Bret Bielema

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Bret Arnold Bielema (born January 13, 1970) is an American football coach who is the New England Patriots' defensive line coach.

He served as the head football coach of the University of Arkansas, a record that fell short of 29-34.

Bielema served as head football coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2006 to 2012, achieving a 68–24 record.

Personal life

Bielema and his brothers Bart and Barry grew up on an 80-acre hog farm near Prophetstown, Illinois. Both of the brothers competed in football, track, and wrestling.

In Madison, Bielema married Jen Hielsberg on March 10, 2012. Briella, their first child, was born in 2017. Brexli, their second daughter, was born in 2019.

On February 25, 2016, Arkansas sports radio personality Bo Mattingly debuted 'Being Bielema', a Bielema series starring Bielema.

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Playing career

In Prophetstown, Illinois, Bielema attended Prophetstown High School. In high school, he was a tight end and linebacker. Bielema continued to play at the University of Iowa as a defensive lineman under the direction of Hayden Fry, who competed from 1989 to 1992. Bielema served as team captain for four years, earned a scholarship, and spent four years as a submarine. Bielema was a member of the 1990 Iowa team that captured a share of the Big Ten Championship with Illinois.

Bielema approached Iowa State head coach Jim Walden for a post-game handshake and said, "You're a big prick." "Iowa State has never defeated Iowa during Bielema's tenure with the team), and it's been a pleasure to kick your ass during Bielema's tenure with the team. With University of Iowa officials reprimanding Bielema and giving Walden a formal letter of apology, the time has created a lot of buzz. Bielema earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from Iowa.

Bielema was released by the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent in the 1993 NFL Draft but was suspended during the summer after being undrafted. He played for the Milwaukee Mustangs, a Milwaukee team in the Arena Football League in 1994.

Coaching career

Bielema began his teaching under Fry in 1994 as a graduate assistant. In 1996, he was promoted to linebackers coach, a position he would hold until 2001. Fry retired in 1998 and was replaced by former Iowa offensive line coach Kirk Ferentz, who had briefly coached Bielema in offensive line sets during preparations for the 1988 Peach Bowl. Bielema, one of Fry's top recruiters, continued on the road recruiting during the coaching search. Ferentz's employees retained only Bielema and quarterback Chuck Long from Fry's staff. Bielema recruited several players from Florida, most from Florida, including Heisman runner-up quarterback Brad Banks, wide receiver Colin Jones and Maurice Brown, cornerback Antwan Allen, and linebackers Fred Barr and Abdul Hodge during his three years with Ferentz in Iowa.

Bielema became the Kansas State Wildcats' co-defensive coordinator after the 2001 season, coached by Bill Snyder, who had worked with Fry at Iowa for a decade. Bielema and Bob Elliott were fired by Phil Bennett, who had to leave to become the SMU Mustangs' head coach. Bielema coached the K-State defense for two seasons, assisting the Wildcats in winning the 2003 Big XII Championship.

Bielema left Kansas State after the 2003 season to serve as the Wisconsin defensive coordinator under head coach Barry Alvarez, who had also worked at Iowa under Fry. Bielema was a defensive coordinator for two seasons. Alvarez revealed in July 2005 that he would retire after the 2005 season and become the Badger athletic director. Alvarez also stated that he had chosen Bielema as his successor, and that he would take power in 2006.

Bielema's team lost 11–1 (7–1 in Big Ten Conference play) in his first season as head coach of the Badgers in 2006. Bielema defeated San Diego State 14–0 on September 16, 2006, becoming the third Wisconsin head coach to win the first three games of his career. Bielema set the most victories won by a first-year coach at the University of Washington with a 24–3 win over Purdue on October 21, beating Purdue by 253 to 31. Philip King in 1896 and William Juneau in 1912 were the other two coaches to complete the feat. On October 28, Bielema became Wisconsin's first coach to win eight games in his first season, defeating the Fighting Illini by 30-24. He then extended his record by winning his ninth match on November 4, defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions 13-3. Bielema became the first head coach in the Big Ten history to win ten games in his first season after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 24-21 on November 11, 2011. Bielema became the first coach in UW history to win 11 games in the regular season after losing 35–3 on November 18, 2006. After defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2007, he became the third coach in NCAA history to win 12 games in his rookie season, finishing 12–1.

In 17 of his first 18 games, Bielema guided Wisconsin to victories. That is the third best start to a head coaching career in Big Ten history. Fielding H. Yost, who went 55–0–1 from 1901 to 1905, and Urban Meyer, of Ohio State, who played 24 games in a row to start his Big Ten career, had a better start. Unlike Bielema, Yost, and Meyer, they all had head coaching resumes prior to their Big Ten tenures.

The Badgers of Bielema defeated No. 1 Ohio State 31–18 in Madison on October 16, 2010. When the Badgers defeated Michigan in 1981, it was Wisconsin's first victory over a top-ranked team since 1981. The victory over the Buckeyes was his first since being 1-5 against Ohio State.

Bielema is Wisconsin's only coach to win consecutive Rose Bowls.

Bielema was named a finalist for the 2010 Bear Bryant Award, which is given to college football's Coach of the Year. Chris Ault of Nevada, Gene Chizik of Auburn, Mark Dantonio of Michigan State, Jim Harbaugh of Stanford, Chip Kelly of Oregon, Bobby Petrino of Arkansas, and Mike Sherman of Texas A&M were among the other finalists. Chizik was a winner of the award.

Bielema had left Wisconsin to become the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks on December 4, 2012. He left part of the Southeastern Conference as a result of his assistant coaches' salaries, partly because he felt that his assistant coaches were not being paid enough. After Bobby Petrino had been fired eight months earlier, Bielema promoted John L. Smith, who had coached Arkansas to a 4-8 record during the 2012 season.

Bielema's first season at Arkansas culminated in a record of 3-9, with 0-8 in the Southeastern Conference. Under Coach Smith, Bielema inherits a talent-rich roster and a development deficit. Bielema's starting quarterback sustained a shoulder injury that limited his availability for the remainder of the season. It was the Razorbacks' lowest SEC record since being in the league in 1992 and their first winless in-conference season since 1942, when they first became a member of the Southwest Conference in 1942.

Bielema's second season saw significant growth, with Arkansas finishing 7-6. In November, Bielema defeated #17 LSU by a score of 17–0 and #8 Ole Miss by a score of 30–0 to earn bowl eligibility. Despite losing their remaining conference game against Missouri, the Razorbacks were still the first undefeated team in college football to lose two consecutive ranked opponents. In the postseason, Bielema led Arkansas to a Texas Bowl win, defeating Texas by 31–7.

Jonathan Williams, a returning 1,190-yard starting running back for Bielema's third season, was the team's third season. The Razorbacks got off to a slow start, losing to Toledo and Texas Tech in the non-conference and starting 2–4. Bielema then had a field day in the second half of the season, going 5-1 over the last six games, losing the one game to Mississippi State due to a missed field goal. Arkansas dispatched Kansas State, 45-23, to finish the year with a record of 8–5. Bielema ended the year by defeating Bill Snyder, one of his former teammates, in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Bielema's fourth season was a tumultuous ride that culminated in two humiliating losses at the hands of Missouri in the regular season finale and Virginia Tech in the 2016 Belk Bowl. The former was able to lead at 17 points in halftime, with the latter being a 24-point blown halftime lead, the first for Arkansas since at least 1952. Bret Bielema's regular season record at Arkansas would have risen despite being defeated Missouri. Defensive Coordinator Robb Smith was fired by former Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads, and other staff assignments pointed to a change to a 3-4 defensive system.

Bielema was Arkansas' highest-paid state employee with a salary reported at $4,200,000.

Bielema's fifth season saw the program regress, ending 4-8 overall and going just 1-7 in the SEC. Following a 48–45 loss to the Missouri Tigers at home, Bielema was fired after five seasons as Arkansas' head coach. The Razorbacks were led by 14 leads twice before being disqualified. Bielema told reporters that he had been told he was being suspended while going off the field. According to Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman, school officials decided to sack the players after the game so he would have the opportunity to visit the team one last time before heading home for Thanksgiving. The alternative would have been to notify the firing by social media or a group text message.

Bielema was hired by the New England Patriots as a defensive consultant to head coach Bill Belichick prior to the 2018 NFL season. Bielema was promoted to defensive line coach before the 2019 season.

Under Joe Judge's direction, the Giants recruited Bielema as their outside linebackers coach and senior assistant on January 21, 2020.

Bielema was appointed as the next head coach at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, replacing Lovie Smith, on December 19, 2020. Bielema's first year in a six-year deal, with annual increases based on results and meeting other promotional goals for the program throughout the year, according to the school. He is the ninth highest paid head coach among the Big Ten Conference's fourteen members.

Bielema won his first game with the Illini against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but then went on a 4 game losing streak to UTSA, Virginia, Maryland, and Purdue. With a victory over Charlotte, the streak came to an end, but he lost to Wisconsin, his former team. Following an off week, Bielema and the Fighting Illini shocked Penn State in Happy Valley by defeating them by 24.5 points, then ranked 7 in the AP Poll. The most notable part of this game were the nine overtime periods, which tied for the most overtime periods in a game. The Illini lost their next game to Rutgers before losing to Minnesota, which was then ranked #20 in the College Football Playoff poll. Bielema did not travel with the team to Iowa due to contracting COVID-19, and the Illini lost to the Hawkeyes without wide receivers coach George McDonald as acting head coach. Bielema's return to the sport saw him win his last game of the season against Northwestern at home. This was Illini's first victory over the Wildcats since 2014. Bielema's first season at Illinois ended with an overall record of 5-7 and a Big Ten record of 4-5, which finished the Illini fifth in the Big Ten West Division.

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