The Good, The Bad, and the Bretty B

Yesterday when I got done teaching BIC there were about a dozen text messages on my phone saying, "Did you hear about Bielema?!"  My first thought was that he got busted with some kind of scandal or something. I thought maybe he had a heart attack or something (not that I'm one to comment on someone's weight, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for him to go to the one place that might be more fattening than Wisconsin...)  Turns out the dude took a job at Arkansas.  I was pretty surprised.

Like often happens with a surprise, my emotions were all over the board.  At first I was a little bit miffed.  I could understand leaving for an Alabama, LSU, USC, Georgia or Notre Dame, but why Arkansas?  It's not like they've got a substantially better football program than Wisconsin does, and he won't have Alvarez watching over him there. So, my first tweet was, "Don't let the door hit you.  Good riddance, brah."  Then, as I ruminated a little bit more, I got excited.  It's tough to win a conference three years in a row and be on the hot seat, but he was as close as possible.

So, here are my initial thoughts on Bielema's tenure in Madison:

The Good:
You've all heard the "player development" mantra about the Wisconsin program.  It's true.  Wisconsin never had recruiting classes that the talking heads got excited about; however, these recruiting classes were constantly filled with the types of guys who would work hard and become top players.  Think of the development of players like J.J. Watt, Montee Ball, Scott Tolzien and Jared Abbrederis, just to name a few. Now, their development is certainly due to a number of factors, but some credit has to be given to the coach for getting them into the program and keeping them on track.  The players that Bielema recruited became some of the best in the country, even if they weren't when they came out of high-school.
Not only did his players work hard, but his teams did too.  Badgers teams over the past few years have been so well prepared for their games that there was rarely a close one (I can hear your objections already.  Don't worry, the bad is coming.)
Bielema also made our program more nationally prominent than Barry did, arguably with less success on the field.  I know, we got a Heisman trophy winner under Barry, and there were some whispers about a national title before the NCAA overreacted about a couple discounted shoes (I know...the NCAA overreacting is the only reason we're in the Rose Bowl.  I've gotta take the good with the bad, just like I did with Bretty B.) I mean, the talking heads on ESPN called Barry's top 10, 1 loss 1999 Rose Bowl team, "The worst team to ever play in a Rose Bowl."  While there are still some haters on eSECpn, I have definitely heard more, "best 5 loss team ever!" than "worst Rose Bowl team ever."  The credit for that has to go to Bretty B.  He's got some swagger that says, "Hey, I belong with the big boys."  And he does.  And so do we.  For that thrust into the spotlight, we should thank him.

The Bad:
Poor in-game coaching.  So much ink has been spilled on this topic that I don't think I can add anything more.
His teams have under-performed.  I know, I'm on both sides of the fence with this one, because I gave him a lot of credit for developing players.  However, our teams have significantly under-performed based on the individual talent on the field during a given year.  Think about last year.  Statistically, we had the best quarterback and running back in NCAA history.  How could that team possibly lose 3 games?  Bretty B.  That's how.
Can't win close games.  His teams do generally prepare so well that this isn't an issue, but when it is, watch out.  This team was a 23(ish) yard field goal away from six losses this year.  Why anyone is offering him a job after this season is beyond me.

The Bretty B:
I mentioned earlier that his swagger has thrust our program into greater national prominence.  That's great. But that doesn't change the fact that he's got that frat boy feel to him.  I think that people had a lot of respect for Wisconsin teams under Alvarez.  While people still respected players like Ball and Wilson, they hated Bielema.  I'm glad he's not the face of our program anymore.  He'll fit in much better in the SEC.

So, I'm a little bit ambivalent about the move, but I ultimately think it's an opportunity to keep Wisconsin moving forward (and I mean for real forward, not like, "1.6 trillion dollars in tax hikes over the next ten years is going to make up for the 8 trillion in debt I've racked up over my first term" kind of moving forward that Wisconsin was in favor of a month ago, but I digress.)  If we can bring in a good coach, we should be able to keep recruiting at a high level, and our promising coordinators should be able to continue improving.  This'll be an exciting time for our program.
In Barry we trust.