Bielema keeps mood loose at Media Days

Bielema keeps mood loose at Media Days

UA Media Relations Not long after Steve Spurrier announced his retirement, the buzz started to build among members of the SEC media. No, not about who would replace him at South Carolina, but more importantly for newsprint and the Twittersphere, which SEC coach would step up to supply those memorable quotes that Spurrier made a staple of SEC Football Media Days for his combined 23 year tenure at Florida and South Carolina. Shortly after I arrived in Hoover on Sunday night, conversations with acquaintances around the league turned to this building conference dilemma. Folks were as subtle as a Donald Trump campaign hat. They hoped Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema would make SEC Football Media Days great again!

By all accounts, Bielema delivered on the media’s grassroots campaign, garnering multiple cackles from the more than 500 media members longing for a welcome break from the monotony of 14 coaches in four days. Bielema shared the background behind the Hunter Heave to win the Ole Miss game and weighed in on satellite camps.

He revealed that he and his wife Jen and just returned from Europe where they attended the wedding of his former Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson and Ciara. When he misspoke and said he was “in the wedding,” he quickly clarified that he wasn’t in the wedding, adding that he just sat and watched as the guy in the eighth row in the outside seat. Just one of many comments that drew laughter from a media days’ weary crowd.

It was while he was traveling abroad that some scheduling news broke. When asked about how he heard the news that Michigan had pulled out of its non-conference series with Arkansas, the colorful Bielema provided more than just the standard coach speak.

“I was in Europe with my wife,” Bielema explained. “We were on a train headed to Paris. My wife said, ‘Hey, there’s something on the internet about a Big Ten team canceling with an SEC team.’ I said ‘I didn’t know anything about it.’ She said, ‘Really? Your picture’s right here.

“So I read the article and realize we’ve been canceled. I’m sorry, the Michigan-Notre Dame thing sounds sexy to everybody else, but think Michigan and Arkansas sounds sexy. I was very excited about Big Ten versus SEC. I made a comment in the spring I’d love to see an SEC challenge at the front end. My commish gave me a josh back. He said ‘that’s called a bowl game.”

Bielema did a nice job weaving in the academic and athletic accomplishments of the Razorback program within an entertaining narrative. The 30 minutes in the main media room went quickly with those in the room and watching on the SEC Network waiting for what would be said next. But unlike Spurrier’s outwardly targeted humor, Bielema uses a homespun, often self-depreciating, humor that gives audience members a glimpse into the authentic qualities that make him one of the nation’s best leaders of young men.

Later in the question and answer session when Bielema was asked about his team’s prospects for 2016 in the rough and tumble world of the SEC, he reverted back to some familiar language.

“At Arkansas, we’re not built very sexy,” Bielema said. “We’re just kind of a work in progress. We need a lot of time in the bathroom to get ready and come out and look great. But when we do, we’ll stop time. And at some point we’ll get to where we want to be. And when we get there, it just means a little bit more.”

Based on his performance on Wednesday, it is fair to say, Bielema is bringing sexy back to SEC Football Media Days.

BAMA STAMPEDE Sometimes in life, you just find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Such was the case early Wednesday morning as I traversed the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Wynfrey around 8 a.m. Like a man ambling down the cobbled stone roads of Pamplona moments before the release of the bulls, I was nestled among the throng of media, fans and autograph seekers just as Alabama Coach Nick Saban entered the hotel.

Each year, I comment to myself that this seems more out of control than ever before. Every year, I am right. With fans and media members crowding in for a closer look, all I could see was the shining glow of cell phone screens as they rose in unison to snap some quick photos for Twitter, Instagram or the ornately detailed picture frame above the fireplace that awaits that iconic shot for ardent Alabama faithful.

Of course what else would you expect for the defending national champions making an appearance in the heart of Bama nation? Saban certainly isn’t Paul, George, John or even Ringo, but to Alabama fans he certainly is the star.

By Kevin Trainer