FAYETTEVILLE -- The football coach who scruffles with lapdogs named Lucy and Ricky in his spare time and talks of "enjoying the rainbow" with his players has a decidedly mightier outlook on the football field.
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema may show the heart of a softie sometimes in everyday life, but his approach to winning college football games revolves around hard-core brawn.
Just because he has relocated to the toughest division in what consistently rates as the country's toughest conference doesn't mean Bielema will stray from his cherished power football.
"I believe in what I believe in," said Bielema, who is in his third season at Arkansas. "I'm only good at being me. I can't be somebody else.
"I steal one all the time from my old boss. Coach [Barry] Alvarez wrote a book called Don't Flinch, and I've never flinched."
Bielema is a staunch advocate of a throwback style. A protege of Hayden Fry and Alvarez, Bielema used his blueprint to win 68 games in seven seasons at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to Big Ten titles in his final three seasons (2010-2012).
His plan calls for pairing solid defense and special teams with a big offensive unit that holds on to the ball, doesn't beat itself and tries to wear down even tough opponents like a sledgehammer slamming on rock.
Bielema pounds his five edges of Arkansas football into the players.
"The first Arkansas edge is mental and physical toughness, and that's what he's brought to the team," senior safety Rohan Gaines said. "On offense, we want to run the ball. We're going to pound it. We're going to be big. On defense, we're going to stop the run.
"We're going to do those things, and everything else will fall into place."
Center Mitch Smothers, the only current Razorback to have started games under former coach Bobby Petrino, said the buildup of bulk under Bielema has been impressive.
"It's crazy to see, especially for a guy like me who's been here for a long time, to see him bring in all this talent, especially up front," Smothers said. "You know, it's awesome to see that he's done that."
The current Razorbacks offensive line, anchored by 6-5, 340-pound Denver Kirkland and 6-10, 338-pound Dan Skipper, averages 6-5 1/2 and 329 pounds. The Arkansas defensive front that has drawn raves from Bielema in camp could run more than 10 players deep this fall.
"For him, in the game of football, no matter what offense you run or what defense you run, toughness is still the name of the game," said Robb Smith, Arkansas' second-year defensive coordinator. "If we're going to have success, that's going to be our identity."
The transition from Petrino's scheme, which valued skill-position talent over linemen and had trouble populating the defense with enough impact players, to the identity Bielema craves took most of two years.
The Razorbacks were 0-13 in SEC games under Bielema until winning back-to-back shutouts -- over LSU and Ole Miss -- at Razorback Stadium in November.
"He said from the very beginning it's not going to be an overnight deal," said quarterback Brandon Allen, who has started 24 of Bielema's 25 games at Arkansas. "It's going to take time, it's going to take a lot of effort from the guys on the team and a lot of transformation from where we were to where we wanted to be.
"I think it's finally starting to come around and people are buying in to the direction we're headed."
Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. has seen plenty of styles come and go during his years in the SEC as an Arkansas quarterback, assistant coach and observer. Three seasons with Bielema has him convinced the system will work for the Hogs.
"There are a lot of different ways to score points, a lot of ways to play defense," Lunney said. "He's got one that works. It doesn't matter what conference it's been in. I think we saw last year the way it's supposed to work."
A CORNER TURNED?
An agonizing series of SEC setbacks, dating back to 2012 under interim coach John L. Smith, reached 17 consecutive until the Razorbacks snapped the skid with a 17-0 victory over LSU last Nov. 15.
Arkansas parlayed that breakthrough into three victories in its last four games to finish 7-6 and catch the eye of analysts who are warming up to the idea of Bielema's style turning the Razorbacks into a contender.
"I knew he could do it for sure, because I've seen him do it at Wisconsin," said former Ohio State and NFL receiver Joey Galloway, now with the SEC Network. "It's always interesting, the conversation in the SEC, because the West is so good.
"Can they compete? Absolutely. One point short of beating Alabama last year ... they're right on the edge."
SEC analyst David Pollack, a former defensive end at Georgia, said Bielema's plan has a chance to succeed in the SEC, but he needs to see more.
"He did it at Wisconsin, where he wasn't getting the best recruits either," Pollack said. "That was the blueprint, and it still worked against Ohio State and Michigan and those guys. But you wondered, against top-notch LSU, Alabama, those teams, if you could just come in and try to bully them, and you kind of didn't see how it was going to work.
"And it hasn't worked yet. I mean, he deserves a lot of credit, but 7-6 is not a blueprint that's competing for championships yet. I think this year is a big year. ... This year needs to be a year where you take another step. That's the way it works."
Matt Hayes of The Sporting News ranked the Razorbacks No. 4 in the nation in his own power poll during the spring.
"I don't know why everyone didn't have confidence in it [Bielema's blueprint]," Hayes said. "Look what he did at Wisconsin. You don't take a team to three straight Rose Bowls without doing something right.
"He's a guy that is so organized. From the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to bed, everything is organization. He knows the plan he wants, he knows how to execute it. He doesn't waver."
Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated said winning the SEC at Arkansas will be more difficult than winning the Big Ten at Wisconsin before Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh came in to lead the traditional powers at Ohio State and Michigan.
"He has Nick Saban at Alabama and Gus Malzahn at Auburn and Les Miles at LSU," Staples said. "It's a lot stiffer competition here than it was at that time in the Big Ten.
"It doesn't mean it won't work, because if you can run the ball and play defense you can win football games. That's been the same since the game was invented.
"As blueprints go, it's about the safest, most reliable, most proven one."
George Schroeder of USA Today said Bielema's plan met with skepticism from some, in part because people think there isn't good coaching and good football played anywhere other than the SEC.
"It's pretty clear that's a formula that works," said Schroeder, who is from Little Rock. "The key is getting the actual talent, especially along the line, to be able to do that."
Schroeder said he's noted a more overt appeal by Bielema when it comes to attracting linemen at Arkansas.
"I think he's taken it farther than he ever did at Wisconsin in terms of trying to attract the big linemen, making sure everybody knows about the first-class seats on the airplanes and putting them on the cover of the media guide," Schroeder said. "It's such a huge deal. He's making it the kind of place where the recruits, the offensive linemen, say this is my destination."
DOING IT HIS WAY
College football has been trending toward spreading personnel out on offense and shrinking the time between plays in an attempt to confuse and tire defenses.
Bielema's approach is light on finesse and spreading players across the grid. It's heavy on power, ball control and the flexing of muscles.
"Teams have to completely change and come in for us," Brandon Allen said. "We're a very physical team, and not just on the offensive line. Our receivers are going to block people. They'll go hit people. We're a different animal to prepare for, and, I think it's been said around, teams feel it after they play us."
Defensive lineman Taiwan Johnson is one of many defensive players who have blossomed since Bielema took the Arkansas reins.
" I feel like his plan was to make us a very physical, tough team," Johnson said. "Not just physically but mentally. I think his plan is slowly making us that. He gives us opportunities to do what we need to do.
"That gives us independence, and it also gives us an idea of he's not just a dictator."
Bielema's approach had its skeptics around the South when he arrived at Arkansas on Dec. 4, 2012.
"I think everybody wondered when he came to Arkansas, can his style work in the SEC West with so many up-tempo offenses," said Tony Barnhart of the SEC Network. "Obviously it can.
"Now in the third year, the key for Bret Bielema is not the offense, it's the defense. Can the defense repeat the magic that Robb Smith worked last year when they got to be in the top 10?
"They can win every game they play if they control the ball and play great defense."
First-year linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves said all he had to do was look at Bielema's track record when the opportunity arose to join the Razorbacks staff last winter.
"How does a guy go to Wisconsin ... and beat up on Michigan and Ohio State and all those other folks and go to Rose Bowls?" Hargreaves said. "I mean, something's right. Something's different. Obviously it's a program deal. Something's happening in that program to where he can get the right kind of guys and the system must work and he can beat those people.
"To me, it just seemed like I want to get on board with that thing and let's see if we can get it done. If he can get it done over there, why can't he get it done in this league? And if we can, holy smokes, the sky's the limit."
First-year offensive coordinator Dan Enos decided to leave his first head coaching job at Central Michigan to work with Bielema.
"His teams were always consistent," Enos said. "They were physical, they were well-coached. Coach Bielema is a good, old-fashioned football coach. ... He understands what it takes to win. You know, blocking, tackling, schematically, special teams. The formula that it takes to put a consistent product on the field every day."
Bielema is a throwback off the field too. He demands that his players attend class and stresses promptness for every meeting, lifting session, workout, tutoring appointment and practice.
If a player gets a bad report, he's subject to suspension, a phone call to mom or being called out through the media or a public shaming.
When's the last time a coach had a star running back carry a sponge mattress around on top of his helmet with teammates as Alex Collins did in camp? For being seconds late to the team stretch?
Disciplinary actions under Bielema are not nebulous and wavering.
"He just cares about us a lot, not only on the field, but off the field," tight end Hunter Henry said. "He takes care of us, and he cares about us as people. That's huge to me. It influenced my parents too.
"I think that's the big thing that gets recruits here. Then, when they get here, we're able to tell them that face to face."
Defensive backs coach Clay Jennings left a budding powerhouse at TCU after the 2013 season to come aboard with Bielema after a 3-9 season.
"The one thing I loved is he wanted to get uncommon guys," Jennings said. "He wanted guys that not only love the University of Arkansas, but love to play football. Guys who are serious about getting their educations and receiving their degrees. In that respect, I think I made a great choice."
The Razorbacks' consecutive shutouts of LSU and Ole Miss and their victory over Texas in the Texas Bowl seemed to show the Bielema way can pay dividends in the SEC.
"The blueprint is right on point," Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith said. "It's year three and we're starting to make some noise."
Bielema was asked at Arkansas' media day what stage of his plan the Razorbacks had reached in his third season.
"I know this, we're better in year three than we were in year one," he said. "By no means have we arrived. I reiterated to our players that we won seven games. It's not that big a deal, you know.
"It's a winning season, you got to play in a bowl game and beat Texas. But that's not what we came here to do."
Bielema said he talks about the "process" of winning with his team, but he related a different, more colorful, reference to steer clear of Alabama Coach Nick Saban's frequently talked about "process" for winning.
"I tell our kids, at the end of the rainbow is supposed to be a pot of gold," Bielema said. "Nobody has ever found it. Instead of trying to find it too quick, enjoy the rainbow, man. Enjoy the process of getting where you need to be."
Sports on 08/30/2015