Bret Bielema taking over Steve Spurrier’s role
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema continues to do his part to make the SEC interesting in the post-Steve Spurrier era, and the Razorbacks are doing their best to keep the league interesting on the field as well with their scheduling.
In a season when some SEC schools have very thin non-conference schedules, Arkansas is playing at TCU in the second game of the season.
“My AD had a nice idea to throw TCU into the mix before we taken on the SEC West. One hell of an idea. So I’m very excited about seeing Coach Patterson. I see him once a year on a Nike trip. That’s good enough for me. I don’t really want to play him.”
A team he did want to play was Michigan, but the Wolverines nixed a contract that had called for the Razorbacks to play at Michigan in 2018 and then host the Wolverines in 2019. Michigan canceled the series in order to put Notre Dame back on its schedule.
“I’m sorry, the Michigan-Notre Dame thing sounds sexy to everybody else, but I think Michigan and Arkansas sounds sexy,” Bielema said.
Bielema learned the series had been canceled while on vacation in Europe last week.
“We were on a train headed to Paris,” he said. “My wife said, ‘Hey, there’s something on the Internet about a Big Ten team canceling with an SEC team. I said, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ She said, ‘Really? Your picture’s right here.’ ”
Bielema was disappointed the game was canceled so close to being played.
“This is kind of your marquee game and you schedule around it, and then the rug gets pulled out from underneath you…,” he said. “I got tremendous respect for (Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh). I know there’s a lot of people like to throw darts at Michigan. I love a guy that speaks his mind, as you can tell from knowing me. I love the way he coaches the game. I understand they have to do what they have to do, but it was a tough one to go away.”
Joining The Club. Alabama head coach Nick Saban came down four years ago firmly in the anti-no-huddle offense club. So why is the Crimson Tide employing the no-huddle now?
“Even though we may not philosophically agree that this is the way football was meant to be played or should be played, if it creates issues for the other … then we need to use those things, too, or we’re creating a disadvantage for ourselves,” Saban said. “It’s been a work in progress for us to learn how to do that because we do not have an offensive coach on our staff that came from that background, came from that hurry-up, no-huddle offense. I think our coaching staff, including (offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin), has done a fantastic job sort of developing a system that has been very effective for us in terms of what we’ve been able to do.”
Barker’s Boys. Drew Barker, the sophomore quarterback Kentucky kept from South Carolina in a hotly contested recruiting battle two years ago, started the final two games of 2015 for Kentucky, and Wildcats coach Mark Stoops is happy to have him as the full-time starter this year.
“At any level you have got to have great play at quarterback,” Stoops said. “I’m excited about Drew. He’ll get the keys to the car, and I’m excited to watch him go because I know this is his time. He’s ready to play.”
Barker completed 35-of-70 passes for 364 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions last year.
“He has that moxie on the field,” Stoops said. “He’s a playmaker. He’s a gamer. But obviously you can’t do those things until you have a great and complete understanding of your offense and what you’re trying to do and distribute the football where he needs to go.”
Still Mad. Arkansas has lost in overtime to Texas A&M in each of the last two seasons, and the loss two years ago still makes Bielema angry because of a 55-yard fourth quarter gain wiped out by a tripping penalty.
“First tripping call I’ve ever seen in college football,” Bielema said. “When we got done with the game and we’re walking across to shake hands (Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin) said, ‘I don’t know what to say.’ I said, ‘Don’t say anything, I might punch you.’”
Not So Fast. First-year Georgia coach Kirby Smart hired Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman, and he tried to hire Razorbacks offensive coordinator Dan Enos, Bielema revealed Wednesday. However, Enos contract includes a clause that prevents him from leaving for another SEC school.
“I said, ‘You can’t have it him,’ kind of stuck my tongue out, wiggled my nose and felt good about it,” Bielema said.
Best Wishes. Saban mentioned during his opening remarks how odd it was not to have Steve Spurrier at SEC Media Days.
“The one thing that I will miss is I’m usually up here responding to some barb from Coach Spurrier,” Saban said. “We just wish he and Jerri the very best in the future. He’s made a tremendous impact on the game, and I’m sure will continue to do that with his leadership and deeds and actions even though he’s not coaching.”
This year is the first year since 1989 that both Spurrier and former Georgia coach Mark Richt has been at SEC Media Days.
Hectic Day. First-year Missouri coach Barry Odom arrived at Media Days just as word was leaking that his athletics director, Mack Rhoades, was leaving to become the athletics director at Baylor. Baylor officially announced Rhoades’ hiring while Odom was at the podium in the main media room.
“Mack and I got together last night and had long discussions,” Odom said. “He’s got an opportunity that he thought was best for him, and I know I’m very, very excited about the University of Missouri. I absolutely know we’ll get a great director of athletics in there. I’m really, really excited about the direction our football program is going.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 7:46 PM.