Unless you have been living under a rock, you know by now that Bret Bielema has been fired at the University of Arkansas. While most everyone in the state was ready for a change, and we know why it had to happen, it doesn’t alter the fact that a good man is on the job market as of tonight.
(Whether or not you like the fact that he was fired, let us all agree that having a seven-digit buyout has to soothe the pain of being let go.)
The picture above is of a newly hired Bret Bielema and I doing a radio show in 2013. At the time, I was hosting the statewide afternoon show on the Arkansas Radio Network, and we were doing a live remote at a Razorback Club annual dinner. During that time, I was also a single Dad who didn’t have a whole lot of babysitting options when the mother of my child was working or in law school, so many times where I went, my daughter Molly went. This was one of these nights.
Before our interview, Bret sat down with us and made small talk while our show was on a commercial break. As you can see, my child wasn’t thrilled about having her picture taken, but moments later, he was chatting with her like he had been there since the day she was born. We did our interview and moved on, but it struck me as to not only how nice he was to me, but here is an SEC football coach who didn’t have to give us the time of day if he chose not to, making friends with my six-year-old daughter.
When I told her earlier about his dismissal, the first words out of her mouth were, “He was so nice to me.”
He made an impression on her, and even at a young age, she will never forget that Razorback Coach that showed her respect. I know there are lots of others out there that probably have a similar story if they spent any time around he or his lovely wife.
Bret Bielema has known this was coming. His meeting with Julie Peoples was a formality, but even so, he was out on Thanksgiving Day visiting a Razorback superfan who was hospitalized and having a rough time. Some guys could have just stopped being an ambassador for the school they coach at, but there he was making sure that someone who had supported him knew that he cared.
The sad reality is in any business, at the end of the day, results matter even if you are the nicest guy in the world. In Arkansas, we can’t embrace mediocrity any longer, and the powers that be know how far this program has slipped. Bret Bielema was at the helm of a sinking ship - we knew that, he knew that, and everyone in America knew that.
But at the end of the day, that doesn’t change the fact that he is a good fellow that in most cases carried himself with class. I know that he likely learned a lot during his time at Arkansas, and we probably learned a lot about ourselves as a program while he was here.
Many people probably just see some of the questionable play calls and the numbers on the win/loss column and could care less about any of the stuff I just mentioned.
As for me, I hope that the good guy that just got the boot will find a new environment soon that will allow him to flourish and bring his new fanbase and program years of success.
Good luck, Coach.