Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema always has a way of crashing into national headlines even long after his own team has stopped playing.
Sometimes, it’s good news. Grant Morgan, who played under Bielema at Arkansas and then coached under Bielema at Illinois, was recently announced as an assistant linebackers coach for the New York Giants. It’s very likely Bielema helped make that happen since five years ago he’d been an assistant with the Giants himself.
More often, however, it’s controversy of Bielema’s own volition to stir. It appears what afflicted Bielema during his 2013-17 stay at Arkansas is again rearing its head in the wake of Illinois’ win over South Carolina to in the Citrus Bowl.
Just weeks after Razorback broadcaster Mike Irwin cast a light on Bielema’s behavior while warning the coach to scale back his bravado during his “Ask Mike” show, Bielema attacked current NFL head coach Jim Harbaugh on X.
It’s clear that Bielema is riding high after leading the Illini to their first 10-win season since he took over the program in 2021, but is his aggressive – often antagonistic – behavior the latest example of the coach counting his chickens before they hatch?
Hurling Jabs At Jim Harbaugh
Bielema recently zeroed in on Harbaugh when he retweeted two old videos of the former Michigan coach, who left to coach the Los Angeles Chargers amid the sign-stealing scandal the Wolverines underwent during their 2023 national title chase. One of the posts features a video of Harbaugh with the quote “If you cheat to win, then you’ve already lost,” sparking Bielema to reply, “Really… Why did you leave? Was looking forward to playing but understand why you ran to the #NFL. See you in the future and can’t wait #famILLy #ILL.”
In another post, Bielema posted a football emoji flanked by two laughing emojis in response to another Harbaugh video punctuated with a quote that reads, “Tell the truth, always. If you lie … it’s over.”
Bielema and Harbaugh’s squads only met once on the field – back in 2022 when the undefeated Wolverines needed a late field goal to eke out a 19-17 win over the Illini – but it’s clear the former Razorbacks coach still has a score to settle. Even if there is truth to Bielema’s take on Harbaugh being a hypocrite, the random, unprovoked attack proves Irwin’s point that the ex-Arkansas coach is a “smart aleck” and that his recent success may be going to his head.
Blowup With Beamer
In the aftermath of Illinois’ Citrus Bowl victory, most of the talk around the college football world wasn’t about the result on the field, but the hostile exchange between Beamer and South Carolina coach Shane Beamer that took place during the game.
Late in the third quarter, Beamer took exception with Bielema making a “T-bar” signal at the South Carolina sideline after he walked across the field to check on an injured Illini player. The sign caused a stir on the Gamecocks sideline that led to Beamer being restrained from approaching Bielema.
Moments before, South Carolina made a T-bar signal before lateralling the ball for a 25-yard kickoff return. After the game, Bielema said the Illini’s coverage team slowed down on the kickoff because they saw the T-bar, which the coach describes as a part of an “unwritten philosophy in coaching” to signal a fair catch/touchback will be called by the receiving team.
“There’s nothing illegal, they didn’t do anything illegal, but it put us in a position that the ethic of what that is got evaporated, because our kids stopped [running],” said Bielema, who noted he first learned about the T-bar signal being used to limit potential injuries while he was coaching in the NFL. Bielema said Beamer “is a good person” and that his T-bar gesture wasn’t directed at him but “their whole damn sideline.”
“I just wanted them to understand that I know what just happened,” Bielema continued. “There’s nothing illegal, there’s nothing wrong. I just have never seen it done in any level of college football.”
Beamer defended the move by saying he had told the Citrus Bowl referees that his team intended to call for a T-bar signal and proceed to return a kick at some point during the game.
“You have to ask him why he didn’t take it up with the officials and why he felt the need to come over here while his player was on the ground and look at me and say something to me and do that motion at me, like I was full of you know what to do it,” Beamer said. “That’s what I have an issue with. I’m a competitive guy. When somebody says that to me, I’m going to respond, because I thought that was bush league.”
Bielema and Beamer continued to exchange jabs on X following the game, with both coaches challenging the ethics of each other’s programs. The back and forth eventually fizzled out after Bielema got the final word in a post that read “Happy New Year and congrats on a great season.”
“His Own Worst Enemy”
During his Jan. 13 “Ask Mike” show, Irwin spoke about the Bielema-Beamer confrontation while suggesting that Bielema’s ego may be getting too large after the Illini’s successful 2024 season. Irwin reflected on Arkansas’ 31-7 win over Texas in the 2014 Texas Bowl and suggested that victory ultimately was the beginning of the end for Bielema’s tenure in Fayetteville.
“I don’t think he knew this beforehand. He discovered that if you beat Texas, especially if you beat ‘em bad like he did … If you do that, fans love you. All of a sudden, Bielema became a celebrity and it went to his head. He started going around being a smart aleck.”
Irwin went on to say Bielema “blew the job” at Arkansas because his inflated ego rubbed others the wrong way.
“Guess who he ticked off? Some of the guys on his own staff [including apparently Sam Pittman]. He lost two really good coaches off his staff because they got tired of that and he didn’t replace ‘em with guys that were as good as they were and the team started to go downhill. But give the guy credit – he blew it. He blew the job here. He went backwards.”
Irwin said Bielema’s brash personality is nothing new, adding that the coach’s reputation for being confrontational and contentious is alive and well in his hometown of Prophetstown, Illinois.
“He’s always been a smart aleck,” Irwin said. “When we sent Adam Alter of our staff up to (Prophetstown) where he was from, he went up there and interviewed his parents, he interviewed people around town. They all said, ‘Oh yeah, this guy was pretty cocky growing up.’ I knew guys like that, they’d always pop off and they were playing physiological games with the opponents. That’s OK to do that some, but Bielema is his own worst enemy because when he’s successful he does that too much.”
Although Irwin praised Bielema for turning Illinois around, he cautioned the coach to not let the success get to his head.
“They’ve gotten better each year, but he’s at the same point now – really beyond – where he was here,” Irwin said. “They’re really good, but he better stop that stuff. He needs to nip it in the bud right now, because that’s when he goes downhill, when he starts thinking, ‘Hey, I’m cool, I’m going to do this.’”
Bret Bielema clearly didn’t see – or at least adhere to – Irwin’s warning before his most recent attack on Harbaugh. Some coaches have proven they are good enough to run counter to the old adage “What goes around, comes around.” He hasn’t.
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More from Mike Irwin on Bret Bielema’s Achilles’ heel starting at the 27:30 mark:
More on Bret Bielema and Illinois football from Best of Arkansas Sports: