You aren't going to recognize Bielema this year.

[kg21]

I can't stand him, but I am glad he did this.

Illinois football coach Bret Bielema is going backward.

Looking younger. Feeling so much better.

Bielema, 55, told the Sun-Times this week he’s down 75 pounds since the Citrus Bowl upset of South Carolina. He got home from that New Year’s Eve game, lugged his daughters’ suitcases — and himself — up a flight of stairs and thought, “Whoa.”




“I gotta do something here,” he admitted that day.

Bielema has stopped eating after 5 p.m. He’s taking walks and doing cardio twice a day. He’s hoping to shed another 50. Whether or not he can get there, it has been a life-changing endeavor.

Illinois, Bret Bielema are feeling a positive vibe heading into the season

Heading into Year 5 with the Illini, he has one of the Big Ten’s fastest-rising programs.

chicago.suntimes.com

 

[mngg11]

The Ozempic revolution continues for better or worse

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

I think he actually wants to surf the locker room after wins like PJ.

 

[gopherphil]

All he needs is a carnivore diet and he’d be fine.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

Bielema was on Pardon My Take on Friday...awesome interview.

Don't think I've ever done a bigger 180 on a coach than I've done with him. Really good coach and just an old school ball guy. Great personality and funny.

He was extremely hate able/punchable while the Badgers HC (plus with the Hawkeye history) though. Illinois is a classic B1G school we have tons of history history with, but we don't have a blood feud with them. Have to respect what he's done in Champaign.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Everyone credits exercise and diet. What a joke.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Love him or hate him, I'm very glad for him. What he's done is possible, but it ain't easy.

 

[touchdownvikings]

Mr. Bielema looks like a transformed man.

Transformation of any variety is admirable and rare.

Hats off to him!

...Plus, he'll be there that much longer and that much better for his family. It's win, win.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Good for him!

 

[99Gopher]

Best of luck to him as those are great goals, but I'd be interested in a follow-up after the season. It's easy to fit that all in during the off season, but once camps starts I'd be interested to see if he can even make time to do cardio once a day compared to twice. Then as the season gets close and he is in the facility with the coaches grinding away until 10 pm at night, we'll see how not eating after 5 pm holds up. That's when all the old habits pop up. But I wish him luck.