How many coaches flame out at a lesser school in a situation where all the experts thought they were perfectly set up to succeed and then get hired at an even better school and succeed? Nobody. The idea that Bret Bielema somehow has some magic formula for winning in the B1G that he didn't have for winning in the SEC is ridiculous. His relative success at Wisconsin was all about Wisconsin, not about the B1G. That should be obvious by the fact they haven't missed a beat since he left. No chance whatsoever he ends up here because we aren't that stupid.
And the fact that you think winning in the B1G is the same as winning in the SEC
literally makes me Laugh Out Loud.
Here are some numbers for you. The SEC is 89-61 all time against the B1G, including 51-29 in bowls. It's simply more difficult to win in the SEC. And of all the SEC teams, Arkansas spends the least amount of any on their assistant coaches.
Do you think Bielema just all of a sudden forgot everything he learned being a head coach at Wisconsin, including anything he learned from Alvarez? There's a lot more overall speed in the SEC vs the B1G, so they have the power of the B1G, with more overall athleticism.
So...the only thing that we've really found out about Bielema is that the power sets that he used successfully in the B1G aren't as effective in the SEC, which makes sense, since there are both power and speed all over the field in the SEC.
At Wisconsin, the size and power of his lines were some of the largest in the league, and they could impose their will on many teams, because there wasn't the disparity in talent in the B1G West that there is in the SEC. This is why we see the difference in his record. Look at it this way...how many of the below teams are "easy outs?"
SEC West
Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Contrast those to these West teams. I know, things were a little more difficult for him in the Leaders division, but I think you get the point.
B1G West
Illinois
Purdue
Minnesota
Nebraska (in '11 and' 12)
Iowa
Northwestern
Do you realize in the 4 full seasons Bielema has been in the SEC, the West has averaged 3.5 teams being ranked at the end of the year? That means that of the 6 teams he plays in the West every year, 3.5 of them are ranked EVERY year he has been at Arkansas. How many teams are ranked at the end of the year in the B1G West? Or Legends Division?
He has no more advantages in recruiting at Arkansas than Missouri does, (actually less, with app. 3 mil people in Arkansas; less than the state of Iowa) and we've seen what has happened to Missouri in the SEC. Remember Missouri always giving us a run for our money in the B1G North? Arkansas probably had even less cache than Missouri when Bielema got there, because Arkansas hasn't seen success in quite some time. Sure, Petrino won, but he was only there 2 years. Prior to that, Houston Nutt was average. Arkansas went 4-8 the year before Bielema got there.
At any rate, I think I've illustrated pretty well why his record isn't as good in the SEC as the B1G.