Bret Bielema – Preseason Hopes, In-Season Realities

If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry season.

The balance between managing the high hopes and expectations of football fans and knowing the reality of the quality of the “product” a coach is going to put on the field of play is a tricky one. We polled Razorback fans before the start of the 2013 football season, and predictions ranged, typically, from four wins on the low side, to seven and eight wins on the high side. In fact, several former Razorback quarterbacks thought the Hogs would finish the 2013 season somewhere between five wins and seven wins – in line with the majority of voters in our poll on the question.

Such a hopeful outcome is understandable. As we all know, every team is undefeated when the first whistle blows. Who saw Missouri going this deep into the season before the team’s first loss? The assembled members of the press at SEC Media Days this summer pegged Mizzou as finishing sixth in the East, just above Kentucky and below Tennessee. There are still games to be played, but it’s a safe bet the Tigers will not end the season that low in the division. If they win out, they will be the champs of the East.

The media, in all of their wisdom, also tagged Georgia to win the East, which also doesn’t look likely.

What is looking like a reality eight games into 2013 with four to play is the media’s selection of Arkansas to finish last in the West.

“The lower the better,” Bret Bielema said at the time of that vote. “I think our kids are carrying a tremendous chip on their shoulder. The same group that’s going to vote us a certain place, is the same group that a year ago had us in the top five.

“But I do excel in situations where people think very, very little of us,” he said. “For those of you that want to, vote us lower. I mean that will all my heart. Then sit back and watch.”

We don’t know the moment the thumb of imbalance was placed on the scale of expectations and reality in the preseason, but “… sit back and watch” is a candidate. Another possible moment for a hopeful season was when college football guru Phil Steele picked the Razorbacks fifth in the SEC West and making a bowl. Steele thought Auburn and Mississippi State would finish below Arkansas in the West. And to be fair, if Arkansas beats Auburn (ranked 11th, currently in the BCS), Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi State in Little Rock and LSU in Baton Rouge, it’s a seven-win season for the Razorbacks. Expectations and reality should match up for most fans through the final four games, however.

On his first day as the new head football coach of the Razorbacks, Bret Bielema spent some time discussing his hopes. After all, if you can’t be hopeful on the first day of new job, when can you?

He was asked what he would tell the fans about the future: “Embrace every minute of it. We’re not going to go from A to Z overnight, but we’re going to work day by day to gain a letter. I told our players we’re going to take it one day at a time, one play at a time, one hit at a time.”

No surprise there.

In discussing a meeting he had  before his introductory press conference with players who would be returning for the 2013 football season, Bielema said he told those student athletes: “I commended them for going through a stretch in their lives they will remember forever. I truly believe that men in this world, truly successful men are probably defined more during times of adversity than during times of success. I made sure they understood where I was coming from. We’ve had a lot of that in my coaching career and in my life, as well. And I challenged them to understand that they just persevered something.”

Bielema’s philosophies were quickly apparent through a series of other comments he made that day. (Emphasis added)

“We will do nothing as players and coaches but try to give you every win that you deserve. We’ll take it one game at a time. I’m not going to promise anything. But I will tell you I am here because I want to give you something you’ve never had, and we’ll take it one day at a time and pursue that thing together.”

On a question regarding recruiting, Bielema said his bit about bringing in “uncommon men,” but he had another comment, an interesting one, that hasn’t been quoted as often.

“… Make sure we understand, we’re going to bring in a young man and he’s going to play good football year one, but he’s going to play great football year four. And we want to make sure he gets there.”

Another glimpse into the mind of Bret Bielema from that day, discussing teams that beat themselves with penalties, turnovers, missed special teams assignments and broken defenses, was this: “It’s important for us to learn how to not lose a game before we learn how to win the game.”

Kurt Voigt of the Associated Press asked if Bielema expected a grace period coming off the 2012 4-8 season for the Razorbacks. The context of the questions was in relation to an offense that was more finesse under Petrino. Specifically, “a grace period for success,” Voigt clarified. (The entire first-day press conference is available for your review below.)

“Yeah, you know what,” Bielema said to the question, “I would defer that and listen to our players. I wasn’t in the meetings with John L. [Smith]. I wasn’t in the meeting rooms with Bobby [Petrino]. All’s I know is how to coach the way I know how to coach. And I speak to the truth – to our players. I am never going to lie. I’m never going to make something look better than it is.

“You know, we’re a 4-8 football team that a lot people thought were going to be great at the beginning of the year, and we weren’t. I wasn’t here. I don’t know what happened. All’s I can do is move forward.”

On preseason rankings, he said he doubted Arkansas would be ranked in the top four of the SEC’s Western Division, but added, “We could be, just out of respect for this program.”

“I don’t want someone in the room right now to think that we’re great,” he said. “If you’re settled with what we just got through, then we’re not going to be where we need to be.”

On the question of his offensive philosophy, he said if his team didn’t have “the right dogs in the race, you’re not going to win it,” and stressed the need to evaluate players and their talents during the offseason.

The Spring

Coaches’ comments from spring practices could certainly have been read by a hopeful fan as encouraging. But now, with the benefit of hindsight, some of what was being said by the coaches don’t sound quite as rah rah. There were an awful not of “ifs” from the coaches in sampling of quotes pulled from that time.

From March 28, 2013 after the fifth spring practice (emphasis added):

“This week we are getting better,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said. “We just finished practice five and I have seen a lot of improvement each day we go out there. We are really stressing daily improvement and I think they are following.”

Ash also commented on things that the coaches are really trying to emphasize during the spring season with the defense.

“One, if we are going to get better on defense, it will start with the effort that we play with,” Coach Ash said. “Every day we go out there the number one thing that we are trying to coach and critique is the effort. We are also making sure that our alignments are correct and consistent. If we don’t have mental errors and beat ourself we will have a chance to win some more games and be a lot better team on defense.”

Here are some of the things Bret Bielema had to say after the first scrimmage in the spring on March 30:

“It was good to play tackle football for the first time today,” Bielema said. “We want to play a physical style of football, and that all starts with today. I like how our defense was aggressive up front, and I was very impressed with some of the plays our guys made in the back end.”

Bielema also talked about his roster, and the adjustments the staff has made during the first week of practice after spring break. Bielema was also excited about the play of both the offensive and defensive line.

“The offensive line has a great attitude,” Bielema said. “They are very coachable, and have responded very well. They have a sense of pride and have really bought in. Our defensive line is also very gifted and very physical.”

From April 4:

“They are getting better,” Ash said. “They still have a long way to go; they keep working hard, it’s about understanding the details about their fundamentals.”

On April 9, offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said his squad “had a long way to go in the passing game.” He noted the offensive line was struggling to block some pressure packages from the defense. He noted the offense was not “advancing at the speed” he would like them to advance in the passing game.

Here is Chaney’s complete press conference from that day.

Continuing with the, um, foreshadowing of the Razorbacks’ passing game after the open spring scrimmage, Bielema said: “At wide receiver, we had too many dropped balls.”

He also note: “Defensively, I thought we were a little slow out of the gate. They’ve got a tremendous amount of talent over there. There are certain guys who are very, very gifted football players, but they’ve got to learn that the first snap is just as important as the 60th snap…”

At the time Beilema thought both Herndon and Hatcher had a chance to be exceptional.

On his staff, after the open spring scrimmage, Bielema said the chemistry among the coaches was “unprecedented” and unlike anything he had ever been a part of at other coaching jobs in his career. You can see the complete post-spring scrimmage press conference below.

The Fall Camp

George Schroeder wrote:

As Arkansas kicks off the season Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette, expectations for are low, except perhaps inside the program. In his first team meeting, Bielema told the Hogs he didn’t have a rebuilding plan, but expected to win right away. He expected “a wounded dog,” but instead says he found “a stray dog. Everybody’s looking for their next meal. They’re very hungry.” Whether that will be enough might depend on developing depth.”

Something else Bielema said before the season’s first kickoff was that he didn’t “come here to win in three seasons…” Fans filled in the blank for themselves. “Yeah,” many fans and some in the media said, “Bielema came here to win right now!”

The Season

Listen, there aren’t many coaches in college football today who can stand up in front of fans and the media and say, “Look, we’re an awful football team. We stink. We’ve got sub-par athletes who are incapable of learning what we’re trying to teach them because, quite frankly, not only are these fellows horrible ball players, they’re stupid, too.”

Who would buy a ticket to that show? Well, unless you’re an Alabama fan, with Nick Saban, in his pursuit of perfection, saying something along those lines about his teams, even when he’s beating opponents 52-0.

The fact is, a football coach has many more jobs to do to earn the fat paycheck than strictly recruiting players, coaching kids and teaching systems. A college football coach today is a therapist for fragile young athletes, many of whom have always been winners and stars and successful and competitive. There aren’t many student athletes today who respond well to public, and perhaps honest, evaluation and humiliation of their skills or lack thereof. Is it possible Nick Saban signs the only players in the country who can tolerate such critique? Doubtful.

Another important job of a head football coach today is selling tickets to the show. Winning (or the legitimate prospect of winning) makes that job easier. Again, how many fans at any SEC program, want to plop down the big bucks week in and week out to watch a team even the coaches said were going to be bad at best and absolutely horrendous at worst?

Specifically looking at the Razorbacks’ season through eight games, outside of the disappointing loss at Rutgers, when the Hogs choked on a big lead during the fourth quarter, what did the fans really expect in the way of wins and losses at this point? 4-4? Certainly, the performance against South Carolina was disheartening for fans, but there weren’t many who had that game or the Florida game as locks for the Razorbacks.

Back to Rutgers for a minute. Bielema said after that game, until his team learned to stop making mistakes, they wouldn’t win all of the games it was capable of winning. He added: “For us to win on the road right now, with our personnel, we’re going to have to catch a break or two.”

#Truth, as they say on Twitter.

The Future

From day one as the Razorbacks’ head coach, Bielema said this: “Stick with what you know; be good at what you’re doing; work hard and good things are going to happen to good people. I think that part is really, really real.”

Of all of the preseason chatter, hopeful talk, tough talk, dreams and whatnot, one comment sticks out more than others – the theme that this Razorback team was loaded with players who had been part of winning teams in the past; the task at hand was not a rebuilding job.

As Doc Harper wrote after the Alabama game, Bret Bielema’s preseason assessment was wrong. What the coach faces is a “bona fide rebuilding job,” Doc said.

Knowing what we do now – soberly looking at the remaining four games of the Razorbacks’ schedule – how hopeful are you in the future of Razorback football? Does winning one or none between now and the end of November tell us much about what to expect next year or the year after?

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