B1G media days: Wisconsin's Bret Bielema doesn't want to face former players

CHICAGO -- Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema told reporters Thursday he doesn't want to recruit any players away from a team with which he has to compete.

Bielema said that opinion wasn't shaped by an offseason situation involving Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan and former Badgers basketball player Jarrod Uthoff, who will pay his own way and transfer to Big Ten Conference rival Iowa.

"I always had a buddy tell me these stories are so much better than when you're not in them," Bielema said. "When Bo was going through that, I just kind of sat back because I knew the attention ..."

Bielema said he won't actively recruit Penn State players, who are allowed to transfer within the conference and become immediately eligible. He also doesn't want to allow any players to leave for a program Wisconsin will face in the future.

"My concern and fear is if they're leaving ...  if they're going to play against a person or a team we're going to play," Bielema said. "Not because that you're scared of anybody, it's this reason alone: When we play Penn State at the end of the year, I would so much love for that story to be about that year's team against that year's team and that's it. I don't want it to be about a kid that's on another team. I don't want it to be about another transfer. I want it to be about the game. That's the reason alone.

"I hope you understand where I'm coming from. The kids work so hard and the coaches coach so hard for so long and commit to many hours I truly want to it to be about the season that we're involved in."