Four years into his tenure with Arkansas and coach Bret Bielema has finished with more wins than losses in SEC play just once.
With a 7-5 (3-5) in 2016, Bielema enters the bowl season with an even mark of 25-25 overall and 10-22 against conference competition. The Hogs have reached as high as No. 16 in the AP rankings since his arrival in 2013, but have spent most of their time in the bottom half of the West division standings.
Still, as the coaching carousel continues to spin and more and more coaches are seemingly let go after only a few years implementing their culture and system, Bielema looks to be one of the lucky ones as he is expected to get another shot at returning Arkansas to contention status in 2017.
He is, of course, contracted through the 2020 season — for whatever that is worth. And it is somewhere in between that FOX Sports college football reporter Bruce Feldman believes Bielema will take the Razorbacks to the next level.
Feldman: "I still have a lot of confidence that Bret Bielema is the guy to lead Arkansas back to being a top-15 type of team."
— Bo Mattingly (@SportandStoryBo) November 29, 2016
Arkansas hasn’t won more than eight games in a season since it went 11-2 with a Cotton Bowl win in 2011 — Bobby Petrino’s final year in Fayetteville.
Since taking over in 2013, Bielema has 11 losses that have come by a touchdown or less. Next season will be the moment of truth for the 46-year-old coach.
Tyler Waddell is a member of the Saturday Down South news team. He brings over five years of professional journalism experience and is closing in on a Bachelor's in sports management. Follow him on Twitter (@Tyler_Waddell).
