The last time Bret Bielema was inside Lucas Oil Stadium was in 2012. His Wisconsin Badgers had just finished winning their third straight Big Ten Championship – the best stretch of football in Wisconsin football was at its peak, and then Bielema left the Big Ten for Arkansas.
Many wondered why Bielema would leave the Badgers. Since taking over for legendary coach Barry Alvarez, Bielema had only elevated the program to new heights since he was promoted to the head coach.
After four mediocre years at Arkansas and spending three seasons in the NFL as an assistant coach, Bielema is back in the Big Ten – a conference he feels you can find a long-term career in.
“I think in this conference, I played for a coach that coached for as long as he wanted to and he was replaced by Kirk Ferentz and he has coached for as long as he wanted,” Bielema said. “Bill Snyder coached for as long as he wanted to even though it’s in the Big 12. You look at [Pat] Fitzgerald, he’s been at Northwestern for 15-16 years. I think this in this conference, that if you do it the right way, you can build a career and a lifetime around it.”
Building a lifetime in the Big Ten – his second time as a head coach in the Big Ten – is what Bielema is looking to accomplish with Illinois. But to do that, Bielema has to do something that no Illini coach has been able to really accomplish since Mike White in the 1980s, and that is to win long term.
“Illinois has had flashes of success, but hasn’t been able to sustain it,” Bielema said. “One of the things Josh [Whitman] and I are constantly talking about in our conversations is sustaining success and building something and maintain. Anybody can have a flash in the pan, but the key is building success and building something and maintaining.”
Only two head coaches still are leading the same programs as they were in 2012 when Bielema left for Arkansas – Ferentz and Fitzgerald, two of Bielema’s friends in the coaching industry.
Ferentz and Bielema date back to the 1990s when the two were assistant coaches on Hayden Fry’s staff at Iowa. Bielema credits Ferentz as being one of his mentors in the coaching industry and while Ferentz doesn’t take credit for teaching Bielema things, he does give him credit for absorbing knowledge.
“It’s not like you’re teaching necessarily, you’re doing what you do,” Ferentz said. “Like all of us in coaching, we’ve learned from each other. That’s assistant-to-assistant coaches.”
Bielema and Fitzgerald both got their start in the head coaching industry in the same year, which helped them form a relationship – and admire the others program from afar. Fitzgerald hadn’t had the success that Bielema did with the Badgers early in their career, but he remembers what made the Badgers successful.
“They recruited well, they developed well, and they had a blueprint, and they worked that blueprint really well on offense, defense and in the kicking game,” the Northwestern head coach said. “They had a great walk-on program, too.”
All the details that go into having a good program, Bielema seemed to execute well in his time at Wisconsin, and Illinois’ Athletic Director Josh Whitman is already seeing the foundation being built at Illinois in what he hopes is an Illini program with sustained success.
“Hugely impressed,” Whitman said of Bielema’s attention to detail. “We all understand in sports that it is a process. you don’t’ just go there in the first game and expect to have success. I have been really impressed with the methodical approach he has taken. He has a plan, and he has been executing on that plan since the first day he walked into the Smith Center.
“I really applaud him for that. It’s been really impressive to me to see him and see how he has worked through the parts of building the foundations of what we think will be a long-term success, it has been really fulfilling for me to watch.”
Bielema knows the details that are required to build the Illini into the long-term winner that he and Whitman each desire, and now it’s important, and Bielema is already working towards those plans.
“First you have to surround yourself with the right people,” Bielema said. “At my previous institutions, I was with some great people that made those opportunities special. Now being able to walk hand and hand with Josh, a guy who played here and has a degree from here and now leads our entire athletic department that’s critical. the people that are going to support you.
“The other two components are recruiting the state of Illinois. Anytime I have seen a great organization, both in football and life or in marriages or in business partnerships, you have to understand the environment you are in. For us to be successful at Illinois, we need to be supported by the people that make that possible. Fans, alumni, donors, administration and general university. All of those things are important for Illinois to be great for a long time.”
It might not be possible for Bielema to win three consecutive Big Ten Championships at Illinois – it’s never been done at Illinois before. So, replicating the success he had at Wisconsin isn’t a fair expectation but with patience, even Bielema’s biggest rival on the field – Fitzgerald – thinks he can get things working in the right direction.
“He’ll do a great job in Champaign, I’m excited to have him back in the league,” Fitzgerald said. “I would say just be patient. It takes time to build a program. In a day and age when no one is patient, just be patient and I think his track record speaks for itself.”
