Arkansas fires Bielema

Arkansas did not wait long to fire its football coach.

Shortly after the Razorbacks lost to Missouri 48-45 at home in their final game of the season Friday, the school announced it fired coach Bret Bielema after five seasons.

Arkansas went 4-8 this season, including 1-7 in the Southeastern Conference.

Bielema finished 29-34 overall and never finished higher than third in the SEC West.

The Razorbacks’ seven conference losses tied for their second-most in school history. The most came in 2013, also under Bielema, when the Razorbacks went 0-8 in the SEC.

“I’ve never been let go in my entire life, so this is a first for me,” Bielema said at his postgame news conference, “but I’ve had quite a few coaches that have moved on always kind of say, whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent, you want to leave the place better than when you got here, and I know that’s happened.”

Julie Cromer Peoples, who was named interim athletic director after Jeff Long was fired last week, issued a statement soon after Friday’s loss, saying the Razorbacks “have not been able to sustain the success on the field that is expected and required at the University of Arkansas.”

She put it more succinctly later, saying, “We must win games,” according to Arkansas Online.

According to Arkansas Online, she said the firing was announced Friday so he could meet with players before many went home for the holiday weekend.

She also said the school does need to wait until a permanent athletic director is named to hire a new head coach.

Bielema becomes the third SEC head football coach to be fired this season, joining Florida’s Jim McElwain and Tennessee’s Butch Jones.

Bielema came to Arkansas in 2013 after seven consecutive winning seasons at Wisconsin.

Bielema noted that six of his top 10 players missed significant playing time this season.

He is owed $5.9 million with 37 months left on his contract, which runs through 2020.