![\"Bret](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/podcasts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2023\/08\/IMG_2845-1024x1024.jpeg\")
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The Bielema family has a plan A. But they most definitely have a plan B. Bielema, the third year coach of the Illini, has two brothers named Bart and Barry, a sister named Betsy and another named Brandy. He has his own two daughters named Brianna and Brexley. He worked under Bill Belichick<\/strong> and there was an Arkansas<\/strong> radio guy named Bo who debuted a series entitled, \u201cBeing Bret Bielema!\u201d<\/p>\n So, of course, I had to ask\u2026what happened to the other 25 letters in the alphabet? \u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated with names. When I\u2019m recruiting I always ask players when they\u2019re with their parents how did you come about the name?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s a method behind this bizarre madness. \u201cA name is truly the one thing you\u2019re given in life before you\u2019re born you have no say in but you\u2019re name is the only thing you\u2019re given at birth that costs you nothing but you carry you\u2019re whole life you build value to it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n BINGO!<\/p>\n Ok, enough of the Bs.<\/p>\n Bielema is starting his third season at Illinois, where last year his team finished 8-4<\/a> and went to a bowl game. That\u2019s not enough. \u201cWhat we have to do is strive to get ourselves better. My first year when we went 5 and 7 I said I didn\u2019t come here to go 5 and 7 and to be quite honest I didn\u2019t come here to go 8 and 5 (they lost the bowl game). But a big step in our program is not necessarily what it takes to win, it\u2019s just the desire to not have failure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Failure hasn\u2019t happened very often during Bielema\u2019s career.<\/p>\n He was winningest first year coach in Wisconsin<\/strong> history (11) and also in the Big Ten. After a 5 year stint in Arkansas he spent two with Belichick in New England, where he won a Super Bowl with the Patriots<\/strong> and eventually landed at Illinois where a recent extension to his contract now pays him some Six million annually. A star at Iowa where he worked under Hayden Fry,<\/p>\n Bielema has no intentions of returning. \u201cThis was a contract with the intention of ending here. I have two beautiful girls just starting school. This is a great place. It\u2019s surrounded with great people and we\u2019ve able to take tickets sales to the highest they\u2019ve been in twenty years!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Hear Bret Bielema in his own words on the latest “Tell me a story I don’t know” by clicking play below,<\/a><\/p>\n