CHARLOTTE, N.C. — College football coaches can find wisdom in the timeless words of Kenny Rogers.
The secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep.
Bret Bielema has been around college football long enough that he knows when it's time for change.
It's a safe bet that Arkansas' head coach will be shaking things up in the coming weeks. He almost has to given the way things ended in 2016.
He hinted at it following the Razorbacks' Belk Bowl collapse on Thursday.
"I'll look at everything that's involved in our program," Bielema said after blowing a 24-point lead - the program's largest ever - to Virginia Tech. "If I need to make changes for myself or anything involved with our program, I'm not afraid to do those things. I'm going to take a couple of days to figure out - I kind of have an idea of what I want to do; just want to make sure what the plan is going forward."
What are those changes? One can only speculate, but with inconsistent play all season, it's inevitable that staff changes are in store, especially at one or more spots on the defensive side.
Bielema said last month that he didn't plan to make any staff changes this offseason. But those things have a way of working out. Job opportunities can present themselves and sometimes the status quo changes.
Arkansas has had at least three assistant coaches leave for various reasons in each offseason since Bielema was hired, so chances are probable that new faces will be on the sideline when the Hogs take the field again next September. It would be hard to justify keeping together a staff that had such inconsistent results.
The Razorbacks' seven wins were one less than 2015, but Arkansas was even worse against quality competition. The Razorbacks went 4-6 against Power 5 teams this season, a two-game drop-off from a year ago.
There's no doubt his seat is warmer than it has ever been. Staff changes have a cooling effect, but can only do so much to dial down the heat. Only winning can do that.
It never hurts to have new voices on a football staff. That's how you avoid stagnation.
Arkansas' upward trajectory under Bielema began to stagnate Oct. 22. That's when the Razorbacks suffered their worst conference defeat ever - 56-3 at Auburn.
Arkansas gave up an SEC-record 543 rushing yards to Auburn and only had 25 rushing yards of its own. The 38-10 loss to LSU was similarly thorough and embarrassing for the Hogs.
There were silver linings in the Razorbacks' final six games - like a big win over Florida and the offense's big game against Mississippi State - but with a 2-4 record, the bad easily outweighed the good.
Memories of any good this season were erased by the final two games - losses that will linger throughout the offseason. Arkansas outscored Missouri and Virginia Tech by a combined 48-7 before halftime, only to be outscored by a combined 56-0 in the second half.
The Razorbacks blew a 17-point halftime lead at Missouri. It had been 46 years since the Razorbacks had blown that big of a second half lead, but it took only one game to top it.
All told, Arkansas had three historically bad losses in its final six games.
That's not the kind of history you want on your side. It's the kind that warrants an overhaul in an effort to keep history from repeating.
That's the task ahead of Bielema. His own long-term future depends on playing his cards right in the coming weeks.