Bielema assured he won’t have ref that flagged him in Alabama game ever again
By Jason Hall
Published:
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said he has been guaranteed that he won’t see the official who flagged him with an unsportsmanlike penalty during Saturday’s loss to Alabama again.
“For a lot of reasons, we’re probably better off moving forward (not talking about it). I can be rest assured we’ll never see that official again. That’s been guaranteed to me,” Bielema said during his press conference Monday. “That makes my heart and my wife’s heart probably a little better.”
Following a holding penalty that revoked an Arkansas touchdown, Bielema said umpire Stan Weihe should only watch between the guards. After a field goal, the coach made his way onto the field, yelled at multiple referees and was flagged.
But there’s apparently some history between Bielema and Weihe. In 2014, Bielema criticized referees for a tripping penalty during a loss to Texas A&M, a game in which Weihe officiated.
“Some of those things, they tell us what we’re supposed to do and how we’re supposed to do it. Unfortunately, I didn’t see eye to eye,” Bielema said this week about the penalty from two years prior. “When I start walking, I ran the risk of what happened. Our players play really hard, man. I just wanted to have an explanation. That’s the main thing. They explained it well, and I understand why they called it.”
Jason covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
