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Mediocrity rewarded: Bret Bielema extended by Arkansas

By Phil Watson

Dec 29, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema during the game against the Texas Longhorns in the 2014 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 29, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema during the game against the Texas Longhorns in the 2014 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arkansas Razorbacks have won two SEC games in coach Bret Bielema’s two years in Fayetteville. So of course he got a raise and an extension.

The University of Arkansas announced Saturday it has signed coach Bret Bielema to a two-year contract extension through 2020.

The Razorbacks were an improved team in 2014—I mean, they actually won conference games, two of them, last season and the administration at the school has responded with an extension and a raise for Bielema.

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Arkansas was 3-9 and winless in conference play in Bielema’s first season, but snapped a 17-game SEC losing streak—13 of those under Bielema—with back-to-back conference wins over LSU and Ole Miss in November.

The Hogs finished 7-6 after a 31-7 thumping of Texas in the Texas Bowl (wouldn’t that make it the Arkansas Bowl?)

“Coach Bret Bielema is not only one of the best college football coaches in the nation, he is an outstanding leader,” athletic director Jeff Long said in a press release. “What Coach Bielema and his coaching staff have done for our young men, on and off the field, is something that has dramatically changed the course of our program and most importantly positively impacted the lives of our football student-athletes.

“He is building a championship program in a way that all Arkansans can be proud of. We look forward to his continued leadership of our football program and the many successes yet to come.”

Bielema will average $4.25 million per year over the six years on the extended contract and is now eligible for bonuses of up to $1 million annually for incentives based on athletic and academic achievement.

In fairness to Bielema, he did jump ship from Wisconsin in order to pick up the pieces left behind after Bobby Petrino’s slimy exit from the program after being involved in a motorcycle crash with his mistress and then lying about it.

Petrino’s reward was a year in purgatory at Western Kentucky and a lucrative return to Louisville, where he is obviously a changed man after completely screwing over South Carolina prep running back Matt Colburn by pulling a scholarship offer less than 48 hours before National Signing Day.

The Razorbacks were 21-5 with Sugar and Cotton bowl bids in Petrino’s last two seasons before his abrupt departure in April 2012.

That was followed up by a 4-8 collapse under interim coach John L. Smith in 2012 and the subsequent luring of Bielema from Wisconsin, where the Badgers were 68-24 in Bielema’s seven seasons as head coach.

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