One of the biggest warnings they always give you about tattoos is that they are permanent. They don’t fade or wash away, that design is on you forever. Situations in life may change, but that ink on your body does not update along with it.
Now some out there take that warning to heart, others not quite as literally. I do have a tattoo of a heart that says mom, but it is flipped upside-down so it says wow just like in that one Spongebob episode. You can tell which camp I belong to. It turns out Bret Bielema is also from that camp!
Bret Bielema has a tattoo in honor of his alma mater Iowa. It’s an honorable tattoo, but there’s a slight problem. He is no longer with Iowa. He is the head coach of their Big Ten competitor Illinois.
It is really funny the idea that Illinois’ current coach, who was also the head coach at Wisconsin earlier in his career, has the image of a tigerhawk above his left ankle.
This is Bret Bielema’s Iowa Tigerhawk tattoo.
It is a piece of college football history. https://t.co/Bp6cYFbRjO pic.twitter.com/lVe4gucwTv
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) July 23, 2024
Bielema, though, is not ashamed of what the tattoo represents.
“I never met a successful person who wasn’t proud of where they come from,” Bielema stated about the tattoo at Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday.
Illinois Head Coach tells the story of getting an Iowa tattoo in college. It’s one he still “talks about all the time”, and one he still preaches to his players.
“I never met a successful person who wasn’t proud of where they came from…” pic.twitter.com/aT5vPJMt5m
— Blake Hornstein (@BlakeHornTV) July 23, 2024
While it may just be a silly image that he decided to get at 19 on a rainy Iowa night, it does still carry heavy meaning for the coach. Bret Bielema walked onto the University of Iowa’s football team under coach Hayden Fry. He proceeded to earn a scholarship, letter four years, and served as a captain in his senior season. He then got his start as a coach at Iowa, working under Fry and then eventually Kirk Ferentz.
With everything he gained from his time in Iowa City, Bielema has become a Big Ten Coach of the Year, a three-time Big Ten Champion, and he even won a Super Bowl ring with New England.
Sometimes even the silly decisions we make as bored 19-year-olds can help remind us where we come from even as we progress forward.
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