Sometimes the grass is actually browner on the other side. This may be the case for the new lawns of former Wisconsin head football coaches Gary Andersen and Bret Bielema. Bielema and his gut left for Arkansas in 2012, while Andersen bolted for Oregon State just two years later. Both moves seemed puzzling at the time, so allow me to explain why staying at Wisconsin would have been the wiser choice.
Let’s start off with the big man on campus himself, Bielema. Around the sport, speculation arose that Bielema left because he could not pay his assistants competitive salaries, leading to their attrition. While this in principle is a valid reason to leave, it is worth pointing out that last year Bielema’s top assistants at Arkansas get a base pay of only about $50,000 more than Wisconsin’s. For that, Bielema ventured off into the hostile SEC West for the opportunity to be perennially feasted on by the likes of Alabama.
With Bielema entering his third season in Fayetteville, many analysts predicted Arkansas as their sleeper pick in the SEC West. However, most of these analysts ignored many signs that this might not be the case.
First, while Arkansas showed glimpses of competence and did finish strong down the stretch last season, earning Bielema his first two SEC wins, those were the only two SEC wins he recorded for the season en route to another last place finish in the West.
Not only was Arkansas on the bottom of the West standings, they also finished last among West teams in recruiting as well, per Rivals.com. The Razorbacks had finished second to last in Bielema’s first two seasons on the job.
While Arkansas shares a border with the football oasis that is Texas, Bielema has to battle every other coach from the West, as well as the big- name coaches from the Big 12, a fight he has thus far lost. He is also doing himself no favors in recruiting by sticking to his power-running offensive scheme even as the spread offense has largely taken over Texas high school ball, as pointed out by Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
The most overlooked aspect of Arkansas’ overhype into this season may have been its defense, which led the way to Arkansas’ brief revival toward the end of last season. However, that unit lost five starters in the offseason, including four to the NFL draft, indicating a large exodus of talent.
So far, Arkansas has faced one good offensive team in Texas Tech, and gave up nearly 500 yards of total offense in a losing effort. Couple that with the shocking loss to Toledo, the 1-2 Razorbacks look lost, and may once again go winless in a stacked SEC West. After this kind of start to the season, the seat under Bielema should be simmering, and after three years, his experiment in Arkansas could very well be over.
Now back to Bielema’s successor, Andersen. Rumor had it that one of the main causes for Andersen’s departure was the inability to fully recruit because of Wisconsin’s high academic standards. So logically, he left for an Oregon school. Illogically, that school was Oregon State. While the jury is still out on how successful he can be in Corvallis, if his primary motive is better recruiting opportunities, then clearly I have done better research than Andersen.
Since the turn of the decade, Oregon has reeled in seven four-star recruits according to Rivals.com, while the Badgers have 18. In that same span, the most four stars recruited in one year for Oregon State has been three, while the Badgers have pulled in at least three every year except for one.
Shockingly, being in the same state as Nike darling Oregon, with all of its resources, has made it difficult for Oregon State to bring in premier talent. So while Wisconsin’s academic standards may have lost Andersen some recruits he wanted, all signs point to him losing many more to Oregon.
Let’s also not forget the benefits both of these coaches would have enjoyed by staying in Wisconsin. First, the Big Ten West is slightly worse than both the SEC West and Pac 12 North, and by slightly I mean it is a borderline MAC division.
Both coaches could have enjoyed years of coasting to the Big Ten title game, where it would just take one big-time win against one of the East division powerhouses to result in a truly special season, much better odds than what both guys are facing in their respective conferences. So while Andersen and Bielema had their motives to leave, they may be feeling some regret in the near future over that decision.
Now that Bret Bielema and Gary Andersen are off to sad starts in their respective 2015 campaigns, do you wish they would have stayed at Wisconsin, or do you think the Badgers are better off without them? How has your opinion of Bielema and Andersen changed since they left for Arkansas and Oregon State, respectively? Did Barry Alvarez find his man in lifetime Badger Paul Chryst, or will he be the latest head coach to dart from Wisconsin for greener pastures? Email Rushad and let him know what you think at sports@dailycardinal.com.
