Voice of the Razorbacks Ponders Where it All Went Wrong With Bret Bielema

Chuck Barrett remembers what could've been at Arkansas under former coach

Nov 18, 2017; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema watches his team warmup before the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-Imagn Images | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If there was one term to describe Bret Bielema's tenure as the head football coach at Arkansas, it was that he was consistently inconsistent.

Arkansas started the 2014 season 0-5 in the SEC before destroying LSU and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks before capping the year with a win over Texas in the Texas Bowl. In 2015, the Razorbacks started 2-4 before going on a 6-1 tear to close the season, beating Ole Miss in Oxford with the help of a miraculous heave from Hunter Henry and blowing out the likes of LSU and Missouri.

`Nov 7, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks tight end Hunter Henry (84) laterals the ball as he is tackled by Mississippi Rebels defensive back Tony Bridges (1) during overtime at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Arkansas won 53-52. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-Imagn Images | Matt Bush-Imagn Images

In 2016, Arkansas found the joy of victory over ranked foes such as TCU, Ole Miss, Florida and Mississippi State, but were taken behind the woodshed by LSU, Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M.

Then, there were those jilted heartbreakers featuring lost double-digit second half leads in back-to-back games against a lowly Missouri team and Virginia Tech under former coach Justin Fuente.

There was no rhyme or reason to how the Razorbacks played on a weekly basis.

Bielema's final year at Arkansas came in 2017, a season plagued by injuries to the likes of Austin Allen, Jared Cornelius, Ryan Pulley, Dre Greenlaw, Devwah Whaley and Rawleigh Williams III, just to name a few. The Razorbacks went 4-8, scoring only one SEC win against an Ole Miss team with an interim coach in Oxford, albeit in thrilling comeback from 24 points down.

But when the season came to a close following Arkansas' 48-45 season-ending loss to Missouri, Bielema was promptly fired as he was walking off of Frank Broyles Field and into the locker room at Razorback Stadium.

What if Bret Bielema got 2 more years at Arkansas? 🤔🏈 pic.twitter.com/Yml17fg1oH

— The Chuck & Bo Show (@chuckandboshow) June 22, 2026

But what would've happened if he would've been able to stay in Fayetteville? Chuck Barrett and Bo Mattingly discussed Bielema's tenure and the alternate reality that would've occurred had he stuck around.

"I'm still baffled by how that Bielema thing didn't work out better than it did," Barrett said Monday. "There was so much momentum. I admit, we got a little intoxicated when they beat an average Texas team down at that Texas Bowl. It just seemed like there was a lot of promise there. I can remember thinking, 'This guy's the real deal.'

"And I'm not saying he's not. He is the real deal or Illinois wouldn't be doing what they're doing. But it just didn't happen here."

Bielema came to Arkansas after a magnificent seven-year stint at Wisconsin that saw him win 68 games and take the Badgers to the Rose Bowl thrice, though he did not coach the team in the 2013 game after being hired by Arkansas in December 2012.

His time at Arkansas ended with him posting a record of 29-34, including an 11-29 mark in SEC games. To date, it's the only school Bielema has posted a losing record at as a head coach, as he's 37-23 over the last five seasons as the head man at Illinois.

Nov 18, 2017; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema talks with quarterback Austin Allen (8) during a timeout in the fourth quarter of the game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mississippi State Bulldogs won the game 28-21. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-Imagn Images | Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

"It got bad at the end in terms of how people felt," Mattingly said. "I still believe if he were here two more years, if they'd given him another year, I think that year would've been better, the next year would've been [better]. He was a good coach. When you lose the fans, or a certain segment of them, or the right people or the wrong people, you're done in college athletics. "

Bielema's 2015 Arkansas squad remains the last Razorback football team to post a winning record in SEC play. The stretch from 2014-16 is also the last time the Hogs posted three consecutive winning seasons, a standard fans are hoping Ryan Silverfield can live up to and surpass during his tenure as head coach.

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