Coaches find following on Twitter

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema watches the Razorbacks warm up during practice Saturday morning at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema watches the Razorbacks warm up during practice Saturday morning at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE - Bret Bielema hasn’t won a game as Arkansas’ coach, but his popularity among football fans is already strong.

Bielema, partly due to his sometimes fiery social media comments, ranks fifth in the nation in Twitter followings among FBS football coaches. The Tulsa World, in response to Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy recently opening a Twitter account, researched Twitter activity among FBS coaches and found that Les Miles was the runaway leader among the coaching fraternity with 105,760 followers.

Miles was followed by Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Tennessee’s Butch Jones, Georgia’s Mark Richt and Bielema.

A follow-up look by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette conducted Saturday showed the top-five order was unchanged with Miles at 106,315 followers, Kelly at 91,219, Jones at 75,675, Richt at 65,463 and Bielema at 58,383.

A couple of Pacific-12 coaches, Washington’s Steve Sarkisian and UCLA’s Jim Mora, were sixth and ninth, with the SEC’s Mississippi contingent sandwiched between. Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss ranked seventh and Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen was eighth.

Kentucky’s Mark Stoops ranked 10th, while Florida’s Will Muschamp was 13th, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin was 14th, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn was 15th and Missouri’s Gary Pinkel was 16th.

Vanderbilt’s James Franklin ranked 24th.

Alabama Coach Nick Saban is absent from the rankings because he doesn’t have a Twitter account. An account named @ Coach_Spur, with about 2,400 followers, claimed to be that of South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, but the account had not posted an update since Oct. 17, 2011, and its authenticity could not be verified. The Tulsa World determined that 33 other FBS coaches either don’t use Twitter or are not active enough for their names to appear in searches.

Without Saban, whose three national championships in four seasons coupled with a rabid Alabama fan base would make him a natural for a huge following, SEC coaches still account for 11 of the top 16 most-followed Twitter accounts.

Bielema’s approach to social media, particularly Twitter, has paralleled his aggressive, straightforward approach to the rest of his dealings. He has responded to a few critics on Twitter, telling the Democrat-Gazette in February that “if someone is continually stupid, I might have to address the problem” on Twitter.

Bielema also seems to understand how staying active on social media allows him to connect to fans and prospects. Early Saturday he sent the post, “First free Saturday with my wife in our new home in Fayetteville, littlerainy but can’t dampen Derby Saturday!” with his usual #WPS (Woo Pig Sooie) and #greatdayahead attached.

Bielema recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had always been a fan of Twitter.

“The main reason, the only reason, I do it is because of recruiting,” he said. “Kids love [Twitter]. There’s a rule by the NCAA that you can direct message kids starting their junior year. That really gives you an advantage, for me as a head coach, to build a relationship with our top-priority kids. It allows you to have daily and immediate [communication].

“If I see them tweet something about maybe their favorite movie or favorite song, then I can hit them right back on direct message. They know you’re following them.”

Bielema, who says he only dabbles with general Twitter posting and will cut back when fall camp hits in August, would rank as one of the more active posters among college football coaches but isn’t even in the ballpark with the most prolific. Bielema had sent 929 tweets as of noon Saturday, but several coaches had topped the 1,000-post mark, led by Freeze (4,439) and Jones (4,108).

Some coaches have apparently decided Twitter isn’t their thing. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ranks 23rd with more than 21,000 followers, but he hasn’t tweeted since the Tigers were headed to a road game at Georgia Tech on Sept. 9, 2009. Still, his account picked up nearly 100 followers in a 24-hour period ending at noon Saturday.

Nebraska’s Bo Pelini, who has sent out 92 tweets, the last on April 6, at one time posted “I make my tweets count.”

Sports, Pages 29 on 05/05/2013

Upcoming Events