Social Media Reacts To Illinois Choosing Brett Bielema As Their Next Coach

Brett Bielema is back in college football. Illinois made a quick decision after firing Lovie Smith as their head coach, and they’ll be going with Bielema.

Illinois hires Bret Bielema as Fighting Illini’s coach. Bielema previously was head coach at Arkansas & Wisconsin

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 19, 2020

Fans reacted to the news of Brett Bielema being back in the Big Ten.

Some #Badger fans share a certain attitude towards now-Illinois coach Brett Bielema… pic.twitter.com/aAJWevsHP3

— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) December 19, 2020

You hire a guy like Brett Bielema when you have absolutely zero designs of being an upper-half of the B1G program again in the next decade.

Illinois can continue watching the top 60% percent of recruits in the state go elsewhere until they figure out how to hire a legit coach

— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) December 19, 2020

https://twitter.com/ChappellShow75/status/1340296945701687297

University of Illinois has hired Brett Bielema pic.twitter.com/JLj6chpFD9

— Tyler Cheese (@CheeseheadChatr) December 19, 2020

I will never not think of this video when I hear the name Brett Bielema pic.twitter.com/3NgZqtE4gZ

— Ameya (@Ameyapil) December 19, 2020

Bret Bielema was 11-29 in SEC play at the University of Arkansas and now he gets 4.2 million a year from Illinois? Really?

— David Kaplan (@thekapman) December 19, 2020

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It seems like the general consensus is that this was a bad hire by Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman, but I would tend to disagree. Sure, Bielema was awful at Arkansas, but the program was in shambles. Before Bielema left for the Arkansas job, he was doing some great things as Wisconsin’s coach.

Bielema won three consecutive Big Ten Championships during his tenure at Wisconsin, and was an impressive 68-24 during his seven seasons at the helm. After Bielema was fired by Arkansas, he moved to the NFL, where he’s been working as the OLB coach for the New York Giants.

“Illinois and the Big Ten is home for me, and I can’t be any more excited about the opportunity in front of me with the Fighting Illini,” Bielema said in a statement via ESPN. “We want to build a program that makes Illini Nation proud and regain the passion that I’ve seen when Illinois wins.”

Bielema is a guy that knows how to win in the Big Ten, and he’ll have a chance to turn a depleted Illinois program around.

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