recruiting.

This means on average that the Razorbacks will probably have less depth and typically a slightly lower-caliber player. The question becomes, can Bielema win against his peers with slightly lesser talent.

Last year did not lead to that conclusion. In three games in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have won against LSU, Rutgers, and Mississippi State, Bielema's teams found a way to lose all three.

I believe you can win at any school with any scheme if you have the right players and the right coach. And here is the test if Bielema is the right coach.

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

There are coaches who are successful because they are good mimickers and can take something that someone else did and make it better. They can recreate and they can be successful. Then there are those coaches who truly understand what they are doing and innovate to be successful.

As a former Outstanding Student of Economics at the UA, I see this all the time as people use statistics and know how to use the formula and do it correctly, but if pressed they don't know why you can use certain variables and why you cannot on others. They just know how to follow the rule without understanding why it exists.

Love or hate Nolan Richardson, he understood the whys of basketball. He knew what the other coach often was going to do before they knew what they were going to do and why. Nolan could just see the game in his head.

For Bielema to be successful at Arkansas, he also has to be that kind of coach who isn't just mimicking college football fundamentals and putting X here and O there because that is what the book says.

I go back to the time after beating Ole Miss when Houston Nutt spoke his infamous quote, "I called that play, Chuck." He was obviously excited and I think for once he had been ahead of the opposing coach. He knew what Ed Orgeron was going to do before Ed did and that felt great.

To succeed at Arkansas, Bielema will have to always be ahead of the opposing coaches with the scheme he is trying to implement, and that will determine if he is the right fit. He will have to call that play, Chuck.



Send your short list for the next Razorback football coach to fromthebench@yahoo.com

Bobby Shields=Mr. Totally Obvious.

[PennHOG]

[LZH]

You're getting better.  This is four weeks in a row.  +1

[MJ2]

Ask yourself this - is CBB rewarded more for winning or for losing?   Then read his contract and ask the same question again.

[PygmalionEffect]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

Robert Shields

Summer sports talk is always slow in SEC country where football is the only thing that really matters.

It was exciting for Vanderbilt's baseball team to vindicate the SEC when so many were blasting the conference for being overrated and having so many teams knocked out of the tournament early. Yet, in the end, an SEC team proved it was the best as usual.

But now that college baseball is over and we have more than a month before football teams begin two-a-day practices, some fans just have to find something to talk about to fill the time.

The recent soup du jour stirred up by an online column from MRSEC.com is the debate as to whether Bret Bielema is the right fit at Arkansas.

As much fun as it is to talk about, Bielema's "fit" at Arkansas is really an irrelevant question because you can be a bad fit and still win at Arkansas, which was the case with Bobby Petrino. Or you can be a great fit like Houston Nutt, but he had to go.

The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season. The only thing that matters is if he wins.

The caveat to that rule is you can't wreck your motorcycle with your girlfriend that you hired on the back of it and lie about it. For me, that was still not enough to fire him because I don't have any other delusion except that winning in the SEC is the only thing that matters. I left behind a long time ago that college sports is a business of integrity.

Razorback fans had to feel for a brief moment when Petrino was here that they were about to defy the gravity of the SEC and break the event horizon. But instead we all got sucked back into the depths of the black hole and compressed into something unrecognizable.

It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good.

The downside is that when you arrive and proclaim you came to beat Alabama and then get pummeled by Alabama 52-0, every other SEC coach makes sure they are not the first to lose to the new kid on the block that won't shut up about himself.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to win and win soon. Winning brings money and that is the primary reason the UA wants to succeed in college football.

The Razorback Foundation is $10 million behind in donations for its last fiscal year. They had an explanation that it was caused by the expansion of facilities, yet it's still a scary fact for the UA if that trend continues. There has always been some sort of expansion going on somewhere at the Razorback Sports-Industrial Complex.

The football team still being in the midst of its longest losing streak with no SEC wins last year plus a lackluster Red-White game in the spring has not been inspiring for fans statewide, and it will be interesting how donations will be affected.

Money talks and if the team is not winning, not selling tickets, and donations are falling off, Bielema won't get to stay. It won't matter if he fits or not.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to at least make fans feel that the Razorback team will be competitive. Right now, that does not exist in many fans' minds. The team opens with Auburn on the road, which is a tough task to start the season.

Bielema needs to at least provide hope and the team needs to at a minimum find a moral victory. I believe in moral victories because sometimes you can still leave with pride after defeat.

Blowing a big lead in some obscure village in New Jersey last year to Rutgers was the exact opposite of a moral victory. It was a stunning defeat, which is difficult to overcome. The Razorbacks cannot suffer that kind of defeat again.

The MRSEC.com article points out the lackluster recruiting at Arkansas, which in Bielema's defense is commonplace since Arkansas arrived in the SEC. Arkansas is typically always in the lower half of the conference rankings when it comes to recruiting.

This means on average that the Razorbacks will probably have less depth and typically a slightly lower-caliber player. The question becomes, can Bielema win against his peers with slightly lesser talent.

Last year did not lead to that conclusion. In three games in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have won against LSU, Rutgers, and Mississippi State, Bielema's teams found a way to lose all three.

I believe you can win at any school with any scheme if you have the right players and the right coach. And here is the test if Bielema is the right coach.

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

There are coaches who are successful because they are good mimickers and can take something that someone else did and make it better. They can recreate and they can be successful. Then there are those coaches who truly understand what they are doing and innovate to be successful.

As a former Outstanding Student of Economics at the UA, I see this all the time as people use statistics and know how to use the formula and do it correctly, but if pressed they don't know why you can use certain variables and why you cannot on others. They just know how to follow the rule without understanding why it exists.

Love or hate Nolan Richardson, he understood the whys of basketball. He knew what the other coach often was going to do before they knew what they were going to do and why. Nolan could just see the game in his head.

For Bielema to be successful at Arkansas, he also has to be that kind of coach who isn't just mimicking college football fundamentals and putting X here and O there because that is what the book says.

I go back to the time after beating Ole Miss when Houston Nutt spoke his infamous quote, "I called that play, Chuck." He was obviously excited and I think for once he had been ahead of the opposing coach. He knew what Ed Orgeron was going to do before Ed did and that felt great.

To succeed at Arkansas, Bielema will have to always be ahead of the opposing coaches with the scheme he is trying to implement, and that will determine if he is the right fit. He will have to call that play, Chuck.



Send your short list for the next Razorback football coach to fromthebench@yahoo.com

Nice summary of what you and I read on Hogville last week Robert.

[ricepig]

Ask yourselft this - is CBB rewarded more for winning or for losing?   Then read his contract and ask the same question again.

Looks like he makes more by winning.
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/post/94702/heres-bret-bielemas-employment-contract-with-the-university-of-arkansas

[Dr. Starcs]

-1 to everyone that re-posts his entire article

[cosmodrum]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

Robert Shields

Summer sports talk is always slow in SEC country where football is the only thing that really matters.

It was exciting for Vanderbilt's baseball team to vindicate the SEC when so many were blasting the conference for being overrated and having so many teams knocked out of the tournament early. Yet, in the end, an SEC team proved it was the best as usual.

But now that college baseball is over and we have more than a month before football teams begin two-a-day practices, some fans just have to find something to talk about to fill the time.

The recent soup du jour stirred up by an online column from MRSEC.com is the debate as to whether Bret Bielema is the right fit at Arkansas.

As much fun as it is to talk about, Bielema's "fit" at Arkansas is really an irrelevant question because you can be a bad fit and still win at Arkansas, which was the case with Bobby Petrino. Or you can be a great fit like Houston Nutt, but he had to go.

The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season. The only thing that matters is if he wins.

The caveat to that rule is you can't wreck your motorcycle with your girlfriend that you hired on the back of it and lie about it. For me, that was still not enough to fire him because I don't have any other delusion except that winning in the SEC is the only thing that matters. I left behind a long time ago that college sports is a business of integrity.

Razorback fans had to feel for a brief moment when Petrino was here that they were about to defy the gravity of the SEC and break the event horizon. But instead we all got sucked back into the depths of the black hole and compressed into something unrecognizable.

It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good.

The downside is that when you arrive and proclaim you came to beat Alabama and then get pummeled by Alabama 52-0, every other SEC coach makes sure they are not the first to lose to the new kid on the block that won't shut up about himself.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to win and win soon. Winning brings money and that is the primary reason the UA wants to succeed in college football.

The Razorback Foundation is $10 million behind in donations for its last fiscal year. They had an explanation that it was caused by the expansion of facilities, yet it's still a scary fact for the UA if that trend continues. There has always been some sort of expansion going on somewhere at the Razorback Sports-Industrial Complex.

The football team still being in the midst of its longest losing streak with no SEC wins last year plus a lackluster Red-White game in the spring has not been inspiring for fans statewide, and it will be interesting how donations will be affected.

Money talks and if the team is not winning, not selling tickets, and donations are falling off, Bielema won't get to stay. It won't matter if he fits or not.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to at least make fans feel that the Razorback team will be competitive. Right now, that does not exist in many fans' minds. The team opens with Auburn on the road, which is a tough task to start the season.

Bielema needs to at least provide hope and the team needs to at a minimum find a moral victory. I believe in moral victories because sometimes you can still leave with pride after defeat.

Blowing a big lead in some obscure village in New Jersey last year to Rutgers was the exact opposite of a moral victory. It was a stunning defeat, which is difficult to overcome. The Razorbacks cannot suffer that kind of defeat again.

The MRSEC.com article points out the lackluster recruiting at Arkansas, which in Bielema's defense is commonplace since Arkansas arrived in the SEC. Arkansas is typically always in the lower half of the conference rankings when it comes to recruiting.

This means on average that the Razorbacks will probably have less depth and typically a slightly lower-caliber player. The question becomes, can Bielema win against his peers with slightly lesser talent.

Last year did not lead to that conclusion. In three games in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have won against LSU, Rutgers, and Mississippi State, Bielema's teams found a way to lose all three.

I believe you can win at any school with any scheme if you have the right players and the right coach. And here is the test if Bielema is the right coach.

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

There are coaches who are successful because they are good mimickers and can take something that someone else did and make it better. They can recreate and they can be successful. Then there are those coaches who truly understand what they are doing and innovate to be successful.

As a former Outstanding Student of Economics at the UA, I see this all the time as people use statistics and know how to use the formula and do it correctly, but if pressed they don't know why you can use certain variables and why you cannot on others. They just know how to follow the rule without understanding why it exists.

Love or hate Nolan Richardson, he understood the whys of basketball. He knew what the other coach often was going to do before they knew what they were going to do and why. Nolan could just see the game in his head.

For Bielema to be successful at Arkansas, he also has to be that kind of coach who isn't just mimicking college football fundamentals and putting X here and O there because that is what the book says.

I go back to the time after beating Ole Miss when Houston Nutt spoke his infamous quote, "I called that play, Chuck." He was obviously excited and I think for once he had been ahead of the opposing coach. He knew what Ed Orgeron was going to do before Ed did and that felt great.

To succeed at Arkansas, Bielema will have to always be ahead of the opposing coaches with the scheme he is trying to implement, and that will determine if he is the right fit. He will have to call that play, Chuck.



Send your short list for the next Razorback football coach to fromthebench@yahoo.com

[GolfnHog]

"It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good."

Guess I'm not a fit culturally either. I can be brash and if you ASK for an opinion, from me, I'll give it. I'm not looking for acceptance or validation from you once you ask for it.

[yraciv]

Well, duh...

Kind of my thoughts! Didn't read either, but kind of thought the thread title said it all.  What D1 football coach isn't judged on wins and losses.

[aar0n]

-1 to everyone that re-posts his entire article

Agreed.  That's one of my pet-peeves, especially if the response is just a sentence or a couple words.

[LZH]

-1 to everyone that re-posts his entire article

Hee hee, yeah I was on my phone earlier and it takes five minutes just to scroll down.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Hee hee, yeah I was on my phone earlier and it takes five minutes just to scroll down.

That's 5 minutes of your life lost, that you will never get back and you committed that to this article?

[The_Iceman]

Asinine!

[LZH]

That's 5 minutes of your life lost, that you will never get back and you committed that to this article?

Well I thought it would be best to throw it in there.  After all, I have an obligation to all the folks who don't like me to give them plenty of ammo whenever I can.

[sportster365]

Good post Shields. Completely agree, although I'm not just sold on Nolan being able to predict what other coaches were going to do, but I do know he emphasized defense and recruited kids who fit the system he wanted. I think Nolan's one key niche was that he was going to out-run his opponents and therein lies much of his success.

But everything else you slammed. From the Vanderbilt victory to the Petrino/Nutt fit. Beleima's brash approach to the UofA excusing the $10m loss to the facility expansion was again imo head on or at least very logical thinking at best.

Being successful at any program that isn't a recruiting hotbed will generally take an Xs and Os type of coach. Fitting and not fitting is solely a matter of winning and not winning. As well as being able to afford a coach or no.

As for your side prediction, no coach or fanbase wants to lose to a team picked to finish last in there division/conference, but aside from Dan Mullen and maybe, just maybe Mark Richt.. I think everyone else is safe.

[Hogwild]

While I agree with a majority of what you wrote, your side bet is off base.  Saban, Miles, Sumlin, Freeze, Pinkel & Malzahn could all having losing seasons next year with losses to Bielema and would still be the head coach the following season.

As far as Richt he will probably win between 8-11 games, I doubt a loss to Arkansas would be the beginning of the end unless he already has a few SEC losses.  After playing us, UGA only road game is to Lexington, cocktail party and the final three games are in Athens.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

[870hogfan]

This and +1 LOL!

[zane]

Didn't read

[Snouty]

That's sort of like saying Bear Bryant Will Be Right Fit for Alabama Only if He Wins.

[Mike Irwin]

Name me a previous Razorback coach who was a good fit at Arkansas without winning.

[tophawg19]

i would be a great hire for the razorbacks as long as we were winning.

[BPsTheMan]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins

Robert Shields

Summer sports talk is always slow in SEC country where football is the only thing that really matters.

It was exciting for Vanderbilt's baseball team to vindicate the SEC when so many were blasting the conference for being overrated and having so many teams knocked out of the tournament early. Yet, in the end, an SEC team proved it was the best as usual.

But now that college baseball is over and we have more than a month before football teams begin two-a-day practices, some fans just have to find something to talk about to fill the time.

The recent soup du jour stirred up by an online column from MRSEC.com is the debate as to whether Bret Bielema is the right fit at Arkansas.

As much fun as it is to talk about, Bielema's "fit" at Arkansas is really an irrelevant question because you can be a bad fit and still win at Arkansas, which was the case with Bobby Petrino. Or you can be a great fit like Houston Nutt, but he had to go.

The much larger question is if Bielema gets to stay at Arkansas after the coming season. The only thing that matters is if he wins.

The caveat to that rule is you can't wreck your motorcycle with your girlfriend that you hired on the back of it and lie about it. For me, that was still not enough to fire him because I don't have any other delusion except that winning in the SEC is the only thing that matters. I left behind a long time ago that college sports is a business of integrity.

Razorback fans had to feel for a brief moment when Petrino was here that they were about to defy the gravity of the SEC and break the event horizon. But instead we all got sucked back into the depths of the black hole and compressed into something unrecognizable.

It's quite clear to anyone who is paying attention that Bielema does not fit culturally in the SEC. He's brash. He's very assuming and only as of late has he kept his mouth shut. If you want an opinion, he will give you one, and it may not be good.

The downside is that when you arrive and proclaim you came to beat Alabama and then get pummeled by Alabama 52-0, every other SEC coach makes sure they are not the first to lose to the new kid on the block that won't shut up about himself.

Here is a side prediction: Any SEC coach who loses to Bielema next year will be put on the hot seat at his school, and if Mark Richt at Georgia loses to Bielema in Little Rock it will be the beginning of the end for him.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to win and win soon. Winning brings money and that is the primary reason the UA wants to succeed in college football.

The Razorback Foundation is $10 million behind in donations for its last fiscal year. They had an explanation that it was caused by the expansion of facilities, yet it's still a scary fact for the UA if that trend continues. There has always been some sort of expansion going on somewhere at the Razorback Sports-Industrial Complex.

The football team still being in the midst of its longest losing streak with no SEC wins last year plus a lackluster Red-White game in the spring has not been inspiring for fans statewide, and it will be interesting how donations will be affected.

Money talks and if the team is not winning, not selling tickets, and donations are falling off, Bielema won't get to stay. It won't matter if he fits or not.

Bielema is going to have to find a way to at least make fans feel that the Razorback team will be competitive. Right now, that does not exist in many fans' minds. The team opens with Auburn on the road, which is a tough task to start the season.

Bielema needs to at least provide hope and the team needs to at a minimum find a moral victory. I believe in moral victories because sometimes you can still leave with pride after defeat.

Blowing a big lead in some obscure village in New Jersey last year to Rutgers was the exact opposite of a moral victory. It was a stunning defeat, which is difficult to overcome. The Razorbacks cannot suffer that kind of defeat again.

The MRSEC.com article points out the lackluster recruiting at Arkansas, which in Bielema's defense is commonplace since Arkansas arrived in the SEC. Arkansas is typically always in the lower half of the conference rankings when it comes to recruiting.

This means on average that the Razorbacks will probably have less depth and typically a slightly lower-caliber player. The question becomes, can Bielema win against his peers with slightly lesser talent.

Last year did not lead to that conclusion. In three games in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have won against LSU, Rutgers, and Mississippi State, Bielema's teams found a way to lose all three.

I believe you can win at any school with any scheme if you have the right players and the right coach. And here is the test if Bielema is the right coach.

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

There are coaches who are successful because they are good mimickers and can take something that someone else did and make it better. They can recreate and they can be successful. Then there are those coaches who truly understand what they are doing and innovate to be successful.

As a former Outstanding Student of Economics at the UA, I see this all the time as people use statistics and know how to use the formula and do it correctly, but if pressed they don't know why you can use certain variables and why you cannot on others. They just know how to follow the rule without understanding why it exists.

Love or hate Nolan Richardson, he understood the whys of basketball. He knew what the other coach often was going to do before they knew what they were going to do and why. Nolan could just see the game in his head.

For Bielema to be successful at Arkansas, he also has to be that kind of coach who isn't just mimicking college football fundamentals and putting X here and O there because that is what the book says.

I go back to the time after beating Ole Miss when Houston Nutt spoke his infamous quote, "I called that play, Chuck." He was obviously excited and I think for once he had been ahead of the opposing coach. He knew what Ed Orgeron was going to do before Ed did and that felt great.

To succeed at Arkansas, Bielema will have to always be ahead of the opposing coaches with the scheme he is trying to implement, and that will determine if he is the right fit. He will have to call that play, Chuck.



Send your short list for the next Razorback football coach to fromthebench@yahoo.com

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[DoubleReedHawgCaller]

Have y'all ever thought about having a benefit luncheon or golf tournament for this guy? He has to be one broke bastage with the career he has chose.

[Boardon Hamsay]

[Pig Worshipper]

Bielema Will Be Right Fit For Arkansas Only If He Wins

Good Lord, Robert! I was wrong when I called you Captain Obvious after a previous column. Captain Obvious is a piker next to you.

Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey in Dumb And Dumber To are Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking compared to you, O Great One!

By the way, your interview with Lanny Beavers earlier this summer was actually worth the read. Why don't you do more interviews? Why not interview some of Hogville's favorite/most hated characters? I'd love it if you'd interview Fake Jeff Long.
You could title that one, "Fake Jeff Long Is NOT The Real Jeff Long"

[thefisher]

As opposed to all those other coaches that would be a good fit if they lose.

Find another hobby.

Here - Here! +1 Cosmo

[Psychohog]

They must have had to burn down the schoolhouse to get this guy out of the 5th grade

[Pig Worshipper]

As opposed to all those other coaches that would be a good fit if they lose.

Find another hobby.

The only coach I can think of where this might hold true would be the coach of the Washington Generals.

[Harley_Hawg]

[HogFanInBryant]

I am typing this with an ice pick sticking out of both eyeballs after reading this retarded rant....is my spelling ok?

[Al Boarland]

Solid article, RS. It's not what we want to hear. The season is getting close and most of our questions will be answered. The part about not wanting to be the first coach to lose to CBB is very interesting and I hadn't thought of that.

[Hogfaniam]

AuthorTopic: From the Bench - Bielema Will Be Right Fit for Arkansas Only if He Wins


Well, no feces Francine.

[go hogues]

In life, most of us learn through memorization or mimicking what others do. Few of us are original thinkers in certain areas.

Pot meet kettle.

[mckinneyhog5]

[chitwnhog]

Best response to a RS "column" since...Who is Robert Shields?

[Farrestor]

Ribeye is only good when it is eaten.....