You know it really started as a counter balance to Hog Treat, NeArkie, Swine Fusion, etc posting that Bielema was building it the right way, he just needs a little more time, etc.
I found these assertions so patently absurd that I felt they needed to be challenged and the facts about how poor the “rebuild” has really been going highlighted. Facts vs feelings/hopes.
That said,of late Bielema’s loyal cadre of supporters has been dwindling and for the most part seem to have melted away. You make a good point… I have been posting quite a lot and will now take a break. The points have been made and the proof is in the pudding.
You all know me as a 3.8 year Bielema supporter. I fell off the wagon in the second half of Mizzou and Va Tech last year. However, CBB completely lost me when he showed up without a Left Tackle and with a true freshman walk-on at RG this season. Not having an O Line in the SEC West 5 years into your tenure is a failure to attempt to build a program. Plus, Bielema’s never had an SEC caliber safety in 4 years of recruiting…and linebackers actually got worse and thinner in depth at the position after Petrino’s guys matriculated (inexcusable). Evaluation and development of players the past two seasons has been neglected to the degree a REAL Athletic Director would grade it as a substandard effort in recruiting and coaching. If not fired, Bielema should be heavily encouraged to go coach a mid major. Maybe switch places with the Memphis or South Florida Head Coaches ?
Yes sir. I almost fell out of my chair when a lean walk-on true FR from Fayetteville started the first game. I was flabbergasted. Ragnow is the best OL, but you can get adequate play at C wth Rogers, so they should have prepped Ragnow to plug the dyke where best needed. All this nonsense about “Wallace not knowing the plays.” I’m sure there is some truth to maybe not knowing them like he should, but honestly if it’s a pass how complicated is it? It’s so obvious he is better than anyone else they had and it took 5 games to figure it out.
I have a similar timeline for when my patience and trust went down south. It’s apparent to me he is in over his head and it’s to far gone to correct.
I would imagine Tennessee and Florida fans are thinking very similar. It’s year five of Jones and year three of McElwain.
I know it’s not popular thinking but Arkansas is a longer build than those two programs. I will most often than not side on patience than most. Both the Vols and Gators have been on the coaching carousel. Tennessee’s last 10 win season was in 2007. Since Urban Meyer left Florida in 2010 they’ve had two 10 win seasons.
Will Muschamp took over a 3-9 team that lost to The Citadel. In year two they have beaten NC State, currently sit at 5-2, and happened to wax a year 5 Bret Bielema team to the tune of 26 points. They also look rather physical the past few games, something we haven’t been able to say in awhile.
Richard, when do you anticipate the CBB rebuild to begin? The highwater mark for his tenure has been a seven win regular season. Now I don’t have visions of grandeur for this program. I understand our place. But with 12 games, 3 supposed cupcakes, two games against the Mississippi schools, a game against Missouri, and a SEC West that is a shell of its former self, I would think 7 wins a year should be a minimum. It should be expected.
Year four was worse than year three and year five appears to be worse than year four. If that trend continued in your profession, would you be given another year?
I would imagine there a lot of fans around the country that aren’t happy. Arkansas may be a longer build than Florida and Tennessee, doesn’t have to be. It all depends on who you have for a coach. The right guy can turn around a program and get it on the upswing pretty quickly, we’ve seen it done here.
In year 5, a blind man should be able see where the program stands and is headed. Petrino ran his bike in a ditch. Bielema has run the football program in a ditch. In year 5, we should be winning and competitive even in the games we lose. This team has regressed. This team is as bad or worse than the team Bielema had in year one. Bielema is digging a hole and the longer he remains the deeper the hole gets. If we want the next coach to have a longer rebuilding job than it will take coaches at Florida and Tennessee then we are on course for that to happen becuase the deeper the hole is dug, the longer it takes to climb out.
Last nights game generated interesting dialogue. There were those that looked for and found in their observations some positive signs. Then there are others who consider themselves both virtuous and realistic in their starting of threads expressing their tremendous dissatisfaction, with Bielema, Long, and possibly names to be identified later, and the constant interjection of disagreement when a more positive thread gets started.
I guess I understand that some of these folks assume Bielema and Long are stupid and without their constant reminders, others on the board are content with losing or like Long and Bielema are too stupid to reach conclusions without their prodding. I know we have choices regarding reading or ignoring threads, but I wonder what the risk is of letting the season play out without supporting such a toxic culture.
I like the suggestion of letting the season play out. I also felt the the team DID NOT quit on CBB last night. It is too easy to critique after a loss sometimes. Most don’t understand the true root causes and just knee jerk to firing coaches without any thought to the possible replacement. We all want the Hogs to win more games… but there are realities involved that can’t be ignored at our beloved UofA no matter who you the coaches are. If we fire CBB, it needs to be because he’s the root cause to our issues AND there is an available realistic replacement that is the solution. I still believe we are better going forward with him than not. Let’s see how the season plays out… Go Hogs!!
Despite the way they beat us & their current record, I’m not sure SC is much better than we are. Yes, they beat a pretty good NCS team & beat us badly. (We beat UF badly last year, too.). However, their competition hasn’t been that tough. If we were to play SC again, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if we’d win. Of course there’s no way to prove that, but I’m not sure it matters. When the year is over, SC is likely to have lost to Clemson, UGA, & even Fla. They could lose to Vandy, but I doubt it. They’re 4-2. They’ll finish 7-5 or 8-4. That’s better than our record, but hardly a wonderful turnaround. And they’re playing in a weaker division than we are.
Richard is right. It’s harder to build here than it is at Tenn or Fla (& TAMU, UGA, LSU, AU, Bama.) It’s pretty clear CBB is gone absent a huge improvement in the second half of the season, but if you think changing coaches every 5 years is going make us great, you’re wrong. It’s possible we could get lucky & go 9-3 or 10-2 sometime in the next 3-4 years, but the odds are against it. Our next coach is no more likely to do better than 7-5 or 8-4 than the last one. Then people will call for his head, too.
Don’t give up on CBB until after next season–provided the new QB continues to gain meaningful experience this season. Not a wholesale or permanent change, just give him substantial minutes. At this point it’s not about winning, it’s about the way our team responds and plays the game.
Why would we want to keep a coach who is 5-7 in year five? For that matter even 6-6 and a bowl game, BB can’t coach in the SEC, can’t recruit and is not very good at hiring assistant’s. It’s time for a change and that change should include Jeff Long.
Because every year he’s coached at Arkansas, he has had one quarterback family (with associated coach) and that may have tied his hands over time when there might have been an alternative. With this thought couples the idea that the team may have been fed up with this one dimension and played accordingly. That would explain some weird endings for many games. Note somewhat improved aggressiveness last night to highlight my point. So, don’t judge CBB until after next year. But please give CK plenty of experience this year so there’s less learning curve for 2018.