Bret Bielema on Twitter – He’s Not as Big as You Think?

Football, Razorbacks | August 27, 2013 by Sporting Life Arkansas | 0 Comments

Bret Bielema on Twitter – For many of us, it’s like chocolate and peanut butter – an unexpected combo that works. Hell, it more than works, it’s fantastic.

But an interesting post on The Business of College Sports rolled across our desk today and we had to share. The article, “The Social Gridiron: How College Football Coaches Leverage Twitter” was full interesting, if not completely debatable and, in two cases, wholly inaccurate, charts.

The writer, Myles J. Robinson, explains the first chart this way:

In social media the game of engagement is won with contagious content. Klout is a popular social media tool that rates online influence on a scale of 1-100, with a high number signaling great engagement on various social media networks. Below, I took a look at the Top 25 head coaches for this coming year to discover who has the most influence off the field.

For what it’s worth, your sports desk’s Klout score is 66. If we were a college football coach we would be tied for 4th, so take that for what it’s worth.

But wait. We wouldn’t be tied for fourth, because Kevin Sumlin would be fourth and Bret Bielema would hold third place by himself with a Klout score of 70. And anyone who knows anything about Klout scores knows you don’t jump eight points in less than 10 days.

Bret Bielema didn’t make the chart.

Twitter’s Most Influential College Football Head Coaches (as of 8/19/2013)

Head Coach	School	Twitter Handle	Klout Score
1. Les Miles	LSU	@LSUCoachMiles	81
2. Lane Kiffin	Southern California	@Lane_Kiffin	80
3. Kevin Sumlin	Texas A&M	@CoachSumlin	69
4. Mack Brown	Texas	@UT_MackBrown	66
Mike Gundy	Oklahoma State	@CoachGundy	66
Brian Kelly	Notre Dame	@CoachBrianKelly	66
Mark Richt	Georgia	@MarkRicht	66
5. Will Muschamp	Florida	@CoachWMuschamp	65
6. Pat Fitzgerald	Northwestern	@CoachFitz51	63
7. Bo Pelini	Nebraska	@BoPelini	62

Influential? Give us a break. When Bret Bielema is on Twitter, it’s influential. See our exhibit A below:

[tweet https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/371795725736091648]

This tweet went nationwide, Myles J. Robinson. CBSSports.com even called it out. That’s influence, pard. And Bret Bielema has the Klout score to prove it.

What really got our attention in the article was the chart that listed the Top 10 Most Followed College Football Coaches.

Bret Bielema didn’t make the top 10? As of Aug. 19, 2013, No. 10 on the list was Lane Kiffin with 30,727 followers. As of today, Aug. 27, 2013, Bret Bielema has 69,082 followers. We would bet Myles J. Robinson’s annual salary that on Aug. 19, 2013, Bret Bielema had more Twitter followers than Lane Kiffin. In fact, we are prepared to bet Mr. Robinson’s salary plus his one-semester tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill that Bret Bielema had more Twitter followers on Aug. 19, 2013 than six coaches in the Top 10.

Twitter’s Top 10 Most Followed College Football Head Coaches (as of 8/19/2013)

Head Coach	School	Twitter Handle	Number of Followers
1.Les Miles	LSU	@LSUCoachMiles	114,567
2. Brian Kelly	Notre Dame	@CoachBrianKelly	95,422
3. Mark Richt	Georgia	@MarkRicht	72,516
4. Bo Pelini	Nebraska	@BoPelini	50,250
5. Will Muschamp	Florida	@CoachWMuschamp	44,493
6. Kevin Sumlin	Texas A&M	@CoachSumlin	39,263
7. Mack Brown	Texas	@UT_MackBrown	35,156
8. Mike Gundy	Oklahoma State	@CoachGundy	31,666
9. Charlie Strong	Louisville	@CharlieStrongUL	31,177
10. Lane Kiffin	Southern California	@Lane_Kiffin	30,732

We don’t do this very often, but we are in a mood today, so we will. Let’s show Myles J. Robinson and the rest of the tweeting college football coaches of the world just how popular Bret Bielema on Twitter is. Give the Razorbacks head coach a follow, and while you’re on Twitter, let @mylesjrobinson know he needs to update his list to accurately reflect the facts!

h/t @evindemirel