Serious question and no judgements or anything but for those of you who were cautious about Bret or didn’t want Bret what were your reasons? (Just curious)
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.