The fourth-year head coach of the Razorbacks stole the show on Thursday at SEC media days with his wit, candor, subtle shots and willingness to display his personality on the biggest offseason stage of the year, rather than hide it from the cameras. And he got off numerous top-notch one-liners.
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“You don’t have to ask me if I’m going to suspend anyone for our first game”, Bielema said.
“My AD had a nice idea to throw TCU into the mix before we taken on the SEC West. One hell of an idea”. I don’t Georgia will have is with their 1st year head coach, Tennessee I’m not jumping on the bandwagon, the Josh Dobbs bandwagon. “Kind of stuck my tongue out, wiggled my nose and felt good about it”. Arkansas can’t host official visitors (though I doubt the coaches would try to bring many official visitors to the Alcorn State game if it would be in Fayetteville, anyway). Give me a break. “‘I can’t wait to just get on the plane and hop on my wife, ‘” Ellis said. We were on a train headed to Paris.
“I’m responsible for all of the actions for every one of my players”, Mullen said. I said I didn’t know anything about it. She said, ‘Really?
He also talked about MI dropping a home and home game with Arkansas.
“I got tremendous respect for Jim”.
“We just have a lot of people coming in that are very strong and know what they’re doing and they’re going to make an impact for us”, Hall said. “I love a guy that speaks his mind, as you can tell from knowing me”.
“At Arkansas we’re not built very sexy, we’re just kind of a work in progress”, Bielema said. “Last year to go 5-3 [in conference], I look at the three losses and realize we lost to overtime to A&M, lost a heartbreaker on a game-winning field goal against Mississippi State and led Alabama at half and couldn’t close it out”.
“But when we do, we’ll stop time, and at some point we’ll get to where we want to be”.
“We’re really close to where we want to be”, Bielema said.
As for Freeze, the NCAA has lodged 28 allegations on Ole Miss’ entire athletic program including 13 against football with nine on Freeze’s watch and four when Houston Nutt, his immediate predecessor, coached the Rebels. “Which I think got me excited. I thought he should have had a flag, but that’s another conversation”.
“That’s when I think divine intervention did happen. I’m a believer, I’m a believer, and Hunter’s father is a pastor, so I knew it had something to do with it as well”. But the main room at Media Days, where hundreds of writers covering different schools and pursuing different story angles are jockeying to be called upon, is a different animal.
Bielema then recalled the past two matchups with A&M, which the Aggies managed to secure comeback wins in both games and as to why the Razorbacks were unable to capitalize on a key early season conference win. “I hope there’s a moratorium on complaining about refing”.
“The Michigan-Notre Dame thing sounds sexy to everybody else, but I think Michigan and Arkansas sounds sexy”.
“You know, again, you guys are getting me to talk about this too much”. He has not done a good job of getting the team ready to play those games at War Memorial because, I believe, he hasn’t been able to get past his frustration with playing there.
“I just don’t see it happening”, Hancock said.
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As for his role in Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s wedding, Bielema, who coached the Super Bowl victor at Wisconsin, joked he was merely “the guy in the eighth row in the outside seat”.
