He’s back, baby.
That’s a lot of money to pay for mediocrity. What’s that you said about college athletics finances during a pandemic?
He’s back, baby.
Bielema's contract is for six years beginning with an annual salary of $4.2 million. He will begin his duties at Illinois immediately and will attend the game today's guest of AD Josh Whitman's when Illinois plays at Penn State.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 19, 2020
That’s a lot of money to pay for mediocrity. What’s that you said about college athletics finances during a pandemic?
Filed under Bert... uh... Bret Bielema, Big Ten Football
“I’m just going to come in, put it the work and get the respect from my teammates and help them do anything I can do to help the team win.” — Tykee Smith, UGASports.com, 4/4/21
After working in Illinois for 3 years I can tell you Illinois fans would pay double that for 10 wins a year.
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Of course he wasn’t great at Arkansas, but he wasn’t mediocre at Wisconsin. Three B1G conference titles? Illinois will gladly take that coach.
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You took the words right out of my mouth. Three conference championships in 4 years is nothing to sneeze at. I do agree that his record at Arkansas was pitiful.
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They paid Lovie just under that for 5 years….. 17–39.
Gotta feeling he will improve on that.
Thinking I am in the WRONG business.
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Oh, if I had it to do over again… I would have been a college football coach.
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A college football coach who gets fired with a huge guaranteed contract maybe the only thing better.
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Id go to the easiest cheapest law school and be a football lawyer. Maybe while being a football coach.
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The only person that qualifies in here is “Corch”.
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Was thinking along the lines of a Jimmy Sexton type college coach repre$entative…
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I can’t print my reaction, it’s a four letter word that begins with “F” and isn’t “fine”.
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Seriously, Feta! 🙂
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Champagne, where coaches (“they”) go to die….see what i did there Illini?
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I’m just glad that when you post content about him I can continue to refer to him as Bert.
And, I sincerely wish IL better success, even though they’re orange. That team is my only “eh, ok, I wont hate them because they’re orange”.
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Bert is so happy he’s going to go hop on his wife.
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The BigTen West (I had to look it up) is a bit more wide open than the East, so he could do something of note there, but Illinois just isn’t known for sustained success (read: 4-5 consecutive 8+ win seasons). I know they’ve had a few decent teams, but not a vibrant, recent history.
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It says this is probably the best we could do. The Illinois job is not one of the greatest there is but if, and that’s a strong if, he can make some inroads into the state it gives some hope. He’s from Illinois and that can’t hurt.
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