Arkansas’ season may have ended last Friday, but college football is still going strong and Bret Bielema found himself in the middle of arguably the biggest non-playoff story of the week.
The former Arkansas coach led No. 21 Illinois to a tight 21-17 win over No. 14 South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl on Tuesday, capping a 10-3 season for the Illini.
It was the school’s first 10-win season since 2001 and made Bielema the first coach in Big Ten history to reach that milestone at multiple schools within the conference, as he also did it four times at Wisconsin. Making the feat even more impressive, Illinois was picked to finish 13th in the 18-team league.
What drew national headlines, though, was his mid-game spat with Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer.
During a stoppage of play late in the third quarter, Bielema — while on the field to check on an injured player — appeared to taunt Beamer by making a signal toward the South Carolina huddle. An irate Beamer had to be restrained by his staff before cooler heads prevailed and play resumed.
Afterward, both coaches confirmed that the ruckus stemmed from a trick play the Gamecocks tried on a kickoff earlier in the game. The returner stuck both arms out to his side to form a ’T,’ which is what they usually use to signal letting the ball go through the end zone for a touchback, but instead, they fielded the kick and even tried a lateral.
As Arkansas fans are so keenly aware, though, the returner must wave his arm above his head to signal a fair catch. Bielema was upset because, in his eyes, it was a player safety issue and — while technically legal — went against the spirit of the rule.
In the days since, Bielema has taken a Lane Kiffin-like approach by further explaining his side of what went down via Twitter:
Beamer, meanwhile, still couldn’t believe Bielema apparently lose it like that during the game.
“In all my years of coaching, I’ve never seen that happen,” Beamer said afterward.
Not Bielema’s First Rodeo
While it might have been his first time doing it mid-game, Bret Bielema is no stranger to getting into verbal spats with opposing coaches. In fact, an incident nearly a decade ago left him saying something similar to Beamer’s postgame comments.
It actually stems from the last time Arkansas and Texas Tech met on the gridiron before this season’s Liberty Bowl. The Red Raiders beat the Bielema-led Razorbacks 35-24 in Fayetteville early in the 2015 season behind a strong performance from a young Patrick Mahomes.
Following that game, then-Texas Tech football coach Kliff Kingsbury went out of his way to say Bielema “got his ass kicked twice in a row,” also referencing the previous week’s disappointing loss to Toledo.
Kingsbury, a Texas native who played for the Red Raiders and spent the first 11 years of his coaching career in the Lone Star State, was upset about Bielema’s disparaging comments about his style of play at that summer’s Texas High School Coaches Convention. The Arkansas coach allegedly told the coaches, many of whom ran a system like Kingsbury, that he’d “kick your ass” if they threw it 70 times a game or didn’t play with a fullback.
“Was I shocked? Yeah, just because, in this profession, you handle certain things in a certain way,” Bielema said a couple days after Kingsbury’s riposte. “I’ve never really had that before.”
Bielema didn’t exactly take the high road, though. His jabs toward Kingsbury were more subtle, referencing his .500 career record and wondering what the previous year’s game — a 49-28 Arkansas win — would be called if Texas Tech’s 11-point win was “an ass-kicking.”
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and making a majority of Texas high school coaches upset at him may not have been the best career move for Bielema. The Lone Star State is historically a critical recruiting ground for the Razorbacks, after all.
While Arkansas ended up rebounding from its early three-game skid by finishing that season 8-5, it went just 7-6 the following year. Bielema was fired immediately following a 4-8 campaign in 2017.
An All-Arkansas Bowl Brewing in the Big Ten
After a stint in the NFL, Bret Bielema returned to the Big Ten and has compiled a 28-22 record in four seasons at Illinois — with the latest being a certain top-25 finish.
He’s done it with the help of several former Razorbacks, too, as the Illini have numerous familiar faces in their program.
In addition to himself, Bielema’s staff features Barry Lunney Jr. and Aaron Henry as the offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively. Lunney played and coached at Arkansas, while Henry got his start as a graduate assistant in Fayetteville. The Illini also hired Justin Stepp — who was on the Razorbacks’ staff from 2018-20 — as their wide receivers coach last offseason.
The connections don’t stop there, though. A trio of former Razorbacks — Grant Morgan, Kevin Richardson II and Tank Wright — are on staff, as are several former Arkansas staffers, such as Director of Football Branding and Creative Media Patrick Pierson and Director of Football Equipment Operations Jake Rosch.
Because of those ties, Illinois has become sort of an adopted team for some Arkansas fans. However, it’ll soon be rivaled by a Big Ten foe in a bordering state.
Purdue hired Barry Odom away from UNLV this offseason and the former Arkansas defensive coordinator is bringing Michael Scherer and James Shibest along with him as defensive and special teams coordinator, respectively. Scherer coached linebackers at Arkansas under Odom, while Shibest played and coached for the Razorbacks.
Odom has also hired a pair of quality control coaches from Arkansas to on-field roles, tabbing Jake Trump as his defensive ends coach and Kelvin Green as his defensive line coach.
The Boilermakers have also secured commitments from several former Razorbacks, landing quarterback Malachi Singleton and linebackers Carson Dean and Alex Sanford out of the transfer portal. Former Arkansas offensive lineman Jalen St. John is also following Odom from UNLV to Purdue as a two-time transfer, and there’s a chance former safety Jalen Catalon does the same.
For a couple of years, some have been clamoring for an Illinois vs Arkansas matchup because of the Bielema factor. That has yet to transpire, but the next best thing is happening Oct. 4.
That’s when the two teams brimming with ex-Razorbacks are slated to square off next season, with the Illini traveling to Purdue. Luckily for those hoping to tune in, the Razorbacks are actually off that week with the first of two byes.
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Leading Candidates to Become Next Hogs DBs Coach
One connection that defensive coordinator Travis Willams can leverage to land a home run hire is Houston defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge.
He led the Cougars’ secondary to finish the season ranked 2nd in the conference and 29th nationally in pass defense, allowing just 188.8 yards per game in the usually score-happy Big 12. Prior to that, Etheridge spent three years as an assistant at Auburn, his alma mater.
See more on Etheridge and four other potential Hogs DB candidates here:
More on the Bret Bielema, Shane Beamer spat:
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