He had a serious drinking problem at Arkansas that led to key assistants leaving (like Sam Pittman when Bielema no-showed for a recruiting visit). Thankfully seems to have overcome it
Illini Football 2023
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Thank you!
I was a huge fan from the beginning - I place a lot of stock in the coaching tree the coach comes from, and Fry, Snyder and Alvarez are 3 of the best.
I think the trepidation came from how his tenure at Arkansas ended
I wasn’t completely against the BB hire (prior college success, especially in the conference where your team plays is always good) but my reservation was with his Arkansa tenure.
I thought he’d be wildly successful there so when he wasn’t I thought his chances of turning us around were low.
Basically, I wasn’t sure if he was a “rebuild/build his own program” type of coach or simply a “can maintain the well oiled machine” type of coach.
I agree with Point-Illinois. I was against the hire, I guess I was hoping for a home run hire and at the time he didn't seem like a good fit. Also, the fact that he played and coached at Iowa and has that Hawkeye tattoo (probably just sour grapes that he was an Illinois kid that went to Iowa). But I will say I that I have changed my mind and I'm thrilled to have him as our head coach. He has been the right man for the job.
DaChief4ever
- Urbana
Especially the Old Man with the cane whipping the table...
I was worried about what happened at Arkansas as well. Didn't seem like a WOW hire, but who was I expecting really. I thought the Lovie hire was Incredible bad and it was rightfully so on my part. Although I didn't think it would be as bad as it was. Then comes the BB hire being the longtime Illini fan like others I was hoping for the best and expecting the worse. I didn't totally buy in till after the Wisconsin game this year. First time I listened to a post game interview in years. The things he said where just spot on and totally impressed me from a coaching standpoint and the way he talked about the players and the program. As most Illinois fans I'm always 1 step from jumping off the ledge but I really think he can be the coach that we have been looking for. And for a long time.
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Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
This and additionally I was concerned about judgement lapses, but hoping he'd outgrown them. I was dead wrong. I think the seasoning BB had at Arkansas and his NFL stints have made him a better coach than his younger days, probably much better. He's the right coach at the right time and I hope he stays here til he hangs em up.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
I wanted him from the get go. Illinois can’t afford to take a chance - we needed a HC with a record of success at the P5 level. I’ve advocated this since Mackovic left and yet we bounced from one bad hire to another. When Mackovic left we had the second best Big Ten record to tOSU over the previous twelve years. We could have poached an existing P5 HC and last few decades might have been quite different. Instead an AD less Illinois promoted Tepper - an unproven commodity. We went into a spiral ever since.
Thankfully we have an AD who understands what’s going on in college football who hired the right guy in BB. Last point - I hoped for the best from Lovie but was concerned about his being away from college football so long. That’s Josh’s mulligan.
Thankfully we have an AD who understands what’s going on in college football who hired the right guy in BB. Last point - I hoped for the best from Lovie but was concerned about his being away from college football so long. That’s Josh’s mulligan.
From what I’ve heard from some WI alums, it wasn’t limited to Ark. He liked to party and seemed to not have much in the way of qualms doing so with students. As you say, thankfully he seems to have overcome his more youthful behavior and become a strong family man.
As to his hire, I didn’t have a huge opinion either way, but probably leaned toward liking the hire. I thought him having spent some time in Pats organization was likely a good thing — Bill and Saban both have had some success in helping to resurrect careers. And I wasn’t exactly blown away be the other names being mentioned. And BB had the advantage of already being successful in the conference.
As much as any of his positive traits (how he embraces his role as Executive of the program, his staff construction and his commitment to rebuilding relationships and recruiting the state of Illinois in particular), the thing that impresses me the most about BB is his communication style. He always seems to be engaged with the media, never makes it about himself and seems to be truly genuine in his care for and promotion of the players and his staff. We'll see how this turns out long term, but he is a very impressive face for this team and the University.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I always liked the hire. Figured Josh had gotten info from Bret's people that Bret would like the job if it ever became open, and Josh acted accordingly when he knew it was time to let Lovie go .
I liked that he was Illinois bred, and had played and coached in the B1G before. But never knew he was just about the perfect hire for us.
I do assume we will have him for quite awhile just as I assume we will have Josh and BU for the long term.
Its our time finally
I liked that he was Illinois bred, and had played and coached in the B1G before. But never knew he was just about the perfect hire for us.
I do assume we will have him for quite awhile just as I assume we will have Josh and BU for the long term.
Its our time finally
The only opinion I was going to have about ANY hire was that I trust Josh Whitman.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
As someone who was hopeful but lukewarm on the hire when it happened, first of all I was a little surprised by it since Bielema had made noises about wanting to stay in the NFL long term, which seems in retrospect to have just been a misinterpretation of what he said, pretty clear now he always wanted to get back to college HCing.
As you looked at the Arkansas record there was obviously more quality there than the superficial record indicated, they were in the toughest division basically ever in college football and went toe-to-toe with everybody including Bama. But on a narrative level BB made a bit of a clown of himself during that experience, and of course there were always rumors about him not behaving properly both there and Wisconsin.
So I thought there might be risk there (this was closer to the me too wave remember, I genuinely worried some story might come out that would blow everything up.) The Bielema I've heard anecdotes about since is basically harmless well-meaning partyboy manchild in his past and settled-down 50-something father in his present.
And most of all I worried that because of the Arkansas narrative that he wasn't somebody who had credibility in college football anymore, that he'd been sort of Les Miles-ified. Tony Petersen being the first staff hire was triggering in that way. But then the rest of the staff was knocked out of the park, guys you couldn't believe would leave for Illinois and it was clear BB was a big reason why, he still had juice in the profession.
So that addressed a lot of my concern, and then the effort and quality and success that came from trying to be good right away made me realize we'd gotten the good version of the story.
What I always thought was that *IF* things worked out, it was a good fit. And that was clearly right.
aiwpfan
- Springfield, Il
Thankfully he was never on Larry Eustachy's level.
I was hoping for someone like Luke Fickell. Had no idea BB was a consideration. But I was pleased with the hire. His experience in the Big10 along with his experience recruiting the midwest gave me hope.
I have to strongly agree. I cant remember any football coach we've had speak so genuinely and honestly about the program staff and players. I always look forward to his post game interviews
I really don't know a whole lot about BB at Arkansas, but I am very interested now. Anywhere I can read up on this? Pretty sure this is a big reason for Scott Frost failing at Nebraska from what I've been told by some Nebraska alum.
I didn't really know anything specific, but I had some concerns about his past and would he repeat some of those errors. Clearly he has grown as a coach and as a person. He has repeatedly shown that his past issues are in the past, and he is doing a phenomenal job coaching, recruiting, and hiring.
I really liked the hire. Thought it was a home run considering the state of the program. Didn't think we'd get anyone who wasn't a flash in the pan midmajor coach who no other p5 program had interest in. Only concern i had was if he had even moderate success trying to rebuild us, he'd be on his way to a better opportunity elsewhere whether college or NFL. Which to be honest, seemed fair to me all things considered. I never thought we had a chance of much of any sustained success for our program so 3 years of a coach on a redemption arc before bolting seemed great to me at the time.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
It took me just a few days to get on board, after doing some research and of course drinking the kool-aid. But these were the negative thoughts that hit me as soon as the news broke:
1. Clearly had maturity issues at his previous stops.
2. From far away Arkansas seemed like a massive failure.
3. Was his success at Wisconsin simply about not changing the Alvarez formula?
4. How often do these retread hires ever work out?
5. Things were so bleak that no one else was talking about him as a candidate.
What I failed to see at first, but what I bought into after the research (and kool-aid):
1. People can grow up and learn from their mistakes. Evidence from his reconciliation with Alvarez suggested that happened.
2. Arkansas, while not good, was not a catastrophe, especially considering he was competing in the SEC West at the division's peak dominance.
3. Bielema was really responsible for Wisconsin reaching top of the B1G heights' with his 2009-12 run after all the Alvarez players were gone.
4. How much worse are retread hires than the alternatives (MAC coach...). Plus, a retread with conference championships and Rose Bowl berths sounds just fine.
5. Maybe he was not an in-demand candidate, but there must be a reason Belichick brought him under his wing. Plus, we were a very unique fit for what we wanted to do, its ok that Michigan State in 2019 or any other non-B1G school wasn't really looking to go down that path. Perhaps an important lesson: focus on getting the right fit for your job rather than the flashiest name.
Thinking all those points through, and seeing how committed he was to doing the job the right way from the very beginning, it didn't take long to see how great an opportunity it was.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
I was never as down on Bielema as some folks. He did great at Wisconsin and I chalked up Arkansas as simply being a bad fit. He just seems like a Big Ten guy, and he comes from a great coaching tree. I honestly didn't think we could get anyone better who knows the college game and would be able to have a good network and recruiting chops. Yes, there were some immaturity issues towards the end of his Wiscy tenure and at Arkansas, but being a few years removed from that, having a wife and family I know people can grow up and mature. I had faith that he did or I didn't think Josh would have hired him. All in all, it's worked out great and I've been even more impressed with how quickly he's raised the floor of the program than I thought I'd be.
There are some wild stories about Scott Frost. Guy likes to party.
Wish I was in the know on that one! lol
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