It's been a big week for Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema (right).

First, he announced the first recruiting class that was completely his own, with no work done by former coach Barry Alvarez.

Then, he agreed to terms on a new five-year contract.

Bielema's new contract got the approval of the UW Board of Regents on Friday. It calls for him to be paid $7.5 million over the five years of the deal, a potentially great bargain for the university. Bielema's first Wisconsin team won a school-record 12 games, including a Capital One Bowl win over Arkansas.

The increase in salary to $1.3 million in 2007 should sufficiently move Bielema up the Big Ten ladder. Last year, only Indiana's Terry Hoeppner made less than Bielema's $750,000.

There's no question that Bielema did a great job in his first season at the helm. While I'm not going to indict Alvarez for running an out-of-control program, there is no denying that UW had discipline issues towards the end of Barry's tenure. Bielema ended up running a tighter ship (at least that was my view from a distance). He wasn't afraid to suspend players to make the mission clearer to everyone else, and when he was faced with more troubles for Booker Stanley, he decided that he had seen enough and dismissed Stanley from the program.

Not only that, but the on-field results were completely unexpected. Granted, the Badgers basically took advantage of a conference that was having a horrible season, but they still took care of business. And they beat a favored SEC opponent in their bowl game for a second straight year.