Coach reaffirms he’ll stay at UA
FAYETTEVILLE — Almost as quickly as Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema’s name surfaced Wednesday as a target for Nebraska’s coaching search, it went away as Bielema reiterated his commitment to the Razorbacks.
The website footballscoop.com, which specializes in coaching news, reported Wednesday afternoon that Nebraska Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst had targeted Bielema to succeed Bo Pelini, who was fired Sunday after seven seasons as the Cornhuskers’ head coach. Eichorst, who took over as Nebraska’s athletic director Jan. 1, 2013, worked in athletic administration at Wisconsin from 2006-11, which overlapped with Bielema’s tenure as the head coach there from 2006-12.
But shortly after the report came out, Bielema told Chris Low of ESPN that he planned to re-
main at Arkansas. Bielema, who was recruiting for the Razorbacks in three states Wednesday, also sent out a couple of posts on Twitter following the report that appeared to reaffirm his commitment to Arkansas.
“Has been a good start this week in recruiting for the future at #Arkansas. Excited to be headed to a bowl and momentum into 2015! #WoooPig,” Bielema posted from Indianapolis.
Earlier in the day, on a teleconference with Arkansas-based reporters, Bielema talked at length about recent discussions with Athletic Director Jeff Long regarding ways to increase salaries and perks to keep some assistant coaches on board.
In response to a question from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Bielema said he was not in the market for a job change.
“I’m not one of those coaches that gets my name involved or anything like that,” Bielema said after being asked what his stance would be if he were pursued by another school. “When I started talking to Arkansas I told them, ‘Hey, I hear my name comes in a way other than my own release, then I’m probably going to be out of this conversation.’ That’s just how I’ve always operated.
“I think the part that’s fun for me right now is the building we’ve done is really just becoming apparent. When I’m in all these little [airports] all over the country, the people that come up to me and talk to me about what we’re doing at Arkansas and building, the support Jeff has given us is second to none. I can’t tell you how excited I am for next year, and obviously my commitment to Arkansas in the long term.”
Bielema led Arkansas to a 6-6 record and bowl eligibility in his second season after going 3-9 last year. His current buyout if he were to leave Arkansas is $2.5 million, and it will drop to $2 million after Jan. 1 in the third year of his contract.
Nebraska finished 9-3 overall this season and 5-3 in the Big Ten West Division, third behind Wisconsin and Minnesota.