Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

He's a good coach. Needs the right situation (strong AD, good facilities, good fans, good financial support) to win - like what he had at UW.

He'll get a good job somewhere, but I'm not sure he'll ever get a better one than what he walked away from in 2012. UW is a better job than many realize, including him, but he probably realizes it now. Greener grass and stuff.

Agree with everything you said. His greatest sin at UW was not being Barry Alvarez, and it's hard to blame the guy for wanting to try something different. He is one of the more successful unloved coaches. After not being Barry, his next greatest sin is not trying very hard to play nicely in the sandbox. Made himself a lot of enemies that way--in the Big Ten and in the SEC...and including among his own teams' fan bases.

Nice. That got a laugh.

Seems like everytime - everytime he started raking another coach,player or conference it blew up in his face then circled around and bit him in the ass.He took unwarranted shots at UW and the Big Ten that both provided a strong financial springboard to launch his career.For instance badmouthing The SEC when he was BIG,then goes SEC & badmouths the BIG.Or 2 years ago he raked tOSU about a week schedule - 3 days later Arkansas loses to a depleted Toledo team @ Home.TOSU has never lost to Toledo(knock on wood),watching him eat his words while getting panned across the SEC was priceless.He also made some idiotic statement to Bama/St Nick.At least 1-2 times a season he ate crow & humble pie.We're not talking about a young fella here he should have known better.Not really wishing him any future success either.Be nice to fail like that and be set for life

Man, that Toledo game is super weird in retrospect. 
It was a pretty awesome MAC team, going 10-2 and getting Campbell the Iowa State job. 
I’d forgotten how they were depleted, but looking back, it appears neither of their top backs played. 
Toledo ended up being a good offensive team and top-25 defense when adjusted for schedule. 
Arkansas ended up being awesome at offense, mediocre on D and somehow lost a slug fest?
That turned out to be Bert’s best team there probably. If they escape with that win, a nine-win season perhaps earns him a hint more equity. Very odd. 

being a jerk or a nice guy doesn't matter in the game of wins and losses

so, be yourself and win every possible game

I'm not a fan, but I think he doesn't really get his due from the Badger fans--mostly because we were mad at him for wanting to go somewhere else. 

Alvarez was 118-73-4 at Wisconsin during his 16 years as the head coach. That's a win percentage of .605. Take out his first three seasons (so starting with the '93 Rose Bowl team), and he was 106-52-4, or .654. He had three conference championships, two one-loss regular seasons, and went 8-3 in bowl games, including going 3-0 in the Rose Bowl. After '93 Alvarez had two more losing seasons ('95 and '01). His '93, '98, and '99 teams were among the best in Wisconsin history.

Bielema was 68-24 at Wisconsin, or .739, in seven seasons as the Wisconsin head coach. He had two conference titles, two one-loss regular seasons, but went 2-4 in bowl games (Alvarez coached the Rose Bowl in the last/seventh season--a loss that I don't include above because he wasn't the head coach). His worst season was the 7-6 '08 campaign. The 2010 and 2011 teams were among the best in Wisconsin history (and played better teams in the Rose Bowl than the '93 and '99 squads).

Arguably he was more than just a caretaker. The Badgers were more consistently at the top of the Big 10 under him. And even if he didn't improve the team, he maintained (with a substantially higher winning percentage) the program at the best level it had ever reached.

Now, if I were arguing the other side of it, I would point out that Michigan went through deep down years during Bielema's time in Madison, whereas during the Alvarez years, Ohio State had a year or two that were down, but the Big 2 were mostly their usual selves throughout.

Then I would counter, and say that Penn State went through some down years during the early part of the 2000s (when Alvarez was around), and MSU had some great teams during Michigan's struggles of the Bielema era.

Also, that 2008 loss to a bad Michigan team is in my pantheon of worst losses.

Whatever, now I'm just streaming babble...or you might say unconsciousness.

See what I did there? Yeah, maybe I need to get more sleep tonight. :-)

Seems like everytime - everytime he started raking another coach,player or conference it blew up in his face then circled around and bit him in the ass.He took unwarranted shots at UW and the Big Ten that both provided a strong financial springboard to launch his career.For instance badmouthing The SEC when he was BIG,then goes SEC & badmouths the BIG.Or 2 years ago he raked tOSU about a week schedule - 3 days later Arkansas loses to a depleted Toledo team @ Home.TOSU has never lost to Toledo(knock on wood),watching him eat his words while getting panned across the SEC was priceless.He also made some idiotic statement to Bama/St Nick.At least 1-2 times a season he ate crow & humble pie.We're not talking about a young fella here he should have known better.Not really wishing him any future success either.Be nice to fail like that and be set for life

Fail like what?