COLUMN: Bret Bielema Checked Every Box Illini AD Wanted

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Josh Whitman didn’t have a long set of criteria for the next head football coach at the University of Illinois.

In fact, in his media conference on Dec. 13, the Illinois athletics director, who also played for the Fighting Illini football program, verbalized only two boxes that needed to be checked.

Let’s start with the obvious first quality: Just win, baby! 

“I want to win,” Whitman said. “I want somebody that is going to come in here and win football games with integrity and do it for a long time.”

Well, Bret Bielema has done that. 

In his last three seasons as a head football coach in the Big Ten Conference, Bielema has ended those campaigns in a dream location Illinois has only been three times since 1963 – The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. How about five seasons ending with a New Year’s Day bowl game?

But can he win big games? Yes. Yes he can. In 2010, Bielema’s Wisconsin team defeated No. 1 Ohio State, 31–18 at Camp Randall Stadium in what was the Badgers first victory over a #1-ranked team since 1981.

“Bret Bielema is a proven winner,” Whitman said Saturday in a university statement. “With three Big Ten championships to his credit, few coaches can match his familiarity with, and success within, the Big Ten Conference.”

So, Whitman wanted a winner. Check there for Bielema. What about recruiting?

Bret Bielema (left) was introduced by athletics director Josh Whitman (right) as the new head football coach at Illinois on Dec. 19, 2020. 

Photo courtesy of University of Illinois athletics department

Whitman also wanted a more solid recruiter of high school talent and maybe more importantly, a better evaluator of high school talent. Hard to argue with Bielema’s track record in that department. Why? Do yourself a favor and check out the 247Sports.com team rankings for Wisconsin in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 – which would’ve been Bielema’s final classes accumulated for the Badgers program. Those national rankings? No. 42 in 2009, No. 46 in 2010, No. 44 in 2011 and No. 65 in 2012. In those four years COMBINED Wisconsin signed nine four-star prospects and was never in the top half of the Big Ten Conference in team recruiting rankings. So, what were the results of those teams? 2009 – 10-3, No. 16 final Associated Press Top 25 ranking after a win in the Champs Sports Bowl. 2010 – 11-2, No. 7 ranking, Rose Bowl berth. 2011 – 11-3, No. 10 ranking, Rose Bowl berth. 2012 – 8-5, Rose Bowl berth.

None of those recruiting rankings justify or translate into what the overall result was for that Badgers program.

“I can tell you Bret Bielema is known nationwide in recruiting circles as a guy who consistently produces A-plus evaluations on players and why is that? Because that man trusts his evaluations and won’t be swayed by the national recruiting experts opinions at all,” Sports Illustrated football recruiting expert John Garcia said. “It should be expected that Illinois will put together a staff of committed, hungry recruiters and they’ll find guys to play to their system and flat out over perform. Bielema always has done that everywhere he’s been.”

Everybody ought to know by now the story of a 220-pound tight end from Pewaukee, Wis., finding his way to the Badgers as a walk-on and eventually becoming one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers named J.J. Watt. And I won’t bore you with that. So, let’s investigate further into some of the recruiting victories in those signing classes from 2009-12. 2009 featured three examples of investigative time put in the recruiting process starting with a three-star tailback named Montee Ball, who eventually ended up breaking several Wisconsin rushing records, was a two-time, first-team All-Big Ten tailback and an All-America selection. That year also featured a three-star offensive lineman named Travis Frederick, who was according to 247Sports.com the 994th best player in his class and 73rd best offensive lineman. In four years, Frederick would become 31st overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft and he’d eventually be elected to five NFL Pro Bowls and he was an All-Pro selection in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Finally, a 213-pound defensive athlete named Chris Borland was signed out of Ohio with several power programs unsure what his position would be at the next level. Borland would start six games as a true freshman in Bielema’s defense at Wisconsin and after four years would be a three-time All-Big Ten selection and a first-team All-America selection as a senior in 2013.

More importantly, Bielema’s program signed 42 in-state, Wisconsin prospects in that four-year period and proved you can get to Pasadena riding in-state talent. And trust me folks as somebody who has grown up and lived in both states, Wisconsin high school football is not better than what is played in Illinois, not by a long shot. With those in-state bridges being essentially burnt by Lovie Smith’s Illini coaching staff, Bielema knows he must rebuild those connections in a state that has figures who were actively recruiting against the Fighting Illini program.

So, recruiting success stories? Consider that box checked.

Finally, let’s get some energy back into this program

Finally, and while this wasn’t mentioned by Whitman, the extra credit portion of Bielema’s background isn’t necessarily on his resume. He’s not boring. He’s an excitable personality for a program suffering through nine consecutive losing seasons, starving for attention and went so far as to attempt to market the head coach’s Santa Claus beard as an off-the-field loveable trait. No longer does the U of I athletics marketing department need to overthink how to sell its head coach. The man who has his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Iowa will happily one-man band that task himself. Whether it’s a slip of the tongue saying he was going to “hop on the wife, I mean, hop on the plane” after an Arkansas win or describing the ability to kneel on the 2-yard-line during a 31-7 win over Texas in the 2014 Texas Bowl as “borderline errotic”, Bielema has things to say. Just ask him.

When asked then-Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen’s policy of no guns allowed by players, Bielema’s on-the-record comment was three words: “Well, no s#*&%!”

In 2016 at Southeastern Conference Media Days, Bielema was asked how he would describe his team’s mentality and philosophy. This is what came out of his mouth: 

“At Arkansas, we’re not built very sexy. We’re just kind of a work in progress,” Bielema said. “We need a lot of time in the bathroom to get ready and come out and look great. But when we do, we’ll stop time.”

Bielema spent 12 years as head coach at a Power 5 Conference program and not one day did people think, ‘boy I wish Bret would lower his guard and tell us how he really felt about this’. Is it on occasion verbal diarrhea? Sometimes. Does the 50-year-old Bielema wish he was 30, sometimes act like he’s 20 and occasionally think like he’s 10? Absolutely. But is he a clown and university embarrassment like Tim Beckman? No, far from it. In any of his public interviews Saturday, which included a ESPN College Gameday segment from his car, did he embarrass himself by pronouncing the ‘s’ on Illinois a half dozen times? No. Of course not. Can his personality put much-needed butts in the Memorial Stadium seats early on in his tenure? Yes, I believe he can.

Will Bielema turn this losing program around? Who knows? What is known is Whitman had a short list of requirements for the job and with his new coach, and his second football hire, checked off every one of the boxes in six days with the new face of Illini football.