Something you may not have known about new Arkansas coach Bret Bielema - he was raised on a pig farm.

"I grew up on a pig farm, about 2,500 pigs - we had way more pigs than people," Bielema said in an interview on arkansasrazorbacks.com Wednesday, shortly after being introduced as the Razorbacks' new football coach. "I was on a farm basically from the age of 3 until I left for college - really thought that was all I was ever going to do. As a young kid, you only know what you know.

"The part that I learned during my time on a farm was how much hard work pays off, and that's something I've carried now through my coaching profession, something I'll carry with me here today, forever at Arkansas because I really do think in today's world you can outwork people."

Bielema led Wisconsin to a 68-24 record in seven years. His Badgers have won the last three straight Big Ten titles, winning the 2012 conference championship game 70-31 over Nebraska.

So what brings an Illinois native who played for Hayden Fry at Iowa and coached at Wisconsin south to Arkansas? A new challenge, Bielema said.

"I knew this was an area, a part of the country, that has been known for playing great football - obviously the SEC and everything that goes into it. So it's a tremendous opportunity there to do some things I've never had the opportunity to do, play some teams I've never had the opportunity to compete against.

"But the No. 1 thing that drove me was to come to Arkansas, to be the state school. Everyone on Saturday I know has a different affiliation but I can guarantee you they're going to be paying attention to what's happening here."

The 42-year-old Bielema, who was married for the first time just last spring, has played and coached under some of the game's greats. He played nose guard for Hayden Fry at Iowa and served as an assistant under Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, Bill Snyder at Kansas State and Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, where he was defensive coordinator in 2004-05 before succeeding Alvarez as head coach in 2006.

He described his coaching philosophy as one of sound fundamentals and eliminating mistakes.

"A lot of times games are lost rather than won," Bielema said. "The teams that can execute cleanly have a much better chance of winning. We've been the least penalized team in our league the last several years. That's fundamental football. That's being smart before the snap."

Bielema said he was encouraged about the Razorbacks' players by the way they played in a 20-13 season-ending loss to LSU - a game in which nothing was on the line for the Hogs except pride.

"To know there was nothing at the end of the rainbow, there wasn't a bowl, there wasn't a championship game -- it was a matter of pride - and to see them play as hard as they did against obviously a great football team gave me a great indicator that we've got a group of young men who are very passionate about winning," he said. "It's all got to begin there."

The other encouraging sign for Bielema is Arkansas' fans, whom he got a first look at during his first season at Wisconsin. The Badgers ended the 2006 season with a 17-14 win over the Hogs in the Capital One Bowl.

"We were getting pig-soieed everywhere we went," he said. "It was really fun for me now to come full circle and embrace that excitement."