"I called Urban Meyer": Illinois HC Bret Bielema recalls dramatic recruiting interaction with former Ohio State coach in 2012

Bret Bielema will be heading into his fifth season as the at Illinois after taking over the reins in 2021. There is lot of expectation from Bielema after wrapping 2024 with a 10-3 record. He appeared on the "Triple Option" podcast with Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II and Rob Stone where they discussed the Fighting Illini's upcoming season and Bielema's past.

Stone took a swipe at Meyer from his coaching days at Ohio State, when he tried recruiting a Wisconsin commit that later turned out to be a controversial move in the college football circles.

The incident happened in 2012 when Meyer was fresh off to Columbus and took the reins. Bielema, the head coach of Wisconsin at time, mentioned that it was a light hearted conversation with Meyer over a call after a recruit received calls from multiple schools including Ohio State.

“One of the things that I probably did in that scenario was communication," Bielema recalled on the podcast on Wednesday. (Timestamp - 20:24). "I had, there was a prospect that was committed to us. He got calls from Ohio State players, which I understood, but then all of a sudden he got calls from Florida players. I'm like, oh, rub row. No, no, we can't do this, right?”

“So I went to my AD and I said, 'What should I do?' And Coach Albert said, ‘Call him.' So I called Urban, and the coach, if I remember right, you listened to me, you addressed it and took care of it. And then my misstep was when I was at the press conference on signing day, someone asked me if I'd had interaction with the coach, and I said, Yeah, actually, I called him about an issue, and he took care of it, and kind of went well.

"And I got done with the interview, and Coach Alvarez said, you open one up there. I'm like, what? He goes, ‘they're going to say that, that they were cheating’. And I'm like, 'I didn't say that.' He goes, ‘Well, that's what they're going to say, because you said there was an issue.'”

Bret Bielema aims for big season in 2025

After a successful campaign, Bielema, with the help of returning QB Luke Altmeyer, will look to make a mark in the Big Ten this upcoming season. During the spring practice, he mentioned his roster looks healthy and that all the players were in good condition. Altmeyer, who is returning this season, will look to build his draft stock.

The 55-year-old coach also had massive success in the recruiting cycle, where he was able to lure players from across the country. Expect nothing less than a 10+ winning games season from Illinois in 2025