Bret Bielema shares thoughts on ‘sickening’ Michigan scandal

Bret Bielema and Illinois lost a narrow 19-17 contest to Michigan last season.

In the wake of the investigation into the Wolverines allegedly conducting in-person scouting and sign-stealing tactics, Bielema recently shared his thoughts on that contest as well as the situation overall.

During a recent press conference, Bielema also described a prior encounter in a game that could’ve turned unethical.

#Illini head coach Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) was asked today about the Michigan investigation & if he's ever re-watched the 2022 game with a skeptical eye.

Here is the full answer of what the Illinois third-year head coach had to say…. pic.twitter.com/2WmbLlu6hN

— Matthew Stevens (@matthewcstevens) November 9, 2023

“I remember being in this league as a head coach in another place where I literally got a call from a coach the day after we played them,” Bielema said. “They called our people during the course of the game.”

Bielema revealed it was former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and commended him for his honesty.

“We were at a contest there and he called me and said: ‘Your signals were coming over our headsets.’ He told his people to put them down, change the channel, and competed in the game,” Bielema said. “I thought the highest moment of integrity, here’s a moment.”

Now that information has emerged about Michigan’s whereabouts, it makes last season’s result vs. the Wolverines even more dejecting.

“It’s been noted that they’ve been at our games before we played that game last year. That’s sickening. That’s disgusting. But I’ll let them figure that part out,” Bielema said. “I think as coaches we’ve just got to hold the integrity of the league. Everybody’s got to feel that everybody’s playing by the same type of rules and kind of go forward from there.”

Rolando Rosa

Rolando Rosa brings his experience covering college football to Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @RolandoRosa3.