FAYETTEVILLE — Regardless of how poorly the preceding football team fared, new coaches loathe to tell their new players they will sacrifice their season to rebuild.
Bret Bielema is no exception. Arkansas’ new coach from Wisconsin isn’t telling his Razorbacks they are rebuilding even if most football forecasters call it rebuilding at a charitable best.
Unless donning rosy Razorbacks red glasses, who could predict anything but a rebuilding year?
Off successive 10-3 and 11-2 seasons, Arkansas was projected as a preseason top-10 team in 2012 but floundered to 4-8. Even worse for 2013, Arkansas lost its starting quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end and offensive guard. All were a big part of the reason the 2012 Hogs were projected so highly heading into the season.
“You know, I get it,” Bielema said. “I understand from the outside world looking in how that perception is there with a new head coach and all the transition. We lost a lot of really good players.”
However, Bielema does have some good seniors coming back. They start with Rimington Trophy candidate Travis Swanson at center, fullback Kiero Small, defensive end Chris Smith and defensive tackles Byran Jones and Robert Thomas. There also is a host of others he must convince are better than they’ve shown or their in experience has allowed them to display.
So Bielema started building his “no rebuilding” philosophy in his first meeting with the team.
“I was emphatic, especially when I knew I had 20 seniors in that room to begin with in December, that I didn’t want it to be a rebuilding.” Bielema said. “It’s silly to say that maybe - obviously after a season like they had and as many players as they lost and the transition on the coaching staff - but the pieces were were in place.
“I don’t think that you need to repeat that season all over again. I just think we need to do what we do, get it across to our players and take it one game at a time.”
It can be done.
Lou Holtz’s 11-1 Arkansas debut in 1977 emerged from a Frank Broyles team that went 5-5-1 in 1976 after it was projected to be outstanding coming off a 10-2 season in 1975 that included a Cotton Bowl victory.
Houston Nutt was told by the 1998 Razorbacks he inherited that they weren’t merely rebuilding despite successive 4-7 seasons under Danny Ford. They went 9-3.
Promoted from defensive coordinator to Wisconsin head coach in 2006, Bielema remembers naysayers predicting the Badgers would blunder with their 36-year-old rookie head coach losing so many players plus legendary Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez serving strictly as the athletic director coming off a 10-3 farewell season in 2005.
“Going into the fall reminds me a lot of when I first took over at Wisconsin,” Bielema said. “I think we started the season ranked like 65th or 68th in the country because everybody thought we lost a lot of really good players and it was a new coach. We finished that season 12-1.”
Ironically, Bielema finished that first season at Wisconsin by defeating Arkansas, 17-14, in the Capital One Bowl.
Sports, Pages 20 on 06/29/2013