Bret Bielema (b. January 13, 1970 in Prophetstown, Illinois) is currently the head coach of the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team. On July 28, 2005, the former Badgers head coach and UW athletic director, Barry Alvarez, announced that he would step down at the end of the 2005 season and named Bielema as his successor.
![]() |
Coach Bielema played college football at the University of Iowa from 1989-1992, where he earned four letters. 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 1993-2001. He then moved on to become the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002-2003. Bielema then took on the same position at the University of Wisconsin in 2004.
Bielema received his bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Iowa in 1992.
Trivia
- From his days as a football player at Iowa, he has a two-inch tattoo of a Tiger Hawk (Iowa's logo) on his calf, which he has stated he will not remove, despite being the coach of the Big Ten-rival Wisconsin Badgers. [1]
- With a 14-0 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs on 16 September 2006, Bielema became the third UW head coach to win the first three games of his career. [2]