It’s sad how that works.
Two black eyes in one week.
I think the distinction of being fired walking off the field versus getting pulled aside into a make-shift office by the locker room and told “you’re fired” just after you walked off the field is a little ridiculous. Very little difference in the two, both are awkward and look bad.
However, the whole thing is much ado about nothing. As everyone knows, this was no surprise to Bielema – the decision had been made – and he knew it. The whole, “OMG, I had no idea I was getting let go”. And the “We did not make the decision until the game ended.” Is the stuff of comedy.
And Bielema’s press conference is great PR for the U of A. He handled it with grace and dignity, and he spoke highly of the UA and will continue to do so.
And to that point, to be complete in terms of facts, those are things you have to do to ensure you get your multi-million dollar buyout. Non-disparagement is standard as is cooperation, etc.
Agreed, min distinction here. And, all press is good press!
Bielema said he was fired coming off the field. This was his quote:
“Obviously you guys have probably heard the news about me. I was informed coming off the field that I would no longer be the coach at Arkansas from this point forward.”
Now, he later clarified that it was in a side office, but the “coming off the field” tweets were a direct quote of what he said. That’s how these press conferences work on social media. Sound bytes are tweeted as they happen and if you only get your news from Twitter, chances are you don’t get the whole story.
Marty,
This is still @wholehogsports tweet on the matter that’s running on bleachereport:
Bret Bielema: You guys probably heard the news about me. I was informed coming off the field I would no longer be the coach.
Might want to remove or correct to his correction quoted by Matt below to avoid any further misunderstandings. Wps!
We’ll, he was coming off the field. If I’m “walking out of my house to my car,” I may still be in my house, or just left my house and still in the yard.
I guess I don’t get the tirade by some of our fans that we told Coach B in a side office in private after the game. This to me was the perfect way for him to be able to go in and inform his players personally before they heard it else where. It also kept him from having to call a new team meeting to say goodbye today, when players would be trying to get home for the weekend to see their families. It was the best time to give him the bad news in my opinion.
Look, there’s not a good way to fire someone.
Here’s what I don’t get – why everyone is going on and on about “how it was done”. Everyone, including Bielema, knew this was happening – the only question was when to make it official.
In the future, once the rest of the story comes out, I feel sure we will find out the whole way it went down was pre-planned and most likely coordinated with Coach B.