Illinois coach Bret Bielema accuses SEC of living in the past

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Bret Bielema is one of the longest-tenured coaches in the Big Ten, given his stints at both Wisconsin (2006-12) and Illinois (2021-present).

However, unlike most of his conference counterparts, Bielema also has head coaching experience in the Big Ten's biggest rival league, the SEC. Bielema coached at Arkansas from 2013-17, and perhaps that made him uniquely qualified to make headlines by taking a shot at the SEC during his Big Ten Media Days press conference on Tuesday.

He accused the league of living in the past, arguing that NIL and the transfer portal have significantly evened the playing field.

“I know (commissioner Greg Sankey has) got to protect the SEC and they kind of want to live in 2005 forever,” Bielema said, per On3's Alex Byington. "But I think the forward thinking of where we are in college football is an awesome thing.

“I think I just made the headline… What I’m saying is (when) I went to the SEC, it was a completely different league, in my opinion, than the one I was in the Big Ten prior (at Wisconsin). …But since those two elements came into college football, the whole world changed. It’s overly obvious to say that, but I think anything that predates that is just a different time in college football. It just is.”

Bielema is a bit of a rabble-rouser known for ruffling feathers, but he has a leg to stand on with this argument. Following a stretch in which the SEC won 13 of 17 national titles from 2006-22, three different Big Ten teams have won the last three national titles.

Those equalizing effects Bielema is describing have also been felt in Champaign. After going just 18-19 in his first three seasons with the Fighting Illini, Bielema has won 19 games overall — including 11 in Big Ten play — over the last two years. It's worth noting that his time in the SEC didn't go as well, as he was fired at Arkansas with a 29-34 (11-29) SEC record over five seasons.

We'll see if the Big Ten can extend its title streak to four this fall, but until the SEC gets back to the mountaintop, it's hard to argue with Bielema here.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Illinois coach Bret Bielema accuses SEC of living in the past

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