Bret Bielema interviewing at Colorado in late quest for head coaching job

Bret Bielema is interviewing at Colorado now, and the only the University of Arkansas should be hoping he lands a head coaching job more.

Late in this hiring cycle, when Mark Dantonio retired, Bret Bielema surfaced as a candidate at Michigan State. Mel Tucker ultimately took that job, and now according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Adam Rittenberg of ESPN Bielema is set to interview for the job Tucker left behind at Colorado.

Bielema worked for the New England Patriots for the last two seasons since being fired by Arkansas at the end of the 2017 season, and he followed Joe Judge to the New York Giants as outside linebackers coach/senior defensive assistant.

Bielema has a 97-58 record over 12 seasons as a head coach at Wisconsin (68-24 and Arkansas (29-34). Arkansas owed him a buyout of around $11.9 million when he was fired, subject to offset when he inevitably got another coaching job.

Working as a consultant (a volunteer assistant?) for the Patriots in 2018 appears to have drawn some ire from the powers that be in Fayetteville. So much so that at last check (as of Dec. 31, 2018) the school had stopped making scheduled payments on the buyout. Naturally, Bielema and his agent were ready to take Arkansas to court.

The status of that legal case is unknown, but Bielema is apparently now making the originally assumed “good faith effort” to find another head coaching job (albeit incredibly late in this year’s cycle).

Michigan State seemed like a better fit than Colorado does for Bielema, based on his success in the Big Ten at Wisconsin. But with a shallow pool of candidates at this point in time, and the NFL assistant they’d probably prefer (Eric Bieniemy) apparently not all that interested in the job, Bielema may well wind up being the next Buffaloes’ head coach.

That sound you hear is the University of Arkansas cheering at the idea Bielema’s buyout payout will be greatly reduced soon.