FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas head football coach Bret Bielema and his staff have talked about shutting off the outside world noise for most of the season, but Monday he acknowledged he occasionally thinks about job security.
Bielema, offensive coordinator Dan Enos and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads all were asked about their futures and how they have dealt with criticism throughout the 4-7 season.
Bielema, 97-57 in 12 seasons as head coach but just 29-33 in five years at Arkansas, gets that this could be his last game as head coach the Razorbacks.
“Have I considered it or has it run through my mind? There are just little moments,” Bielema said. “You realize those things. I know that none of it is regret, none of it is remorse, none of it is second-guessing. It’s just that I have had so much faith in what we have built and what could be here.
“Especially since there is already going to be so much transition in our league, which I think is positive to stay constant. All the things we have done off the field. I know we want more wins, I want more wins, more wins will come.
“I think a lot about teams that were in this same position a year ago. One of my closest friends in the Big Ten Conference was (Michigan State head) Coach Mark Dantonio and what they have done now with their program, what Mississippi State has done, what Notre Dame did. All these teams that had a dip down year.
“Now I didn’t have the prior success (here) so I get it, but from what we took over, what we built and what is coming back is a very exciting time.”
Arkansas (4-7, 1-6) heads into Friday’s season finale with visiting Missouri (6-5, 3-4) with Bielema saying he intends to conduct business as usual until he is told differently.
“Recruiting is right around the corner,” Bielema said. “I want to be in a home and am scheduled to be in a home as early as Sunday and that is what my intention of is doing. If things change, that is something I obviously have to deal with.
“That’s been my task. We had a great recruiting weekend this past weekend, kids had a great environment and really enjoyed their time, which tells me where we are going.
“I had our staff put together some information like 75 to 80 percent of our offense production, yardage, scoring, everything is from first- and second-year players. Our roster is just filled with sophomores, freshmen, juniors that will be back for their senior years.
“We have a good plan for us with defensive recruiting as we move forward. My goal is to put our best performance on Friday, hopefully try to get ourselves a victory, Saturday kind of regroup, hope on a plane Saturday and get to recruiting Saturday night and Sunday morning.”
Bielema said he made his case to remain as head coach to interim athletic director Julie Cromer Peoples after former Razorback athletic director Jeff Long was let go Wednesday after 10 years in the role.
“I have definitely given it to Julie just because she is the person is charge,” Bielema said. “Julie has been our administrator for football I believe for over two years now, she has routinely been at practice, been involved in discussions with Mark Taurisani, who is our DFO (Director of Football Operations), but also an assistant athletic director that Jeff moved into that role a couple of years. So that has been my communication link over the last several years since she came here.
“Even though she was appointed and obviously named that interim athletic director, the role that she has had with us hasn’t changed at all. She just has a bigger hat to wear now with everything going on.”
Enos, whose dad died a few weeks ago, talked about how he is used to dealing with criticism, but it has been tough to watch his family have to go through it.
“I know people say, ‘Well, you decided to be coach and you knew what you were getting into’ and you know that’s true, but my wife and kids don’t deserve that and neither do all the other coaches families," Enos said. “It’s hard on us because of that. We can take it, we can handle it, obviously when you are 4-7 we know people are going to be running around having a parade for us or build statues for us in front of the stadium. We get all that.
“It's tough to watch your family go through stuff, but I continue to use it as learning moments for my children. Life is not always easy, life is not always fair, there is going to be adversity in life and you have to fight through it.
“As my dad used to say, you've just got to keep your hands up, keep your chin down and just keep punching, man. That is the Enos family used as our motto growing up and that is all we are going to try and do."
Rhoads believes he and his wife have a firm handle on things.
“In 29 of years of being in it, I’ve been hired and been fired, it’s been that way as a head coach, been that way as a coordinator to a complete staff, you do the best you can, you do it every day and you don’t back off that and you don’t change course,” Rhoads said.
“I am very fortunate to have a coaches’ wife who has been through it as well. She gets it, she understands it, she is able to block it out just as well as I have. We have two grown songs that lived it playing for me and saw me get fired.
“We come by it honestly, appreciate the fact that it goes along with the profession and you can’t change who you are or what you are doing.”