I’m sure that Washington Husky football fans are “thrilled” by
the news that Steve Sarkisian has jumped ship to USC, although it probably
shouldn’t have come as that great a surprise. Sure, one of the players he
recruited tweeted that he was as “fake as a three dollar bill,” but then again people
around here have a bloated opinion of themselves, when outside the state some people
still think this is place more like some boondock on the fringes of
civilization. But if I were a Husky fan (I’m not), I would say that if Sark
doesn’t want to be here, then good riddance to bad rubbish; after all the time
he was here, he couldn’t raise the team above treading water.
Now, as a Wisconsin Badger fan, I can say that there is
always a silver lining to coaches leaving for “better” jobs: They might do worse
in their new home (ha-ha). Take for instance Bret Bielema, who left Wisconsin after
being groomed by Barry Alvarez as the face of the program. Bielema was
admittedly good at promoting the school while he was coach. His rah-rah and “urban”
lingo went down well with certain kinds of recruits who might have looked
askance at the Wisconsin cold. He kept a tight ship like his predecessor, and
there were no disciplinary slip-ups like the infamous shoe scandal in 2000 that
resulted in 26 players being suspended for a few games.
But Bielima had an unfortunate habit of acquiring the ire of
opponents by running up scores late in games, putting his foot in his mouth in press
conferences, and putting his foot in his brain during important games—none more
exasperating for fans than in the 2012 Rose Bowl, when Bielema inexplicably
called three time outs in the third quarter, any one of which was sorely missed
when the Russell Wilson-led Badgers were driving for the tying score in the
waning moments against Oregon. And last May, Ohio State President Gordon Gee stirred
a bit of controversy when he suggested that Alvarez thought Bielema was a “thug,”
and one possible reason for leaving was to get out of town “just ahead of the
sheriff.”
And so the “aftershock” of the news that Bielema had
accepted the Arkansas job before the 2013 Rose Bowl did not last long. Bielema probably
didn’t realize he was stepping into a program that was in free fall following
the scandal involving departed coach Bobby Petrino—who had more than one motor
running prior to wrecking his motorcycle, one of which happened to be in the
area of his groin. Though the team had back-to-back ten-win seasons, those
close to the Arkansas program suggested
that this success was smoke and mirrors, and poor recruiting left
Bielima a team that wasn’t ready to go anywhere but down with the insertion of
a new regime.
I’m sure most people think that coaching in the conference (SEC)
which the national media considers the best in the country is a “step up.” That
doesn’t mean, of course, that all teams in the conference are created equal,
and the SEC overall actually does not have that impressive a record against the
power conferences as one would expect. While many in the national media crowed
that Arkansas was a “perfect fit” for Bielema, he gave his “reason” for leaving
Wisconsin for lack of money. He was reportedly unhappy about the budget
dedicated to pay his assistant coaches, and he was promised that money would
not be in short supply if he moved to Arkansas.
So how have things worked out? The Badgers more or less have
continued their usual winning ways under Gary Andersen, although he is still
operating with Bielema’s players. For Bielema, things couldn’t be much worse.
After starting 3-0 against cupcakes, Arkansas lost nine straight, including all
of its conference games. To be honest, the players Bielema inherited likely
were not suited for the kind of offense he ran in Wisconsin, but even if he does
recruit his “kind” of players, it doesn’t follow that it is suited to be
competitive in the SEC. Arkansas is further down in the recruiting totem pole
in the SEC than Wisconsin is in the Big Ten, and I suspect that Bielema might
find his next coaching job a decided step down.
And he won’t find many unhappy people in Wisconsin if that happens.
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