FAYETTEVILLE —Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long has his man.
Bret Bielema is moving from Wisconsin to the Razorbacks.
The 42-year-old was the surprise choice to replace Bobby Petrino as the Razorbacks’ head coach on Tuesday. The news was first reported by Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. Bielema is expected to be introduced to the Razorbacks during a news conference on campus Wednesday.
Bielema is 68-24 in seven seasons at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to bowl games each year. Wisconsin is 8-5 this season, but won the Big Ten championship for the third straight year after beating Nebraska last Saturday.
Bielema has been with the program since 2004, when he began a two-year stint as defensive coordinator under former coach Barry Alvarez. An Illinois native, Bielema also has coaching experience at Iowa and Kansas State. He played at Iowa.
Bielema’s Wisconsin contract paid him more than $2.6 million per year, which is the 18th-highest total among college football coaches according to USA Today. The terms and length of his Arkansas contract were not immediately known.
Bielema replaces John L. Smith as Arkansas’ coach. Smith led the program during the 2012 season after Bobby Petrino was fired last April. The hire ends Long’s eight-month process of finding Arkansas’ next coach.