The Recruiting Guy

Broyles-like charm gives Bielema recruiting edge

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema watches warmups prior to practice Thursday, July 27, 2017, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The compassion Bret Bielema shows to his players and his ability to relate to people from all walks of life have helped Bielema become Arkansas' best recruiting head football coach since the late Frank Broyles.

Bielema's ability to nab top recruits from the back yards of elite programs such as Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Texas and LSU, is a bonus for a program that already relies on out-of-state players to make up the majority of each class.

Since arriving in Fayetteville in December of 2012, Bielema has used his personal touch to go head to head with Ohio State, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Alabama, UCLA, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Florida, Texas and others for top prospects.

In June, Bielema and his staff landed an oral commitment for the 2018 class from junior-college defensive tackle Emmit Gooden, beating out Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia, among others.

Clarinda Carr, an administrative assistant to Bielema, has a front-row seat when it comes to seeing the Razorbacks coach interact with people.

"He's so human," Carr said. "He's so sincere. I've seen him rip a player and I've seen him hug 'em and send them on their way, and there's not too many he hasn't been able to reach."

Carr, who along with her husband have two adult children, said she appreciates how Bielema handles players and the problems they might have.

"He gives them good, solid advice and what I really appreciate about him is he tells them upfront.," Carr said. "He just tells them how it is. This is it, and you have a choice. You can choose either way, but it's your choice, so if you're not here next year it's because you chose not to be.

I haven't seen him go around and make it easy for them when they've done bad. I've not seen any advice he's given to any of these kids that I wouldn't want him to give my children."

Carr, who has been a fixture at Arkansas for more than 30 years, has worked with eight different head coaches, starting with Ken Hatfield in 1984.

One of her duties is to help the Razorbacks coaches manage their busy schedules over, and she said Bielema is very accommodating.

"The scheduling is easier when you have a coach that's open and he's more open," Carr said. "And he's really good if people call and just want to meet him or if they're in town and come through -- if he's available he will see people."

Carr said she helps Bielema with his jam-packed schedule, and that includes setting up appointments with the occasional fan who may be suffering from a serious illness.

One such request, which occurred last year, was particularly particularly touching, Carr said, as it involved a man enduring the late stages of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative ailment that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

"He had gotten to the point that he could not speak," Carr said. "He could communicate with his wife and she did a card and she would go down it and she would give him a message or give him a reply and he wanted to pray with coach."

The man's silent prayer with Bielema is remembered vividly by Carr.

"We all bowed our heads and we prayed and tears where just rolling down his [Bielema's] face," Carr said. "Those kind of moments are unbelievable because here's this guy that knew his life was very short lived and just wanted to meet with coach and he wanted to pray for coach and the team. It was just overwhelming."

Bielema affection for a young boy suffering from Leukemia was well documented on Twitter, often with the words of encouragement Bielema delivered to the youngster and his family.

"He got close to the family," Carr said. "The little boy is the cutest little thing. He's recovered, but he let the little boy come and stay in the suite for a game. Just seeing mom and dad be able to bring that child and hold him when he was sick."

E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 08/20/2017