When Bret Bielema woke up in Tampa, Fla., on the first day of 2008, the University of Wisconsin football coach had to be ecstatic about the year ahead.

The Badgers were playing in a January bowl for the fourth consecutive season and had a chance to record at least 10 victories for the third consecutive season.

Even better, the team was led by a group of talented juniors that would be returning the following season with designs on leading UW to a Big Ten Conference title and becoming the winningest class in program history.

Life was good for Bielema and the Badgers.

Then UW lost to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, the first of seven defeats in the calendar year. Bielema's approval rating has taken a stock market-like nosedive since, with the latest ammunition for angry fans being a 42-13 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl last Saturday in Orlando, Fla.

The idea of handing Bielema his walking papers after his third season is a ludicrous one, even though his 11-10 record since starting out his career with 17 victories in his first 18 games -- he has gone 6-8 in the Big Ten since winning nine of his first 10 games in league play -- is cause for concern.

So is the fact that the quarterback position is shaky, and UW returns just three of its nine starters along the offensive and defensive lines next season.

Then there are some not-so-obvious issues Bielema should address. If he's the type to make New Year's resolutions, here are three Bielema should consider:

Make some changes on his staff

This seems a likely scenario, especially when you consider Bielema shook things up after the Badgers went 9-4 in the 2007 season by firing defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz.

When Hankwitz was fired and offensive line coach Bob Palcic departed for UCLA, Bielema replaced the two veteran assistants with a pair of thirty-somethings: Charlie Partridge and Joe Rudolph.

Bielema's staff suddenly became a lot younger. At 43, running backs coach John Settle is the oldest coach on a staff whose head coach will turn 39 in January. The average age on the staff is right around 38.

A group of young, eager recruiters is a great thing to have, but it wouldn't hurt Bielema to have a sage veteran around to offer advice.

Bielema had that guy in Henry Mason. Bielema had even named Mason an associate head coach, but Mason has missed the last two seasons while recovering from a spinal cord injury. It doesn't appear Mason will return to the sidelines anytime soon.

Re-establish the recruiting pipeline to the East Coast

Bielema admitted on Signing Day last February that states like New Jersey, New York and Connecticut are basically no longer on the Badgers' recruiting radar.

In fairness, Bielema was handcuffed by the lack of an assistant with ties to the East Coast. There was no longer a Bernie Wyatt, Brian White or John Palermo on UW's staff who could speak the same language, so to speak, as recruits on the East Coast.

"That place, probably more so than any other part of the country, you almost have to be from there to get anybody out there," Bielema said last February. "The East Coast is a different animal."