It's Been Too Long ...

Since the University of Utah men's basketball team won in Provo. 2005 to be exact. Die-hard Ute fans will be making the trip down to see if Coach Krystkowiak's new and improved crew can put a stop to this seven-year drought. I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with the Utes' performance last Wednesday at the Huntsman Center. They dismantled a Boise State club that earlier this season had defeated No. 11 Creighton, 83-70, on the road in Omaha. The Broncos were averaging 77.7 points per game and were out rebounding their opponents by a +4.6 clip.

The Utes took care of business and held the Broncos to 55 points and earned a 31-18 edge on the glass. Utah played with a level of toughness and defensive tenacity that I haven't seen a lot from them since moving out to Salt Lake City. And that attitude, my friends, comes from coaching. The much-maligned JHC crowd fed off the product on the floor and the atmosphere was amazing.

Traveling down south to a game is definitely a high-risk, high-reward proposition. You definitely have to take some razzing if you lose, and obviously our hoops team hasn't played well down there lately, but that is part of the fun. And it makes a victory behind enemy lines even that much sweeter!

Photo courtesy of Chandler Wride (@TransistorUte). Thanks "breh."

GO UTES!

It's Not About X's and O's. It's About Jimmy's and Joe's

Much is always made about the man or woman serving as the head coach of your favorite team because we're fanatics. We always point to this person when we're pleased or frustrated with the progress, or lack thereof, of your favorite ball club. But like my Dad, a 30-plus-year football coaching veteran, always says, "Coaching football is not about X's and O's. It's about Jimmy's and Joe's."

When it comes down to it, the players have to make the plays.

But nonetheless, as a Wisconsin football fan am gearing up for the roadie down to "Pasa-THREE-na" at the end of the month, I just had to type down some thoughts on Bret Bielema leaving his post as the head coach of my alma mater's football team, just the third B10 team to do so in the 99-history of the "Granddaddy of them all"  ..

Bielegone!

The departure of former Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema brings up a lot of questions and adds even more story lines to what I think is going to turn out to be a pretty intriguing 99th Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO ...

Although the rumor mill in sports can often be misleading, especially for head coaching positions, you can usually count on the name of the person who is eventually going to be hired, will be in the mix of those thrown out for the masses to speculate about.

Most of the time there are ulterior motives that determines why a "source" will bring a name out there. And in a big and cruel twist of irony for me earlier this week, Boise State's head coach Chris Petersen, who seems to always be in the middle of the rumor mill for every big coaching vacancy, was once again mentioned for the Arkansas job. Arkansas' fan site, 'Hog Country', had been pumping up Petersen as the lead candidate for a few days so I finally texted a Boise State fan friend of mine to see if there was any truth to it. The answer was a resounding NO. My buddy told me that the Hog Country editor hated Boise State and had been going out of his way to stir rumors about 'Coach Pete' for a few years now. And then out of left field, Bret Bielema was named the head coach at Arkansas. Welp, irony can be a cruel b**** sometimes. I guess I'll stay out of other team's coaching search rumor mills form now on!

And it's very intriguing to see how two groups of people can look at one man and see completely different things:Arkansas Football: 5 Reasons Bret Bielema Is a Perfect Fit for Razorbacks (by James Brown at bleacherreport.com)

Instant Discipline: Valid / Badgers were second in the B10 in penalty yardage (33.9/game)

Simple Football Philosophy (Running game + stout defense): Valid / I agree it all starts with defense and the running game, buuuuuuut what made the 2011 team so special was one-and-done quarterback Russell Wilson and wide receiver Nick Toon (Al's son) running wild with play passes and that's precisely kept Wisco in the game against Oregon. And I haven't been impressed with Wisconsin offensive coordinator Matt Canada this season (obvious exception being the B10FCG against Nebraska), so I'm interested to see what Coach Bielema

Not Afraid to Take on the Big Dogs: Not Valid / Brown's strongest evidence for this assertion is his media jabbing with Urban Meyer over the summer during a recruiting battle. I'm not sure why this is relevant and quite frankly, Bret came off as fragile and sensitive. I heard rumblings that Coach Bielema was affected by the criticism this season in Madison. If you can't take it Madtown, I'm interested to see how affects him in Fayetteville.

Saban the Last B10 Coach to Leave for SEC: Not Valid / This is where Brown lost me. I'm not quite sure what one thing has to do with the other. Two very different guys and even though both of their respective paths to the SEC included B10 jobs, they couldn't have gotten there any differently. Bielema, of course, hand-picked by retired coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez for his first-ever head coaching job, while Saban took a more 'circuitous' route. He started at Toledo, re-energized the Michigan State program but left amid NCAA sanctions and then went to LSU. I'm not really seeing how this means instant national championships for the 'Bielemonster' in Fayetteville.

Then there's the polar opposite point of view from the Wisconsin fan base written by Ryan Glasspiegel at outkickthecoverage.com. I highlighted what I read as the top five points ...

Clock Management: Valid / Unfortunately, there were multiple situations where the Badgers' two-minute drill was not ran as crisp as possible.

Bielema Took the Money to Leave A Better Situation: Not valid / Who knows what a better situation means to Coach Bielema? There are a multitude of behind-the-scenes factors that we will never know about and speculating about those would be in poor taste as well. There may come a time in your career where you feel that your ceiling has been reached and you don't have any room to grow. If Coach Bielema feels that is the case, then it's best he moves on. I'll say this, if he is looking for a challenge, he'll certainly get one in Arkansas.

Record in Close Games: Valid / Glasspiegel cites an article by Tom Oates in the Wisconsin State Journal Wisconsin's last nine losses have come by a touchdown or less. And it's three wins were Michigan State in the inaugural B10 Championship game as well Northern Iowa and Utah State.

Wisconsin A Better Job than Arkansas: Not Valid / Again, we do not, and never will, know about all of the internal issues Coach Bielema was weighing. Although pay for assistant coaches has surfaced. It is not impossible for people to say the Wisconsin job is better or worse than Arkansas because you don't know the whole situation that Coach Bielema is in. It really comes down to individual preference.

'Good Riddance': Not valid. This phrase has been used all over the internet by my fellow Badger fans. And I will caution you with another adage: "Be careful what you wish for." Not long ago, Michigan fans were happy when Coach Lloyd Carr was let go. We all know how that went and Big Blue is finally starting to regain the form it had under Coach Carr.

As you can hopefully tell by my breakdown of each article, I hope you can tell I'm on the fence about Coach Bielema and will continue to take the middle road. I can understand why he would want to look for another opportunity (without Coach Alvarez and in a really challenging conference), but I also get why Wisconsin fans would be upset (horrible timing and his seemingly anti-SEC stance).

I may be in the minority among my fanbase, but I wish Coach Bielema the best in the future at Arkansas. But now we have that behind us and we now know we will have a 'Wisconsin Man'  as head coach on the sidelines on New Year's Day.