Bert, We Hardly Knew Ya

Decades from now, parents will page through baby books in search of the perfect name for their soon-to-arrive baby boy.  They will stumble upon the name Breton, with its origin English, also spelled Brett.  In the year 1986, it was the 69th most popular boy's name in America, before sliding down the ranks.

The name's popularity took a major hit in 2008 -- at least in Wisconsin --  when someone named Brett Favre decided to cry his way out of retirement and remain the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

Don't cry for me, Brett

When that failed, he tried the Jets, then headed to the hated Minnesota Vikings, before fading to insignificance on a cold December night (while lying on his back staring into the face of Bear's defensive back, Cory Wooton), in TCF Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Since that time, it's been hard to notice people named Brett.  About the only ones I can name on the spot is Brett Hume (Fox News), Brett Ratner (X-Men) and Brett Michaels (Poison).  Perhaps there are others but I can't think of any.

Ok, maybe there is one other that comes to mind.

That would be Brett Bielema.  The former head football coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, who abruptly left the team this week to coach the Arkansas Razorbacks from the SEC.  It was surprising news, considering his team had just walloped the Nebraska Cornhuskers 70-31 in the Big Ten Championship game.

Less than 72 hours after being doused by Gatorade and celebrating with Athletic Administrator Barry Alvarez on the confetti-strewn turf of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Brett was catching a plane to Arkansas to be introduced as their new head coach for 2013.

Strange behavior from someone who confessed to Alvarez after winning the game, "We're going out there (the Rose Bowl) to win.  That's the mission, and I appreciate all the fans coming out ..."

Perhaps the combination of the name Brett and the state of Wisconsin is just not meant to be.

In fairness to Brett Bielema, he was a successful coach while at Wisconsin.  I had the distinct honor of sitting in the stands of Camp Randal during the Dave McClain era (1978-1985) when we barely broke even with wins/loses.  He was followed by Don Morton who went 6-27, who was remembered not for winning any football games, but his sports television show (when he rose from a coffin to declare, "We're not dead yet!")

It took Barry Alvarez to truly resurrect the program, winning 118 games over 16 seasons, going 8-3 in bowl games -- and most importantly--  3-0 in three Rose Bowl appearances.

It was Barry who hand-selected Brett Bielema to continue the winning tradition he started -- selecting under-rated football players from in-state, developing them into quality players and beating football powerhouses (like Michigan and Ohio State) through the run and behemoth offensive lines.

To his credit, Brett Bielema stuck to this winning tradition, recruiting talented players like quarterback Rob Wilson (all right, so he got lucky on that one), running back Montee Ball, tight end Travis Beckum, and defensive stars like J.J. Watts, Chris Borland and Mike Taylor.

In his first year of coaching, he led the Badgers to an 12-1 record.  As a result, he became the first head coach in Big Ten history to win ten games in his first season.  And the third coach in NCAA history to win twelve games in his rookie season.  And under his coaching, Wisconsin joined Michigan as the only Big Ten team to go to three consecutive Rose Bowls.

His teams were always competitive, but you got the feeling that whenever the game was close, it was up to the players, not the coach, to win the game.  And while there was no one bigger on promoting Wisconsin football, he made as many enemies as friends with his style of play.

For example, he relished the border-battle between Minnesota and Wisconsin, so much so that he attempted a two-point conversion while leading by 25 in the fourth quarter during a 2010 game.  Minnesota coach Tim Brewster never forgave him for that, and made sure the rest of the Big Ten understood Bielema's "bush league" bravado.

Not one of Brett's better days.

There was the criticism Bielema took for running up the score in 2010:  a 70-3 win against Austin Peay, a 83-20 embarrassment against Indiana and a 70-23 whipping of Northwestern.  I have a friend who repeated thinks running up the score is one of Bielema's worse traits, yet I read similar scores by Texas, Oregon, Florida and Oklahoma and no one complains.  So why do the do it when it's Bielema?  Maybe if the team won a national championship his critics would remain silent -- I don't know.  My philosophy has always been, if you can't stop them, then you should be complaining about the score.

Many of his enemies were in-state.  Wisconsin fans were some of his biggest critics.  They loved him for promoting Wisconsin football ("On Wisconsin," after every interview), for running a clean program (no Ohio State or Penn State controversies), and having well- disciplined teams (among the least penalized teams in the nation).  But fans were much quicker to criticize him for his game management, special team's play and winning percentage in big games (11-16 against Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State -- not to mention 0-2 in the Rose Bowl).

So if Bielema had Wisconsin on a winning path, with a strong recruiting class in place, and the distinction of being the highest paid public employee in the state, why would he leave?

According to players, he wanted to coach a team that had a chance to win the national championship.  Seriously?  After assembling one of the most prolific scoring Badger teams in history, he failed to stop two "Hail Mary" throws by Michigan State and Ohio State, and badly mismanaged his timeouts against Oregon leading to a mediocre 10-3 record.  So given all the tools to win a national championship, he still failed.

Perhaps if he was more honest, he would have told his players that he left for a bigger paycheck.  Or that he felt like he couldn't beat Ohio State and Michigan State, so he was packing his bags for greener pastures.

I don't know, but good luck winning in the SEC where you trade Ohio State and Michigan State for LSU and Alabama every year.  If he thinks SEC talent and a fatter paycheck will get him to the promised land, I think he'll need longer than 40 years to get there.  With or without Moses to guide him.

Which finally leads me to ask --what happens to Wisconsin next.   My hope is for Wisconsin to win the Rose Bowl (under the Hall of Fame coaching of Barry Alvarez), and 1) vindicating the critic's belief that Bielema couldn't coach in the big games and 2) demonstrating that leadership comes during the game, not when you're in front of recruits or television cameras.

There are lots of talented coaches that are waiting for their first chance at being a head coach.  Or who' are already successful coaches but want to move up to the "big time" in the Big Ten.  Whoever we get as our next coach, he will have to learn the lessons that Brett Bielema failed to learn.  Leadership through honesty, discipline, recruiting -- and of course, winning.

In a few weeks we'll know who's the next "chosen one" in Wisconsin football.  Let's hope it's not someone named Brett.  We can't take it anymore.