BELLA VISTA — Arkansas football Coach Bret Bielema got a laugh Friday from the timing of his latest remarks to get national attention - that NCAA rules makers might need to look at revising defensive substitution rules when facing hurry-up offenses - in a CBSsports.com article this week.
“I think it’s a slow news day,” Bielema said before playing in the Razorback Celebrity Golf Scramble, noting that he made the comments last month at the SEC meetings in Sandestin, Fla. “It seems like two months ago with the schedule I’ve been on.”
More on Proposed Rule Change
http://www.wholehog…">Bielema seeks safety with proposed rule change
Later, appearing on ESPN’s College Football Live, he tried to clarify his remarks.
“In the world of college football, I think we’ve had some rules that have stayed alive for a long time and made college football great … and as the game has evolved, sometimes the rules have to evolve,” he said.
Bielema, who serves on the NCAA’s football rules committee, has said a 15-second substitution period after first downs would be worth a look. He also pointed out he wasn’t the first SEC coach to suggest that not rotating larger defensive players when no-huddle offenses are quick to the line could evolve into a player safety issue.
“For instance, us, depthwise, we like to rotate our defensive linemen, especially our defensive tackles, so we have a four- to five-man rotation, so you don’t put your heavier players, who maybe would be the most stressed physically, out on the field [for long stretches],” he said.
Bielema has had a busy first off-season with the Razorbacks. His Razorback Club remarks about his Big Ten record at Wisconsin being better than that of Alabama’s Nick Saban when he coached Michigan State generated publicity, as did the flap over Ohio State President Gordon Gee’s remarks to the school’s athletic council that Bielema had been described as “a thug.”
Bielema, who had not conducted a news conference with local media since the end of April, addressed numerous topics Friday, including theprediction by an unnamed SEC coach in Athlon’s that Arkansas is “going to be terrible” in his first season.
“I’ll go back to my lessons learned as a head coach my first year taking over my previous job,” Bielema said. “I had some similar comments, thought it would be tough for Wisconsin to transition into my leadership. We went 12-1 and played pretty well.
“Again, I don’t worry too much at all about what other people say about us. I worry more about what our players talk about, what I talk about, and that’s the part I hold dear to my heart.”
Bielema, whose staff is scheduled to move into Arkansas’ new football operations center July 5, backed away from any bold predictions about what the fall will hold for the Razorbacks, but he doesn’t want to hear the talk about “rebuilding” that has made Arkansas a bottom-rungpick in the SEC West.
“I get it,” he said. “I understand, from the outside world looking in, how that perception is there with a new head coach and all the transition. We lost a lot of really good players. But I was emphatic, especially when I knew I had 20 seniors in that room to begin with in December, that I didn’t want it to be a rebuilding.”
Bielema talked about the team’s progress with strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert’s staff this summer and the anticipation of moving into the $35 million-plus football facility.
“Knowing my coaches,they’ll be in there quite a bit,” Bielema said, noting office duty in the new facility resumes July 18. “I know I will be, and kind of just get everything straight. We’ll put a huge recruiting effort on. … We had some nice momentum and I expect some in early July, and then about middle of July we’ll make a big recruiting push again and see where we’re at in the fall.”
Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said his original hope was for the football operations center to be ready to occupy in April, but a mid-summer transition is OK.
“It’s finishing a month out from when we would really be nervous, so I’m pleased,” Long said. “The timing works extremely well. It gives our football coaches a chance to get away and then when they come back, we’ll have a lot of things moved in and prepared for them.”
Long said an open house event for fans at the new facility is still in the planning stages but is something that should take place.
Bielema said only five of the team’s signees had not reported for the first session of summer and those players are scheduled to arrive by July 1. He also said only one newcomer’s eligibility status is pending and it should be resolved within a couple of days.
Sports, Pages 19 on 06/22/2013