Bret Bielema

Bret Bielema is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a position he has held since the 2006 season when former Badgers head coach and current Wisconsin athletic director, Barry Alvarez, stepped down.

Bielema played college football at the University of Iowa from 1989 to 1992, where he earned four letters and a bachelor's degree in marketing, as well as got a Tiger Hawk tattoo on his leg. He went on to play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, a team in the Arena Football League.

Bielema was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1993 to 2001. He then became the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002 to 2003. He took the same position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004. Alvarez, in his capacity as Wisconsin's athletic director, selected Bielema to succeed him as head coach when he announced his retirement from coaching in 2005.

In his first season as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers in 2006, Bielema's team ended the regular season 11–1 (7–1 in Big Ten Conference play). With the 35–3 defeat of the University at Buffalo on November 18, 2006, Bielema became the first coach in UW history to win 11 games in the regular season. After a 17–14 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2007, he became the third coach in NCAA history to win 12 games in his rookie season, finishing 12–1.

With a 14–0 victory over the San Diego State on September 16, 2006, Bielema became the third Wisconsin head coach to win the first three games of his career. Later, with a 24–3 win over Purdue on October 21, Bielema tied the record for most wins by a first-year coach at UW with seven. The other two coaches to complete this feat were Philip King in 1896 and William Juneau in 1912. A 30–24 victory over the Fighting Illini on October 28, Bielema became the first coach in Wisconsin history to win eight games in his first season. He then extended the record with his ninth victory on November 4, defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions, 13–3. With a 24–21 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on November 11, Bielema became the first head coach in Big Ten history to win ten games in his first season.

Bielema coached Wisconsin to victories in 17 of his first 18 games. That represents the second-best start to a head coaching career in Big Ten history. Only Michigan's Fielding H. Yost, who went 55–0–1 from 1901–1905, had a better beginning to a career.

On October 16, 2010, Bielema's Badgers defeated 1-ranked Ohio State, 31–18, in Madison. It was Wisconsin's first victory over a 1-ranked team since 1981.

Bielema has been named a finalist for the Bear Bryant Award which is given to college football's Coach of the Year. The other finalists are Chris Ault of Nevada, Gene Chizik of Auburn, Mark Dantonio of Michigan State, Jim Harbaugh of Stanford, Chip Kelly of Oregon, Gary Patterson of TCU, Bobby Petrino of Arkansas and Mike Sherman of Texas A&M.

Bielema is fond of red windbreakers and wears the same one superstitiously every Saturday.