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Coach Profile

Bret Bielema

2006-2025Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin

3 schools coached, anchored by Wisconsin.

Bret Bielema coached 17 seasons, won 61.0%, and posted an average SRS of 8.7. Best season: 2011 Wisconsin. The profile was balanced with a highly volatile profile. 3 stints shaped the career arc.

Career record
125-80
Career win rate
61.0%
Average SRS
8.7
Peak SRS
23.1

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached
17
Career span
20 years
Best finish
#7
Consistency
33.5

Primary school anchor

Wisconsin

Balanced profile with 3 program stops and a peak score of 90.0.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Bret Bielema
EliteStrongAverageLean
Bret Bielema: 2013 ArkansasBret Bielema: 2021 Illinois
2006Actual season year • SRS range -4.7 to 23.12025

Active comparison point

Bret Bielema2011

Selected

2011 Wisconsin

Best season

11-3 • SRS 23.1 • SP Overall 26.1

Win %

78.6%

YoY SRS

+7.6

SP Off / Def

45.9 / 21.2

Finish

#10

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

23-46

Games
69
Win rate
33.3%

Top 10

6-24

Games
30
Win rate
20.0%

Top 5

1-10

Games
11
Win rate
9.1%
View ranked game results69
2025 Regular Week 7IllinoisOhio State#1L16-34
2025 Regular Week 5IllinoisUSC#21W34-32
2025 Regular Week 4IllinoisIndiana#19L10-63
2024 Regular Week 9IllinoisOregon#1L9-38
2024 Regular Week 8IllinoisMichigan#24W21-7
2024 Regular Week 5IllinoisPenn State#9L7-21
2024 Regular Week 4IllinoisNebraska#22W31-24
2024 Regular Week 2IllinoisKansas#19W23-17
2024 Postseason Week 1IllinoisSouth Carolina#19W21-17
2023 Regular Week 3IllinoisPenn State#7L13-30
2022 Regular Week 12IllinoisMichigan#3L17-19
2022 Postseason Week 1IllinoisMississippi State#20L10-19
2021 Regular Week 12IllinoisIowa#18L23-33
2021 Regular Week 8IllinoisPenn State#7W20-18
2017 Regular Week 12ArkansasMississippi State#17L21-28
2017 Regular Week 8ArkansasAuburn#21L20-52
2017 Regular Week 7ArkansasAlabama#1L9-41
2017 Regular Week 2ArkansasTCU#23L7-28
2016 Regular Week 11ArkansasLSU#19L10-38
2016 Regular Week 10ArkansasFlorida#10W31-10
2016 Regular Week 8ArkansasAuburn#21L3-56
2016 Regular Week 7ArkansasOle Miss#12W34-30
2016 Regular Week 6ArkansasAlabama#1L30-49
2016 Regular Week 4ArkansasTexas A&M#10L24-45
2016 Regular Week 2ArkansasTCU#15W41-38
2016 Postseason Week 1ArkansasVirginia Tech#16L24-35
2015 Regular Week 11ArkansasLSU#9W31-14
2015 Regular Week 10ArkansasOle Miss#19W53-52
2015 Regular Week 6ArkansasAlabama#8L14-27
2015 Regular Week 4ArkansasTexas A&M#14L21-28
2014 Regular Week 14ArkansasMissouri#17L14-21
2014 Regular Week 13ArkansasOle Miss#8W30-0
2014 Regular Week 12ArkansasLSU#20W17-0
2014 Regular Week 10ArkansasMississippi State#1L10-17
2014 Regular Week 8ArkansasGeorgia#10L32-45
2014 Regular Week 7ArkansasAlabama#7L13-14
2014 Regular Week 5ArkansasTexas A&M#6L28-35
2013 Regular Week 14ArkansasLSU#15L27-31
2013 Regular Week 10ArkansasAuburn#8L17-35
2013 Regular Week 8ArkansasAlabama#1L0-52
2013 Regular Week 7ArkansasSouth Carolina#14L7-52
2013 Regular Week 6ArkansasFlorida#18L10-30
2013 Regular Week 5ArkansasTexas A&M#10L33-45
2012 Regular Week 14WisconsinNebraska#14W70-31
2012 Regular Week 12WisconsinOhio State#6L14-21
2012 Regular Week 5WisconsinNebraska#22L27-30
2012 Postseason Week 1WisconsinStanford#7L14-20
2011 Regular Week 14WisconsinMichigan State#11W42-39
2011 Regular Week 13WisconsinPenn State#20W45-7
2011 Regular Week 8WisconsinMichigan State#15L31-37
2011 Regular Week 5WisconsinNebraska#8W48-17
2011 Postseason Week 1WisconsinOregon#4L38-45
2010 Regular Week 8WisconsinIowa#13W31-30
2010 Regular Week 7WisconsinOhio State#1W31-18
2010 Regular Week 5WisconsinMichigan State#24L24-34
2010 Postseason Week 1WisconsinTCU#2L19-21
2009 Regular Week 7WisconsinIowa#11L10-20
2009 Regular Week 6WisconsinOhio State#9L13-31
2009 Postseason Week 1WisconsinMiami#19W20-14
2008 Regular Week 10WisconsinMichigan State#22L24-25
2008 Regular Week 7WisconsinPenn State#6L7-48
2008 Regular Week 6WisconsinOhio State#14L17-20
2008 Regular Week 3WisconsinFresno State#21W13-10
2008 Postseason Week 1WisconsinFlorida State#21L13-42
2007 Regular Week 11WisconsinMichigan#13W37-21
2007 Regular Week 10WisconsinOhio State#1L17-38
2007 Postseason Week 1WisconsinTennessee#12L17-21
2006 Regular Week 4WisconsinMichigan#6L13-27
2006 Postseason Week 1WisconsinArkansas#15W17-14

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Illinois

2021-20255 seasons

Avg SRS 5.9 • Win % 56.0%

Arkansas

2013-20175 seasons

Avg SRS 6.6 • Win % 46.0%

Wisconsin

2006-20127 seasons

Avg SRS 12.2 • Win % 73.9%

Longest tenure
Wisconsin • 7 seasons
Best tenure
Wisconsin • 12.2 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Wisconsin • 73.9%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Bret Bielema sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Bret Bielema sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Bret Bielema

Elite

Raw avg SP Overall
12.0
Percentile
89th pct

Elite

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Illinois

2021-202528-22

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 5.9Win % 56.0%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.6 during vs 3.2 baseline

+2.4

Avg SRS

Higher is better

5.9 during vs -8.0 baseline

+13.9

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

8.0 during vs -5.4 baseline

+13.4

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

20.0% during vs 0.0% baseline

+20.0%

Arkansas

2013-201729-34

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 6.6Win % 46.0%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.8 during vs 7.6 baseline

-1.8

Avg SRS

Higher is better

6.6 during vs 10.6 baseline

-4.0

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

8.6 during vs 16.2 baseline

-7.6

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 40.0% baseline

-40.0%

Wisconsin

2006-201268-24

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 12.2Win % 73.9%

Avg wins

Higher is better

9.7 during vs 7.8 baseline

+1.9

Avg SRS

Higher is better

12.2 during vs 8.0 baseline

+4.2

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

17.2 during vs 10.7 baseline

+6.5

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

71.4% during vs 40.0% baseline

+31.4%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Wisconsin 2011

11-3SRS 23.1

Biggest Improvement

Arkansas 2014

7-622.2 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Arkansas 2015

8-5SP Off 46.6

Best Defensive Season

Illinois 2022

8-5SP Def 5.5

Setbacks

Worst Season

Arkansas 2017

4-8SRS -4.7

Biggest Drop

Illinois 2023

5-7-14.0 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.

Illinois2025000012.312.933.321.7+3.5
Illinois202413103076.9%#168.89.629.020.9+11.1+35.3%
Illinois20231257041.7%-2.3-2.521.624.1-14.0-19.9%
Illinois20221385061.5%11.715.920.65.5+12.6+19.9%
Illinois20211257041.7%-0.94.323.221.8+3.8+8.3%
Arkansas20171248033.3%-4.72.134.131.8-8.9-20.5%
Arkansas20161376053.8%4.27.936.228.9-10.9-7.7%
Arkansas20151385061.5%#1815.119.246.628.0-5.3+7.7%
Arkansas20141376053.8%20.412.232.419.4+22.2+28.8%
Arkansas20131239025.0%-1.81.530.030.6-13.9-36.5%
Wisconsin20121385061.5%#1212.114.531.515.9-11.0-17.0%
Wisconsin201114113078.6%#11#1023.126.145.921.2+7.6-6.0%
Wisconsin201013112084.6%#12#715.523.142.120.7+7.1+7.7%
Wisconsin200913103076.9%#168.416.935.519.4+4.3+23.1%
Wisconsin20081376053.8%#134.110.531.322.0-3.6-15.4%
Wisconsin20071394069.2%#7#247.710.435.926.1-6.6-23.1%
Wisconsin200613121092.3%#714.319.128.911.2

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