Shyatt retirement rumors...

[seattlecowboy]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Shyatt is a quality coach and I would say the chances are that his successor will be a downgrade compared to Shyatt. Having said that, I think you overrate his accomplishments a little bit. While his overall record of .600 is better than that of Dees (.575) or McClain (.577), his conference record is much more in-line with those guys (and Wright) than with Brandenburg. Here are the conference records going back to Brandenburg:

Brandenburg: 87-51

Dees: 47-51

Wright: 32-38

Shyatt: 46-52 (includes 9-5 in first go around)

McClain: 67-63

Schroyer: 18-46


Brandendburg and Schroyer are the clear outliers here on both sides. The others are all pretty close. Shyatt gets some extra credit for following Schroyer, but loses points as he has had the luxury (or curse in some ways) of playing in a weakened MWC compared to what the other coaches (and Shyatt himself at first) had to deal with.

Long story short, the chances that our next coach is the next coming of Jim Brandenburg is pretty slim. Shyatt is likely better positioned to help us succeed than a new hire would be. That doesn't mean that Shyatt's accomplishments are unimpeachable.

I am not over rating Shyatt at all. Just saying his win percentage is better than every other coach except for Brandenburg and every other coach all the way back to Shelton.

Shyatt has just as good of record in conference as basically every coach on there. If Brandenburg wouldn't have left all those players for Dees his first year here Dees record would be horrible like Shroyers. McClain again had the benefit of Shyatt's recruits his first time here or McClain would have had a piss poor record also.

So again who can Wyoming get that is better than Shyatt? I agree with you that if we bring someone else in it will be a downgrade at this point. I think Shyatt has a better shot at this point or at least someone on his staff to try to keep going what we have.

I don't really see a scenario where we bring someone else in that will do much honestly.

[bladerunnr]

I don't really want to defend bucky McClain, but here goes: Before he was fired, he brought in Justin Williams (maybe the most talented Cowboy ever), Brad Jones, and Brandon Ewing. He also recruited Steve Levin, who quit the team to become a pro in Australia. If Leven doesn't quit, things might have been different. Also, Boswell was injured and he was a pretty talented big man.

Not saying that McClain should have been retained, but it's not like he didn't recruit some talent here.

I'm a Shyatt fan. He took over an impossible situation. But, he's not perfect. I thought the reduction in the shot clock would hurt us. We've been a poor rebounding team and with more possessions per game, that deficiency was going to get worse. Also, we've had no depth. Again, faster paced game, more possessions, players get winded faster. The player development this year, or lack thereof, is especially disappointing. Washington, James, Herndon, and Barnes were all big disappointments, imo. We really were one of the worst teams in the conference, and we had the conference player of the year. Going into next year, we don't have a single player that has the potential to be 1st or 2nd team all conference.
If an athlete is really serious about improving, he's not smoking weed. I'm guessing Shyatt is probably discouraged by his player's behavior and maybe sees another lower tier result next year.

[ELKMT]

Shyatt recruited one class of McClain recruits. McClain deserves some credit ( Shyatt gives him the credit). It's not like he left the cupboard bare for Schroyer ( Ewing was an all time great, Jones avg. 18 points,& Taylor was a more polished version of Cook). McClain teams had to play Utah and Byu without the gimmies of SJSU. McClain finished 4th 4 times, which is the best conference finish of Shyatt. McClain finished 1st twice. McClain got fired for having a winning record and a 7 an 9 conference record finish in a better conference than Shyatt plays in. Now I think Shyatt is our best option and Scott Duncan would be a great successor, but Shyatt hasn't worked a miracle here. It is just that he looks like the savior when compared to the worst coach in school history.

Burman should have been fired for hiring and extending Schroyer. That is the root of the problem.

[NowherePoke]

I don't really want to defend bucky McClain, but here goes: Before he was fired, he brought in Justin Williams (maybe the most talented Cowboy ever), Brad Jones, and Brandon Ewing. He also recruited Steve Levin, who quit the team to become a pro in Australia. If Leven doesn't quit, things might have been different. Also, Boswell was injured and he was a pretty talented big man.

Not saying that McClain should have been retained, but it's not like he didn't recruit some talent here.

I'm a Shyatt fan. He took over an impossible situation. But, he's not perfect. I thought the reduction in the shot clock would hurt us. We've been a poor rebounding team and with more possessions per game, that deficiency was going to get worse. Also, we've had no depth. Again, faster paced game, more possessions, players get winded faster. The player development this year, or lack thereof, is especially disappointing. Washington, James, Herndon, and Barnes were all big disappointments, imo. We really were one of the worst teams in the conference, and we had the conference player of the year. Going into next year, we don't have a single player that has the potential to be 1st or 2nd team all conference.
If an athlete is really serious about improving, he's not smoking weed. I'm guessing Shyatt is probably discouraged by his player's behavior and maybe sees another lower tier result next year.

I think McClain did recruit some quality talent, but I have to take umbrage with the inclusion of Boswell and Leven. We never really saw Boswell before he got hurt and he was basically not a D-1 player afterwards. Hard to say what he could have been. Leven was a cancer who was detrimental to the team and skipped the country after writing fraudulent checks in Fort Collins.

McClain did recruit a number of quality players (Straight, Richardson, Williams, Ewing, Jones) and left behind a pretty decent core of talent (which Schroyer rapidly squandered). McClain had some issues incorporating an offense that generated open looks, but his teams were frequently among the nations leaders in FTA/FGM and managed a decent offensive efficiency as a result. In the end his biggest problem was the same one that plagues Shyatt, he couldnt recruit the frontcourt talent and depth that it took to challenge for the top of the MWC. He inherited Ugo and Josh and you have to give him some credit for getting Uche. After that he really struggled. Williams was great for his two years, but was never a go to offensive player. Brown was a force when healthy, but we knew about his back when we signed him (a reasonable risk IMO).

Anyway, I am just rambling. McClain and Shyatt both have pros and cons, but we do know that Burman fired the first and passed over the second to hire Heath Schroyer. With that in mind, we all have to ask ourselves if we really want Burman to make another coaching hire. He was fortunate after Schroyer that Shyatt was still interested, but I don't want to give him another chance to ruin the program.

[NowherePoke]

Shyatt recruited one class of McClain recruits. McClain deserves some credit ( Shyatt gives him the credit). It's not like he left the cupboard bare for Schroyer ( Ewing was an all time great, Jones avg. 18 points,& Taylor was a more polished version of Cook). McClain teams had to play Utah and Byu without the gimmies of SJSU. McClain finished 4th 4 times, which is the best conference finish of Shyatt. McClain finished 1st twice. McClain got fired for having a winning record and a 7 an 9 conference record finish in a better conference than Shyatt plays in. Now I think Shyatt is our best option and Scott Duncan would be a great successor, but Shyatt hasn't worked a miracle here. It is just that he looks like the savior when compared to the worst coach in school history.

Burman should have been fired for hiring and extending Schroyer. That is the root of the problem.

Absolutely agree about Burman. We have the worst overall "spectator" teams in the MWC this year. This is after 10 years of his tenure and after several of the stronger MWC programs have left. It's a damn embarrassment.

[PotatoCreekPete]

From what I have heard, the succession is a big deal. I agree that the Board of Trustee's really screwed the pooch last year, and made an easy situation into a very messy affair in the end.

Allen Edwards has received some very serious interest from other schools around the country and this is one of the reasons for negotiations last year. In order for Allen Edwards to stay around he was put into the position of being the heir apparent, with Scott Duncan being the senior assistant and he will stay on as long as he wants. Jeremy Shyatt will be given more responsibility, and so in the end there would be the hiring of just one additional assistant.

Larry Shyatt did get a $20,000 raise from last year, but the vast majority of the contract negotiations was the succession and protection for the assistants. I am one that personally really thinks that Allen Edwards will do a great job as a head coach. From what I understand Scott Duncan is at the point in his career that he doesn't want the headaches of being a head coach, but is happy to be a top assistant for the rest of his career. Jeremy Shyatt just doesn't have the experience to be a head coach. I hope that if Larry does decide to retire, then Allen Edwards brings in one incredible recruiter for the last assistant position.

I understand that it is Coach Shyatt's decision but I do hope that he makes it sooner rather than later. It is never a positive thing for everyone involved in my opinion to drag these things out. With Allen Edwards moving into the HC position, I would NOT expect a turnover of the roster, but if they go outside it very likely would end up with a rather significant turnover in the roster, and I think that this is one of the reasons why Tom is agreeable to going along with a succession plan. I am pretty certain that Tom likes the recruiting that Larry and his staff have been able to accomplish and there is a lot of young talent on the club that I am sure Tom would not want to lose. If anyone leaves from the present roster it most likely would be Marshall, and from what I have read it would be for other things besides basketball.

I have also heard that it is a 50/50 thing that Larry will retire, so this discussion might all be for nothing right now, but if Larry doesn't retire then it is not a sure thing that Allen Edwards will be around to be the HC in the future, some school might just come in and make an offer that he can't refuse. Allen has been a long time assistant here and personally I think it is time for him to be the next HC at Wyoming...that is just my opinion.

One last note, I hope that UW FINALLY gets its act together and fix the transfer issues, should have been done years ago, but too many "little kingdoms" at UW make it difficult to get things done sometimes, I hope that the new president is able to step in and get this taken care of NOW!

[CowboyNV]

From what I have heard, the succession is a big deal. I agree that the Board of Trustee's really screwed the pooch last year, and made an easy situation into a very messy affair in the end.

Allen Edwards has received some very serious interest from other schools around the country and this is one of the reasons for negotiations last year. In order for Allen Edwards to stay around he was put into the position of being the heir apparent, with Scott Duncan being the senior assistant and he will stay on as long as he wants. Jeremy Shyatt will be given more responsibility, and so in the end there would be the hiring of just one additional assistant.

Larry Shyatt did get a $20,000 raise from last year, but the vast majority of the contract negotiations was the succession and protection for the assistants. I am one that personally really thinks that Allen Edwards will do a great job as a head coach. From what I understand Scott Duncan is at the point in his career that he doesn't want the headaches of being a head coach, but is happy to be a top assistant for the rest of his career. Jeremy Shyatt just doesn't have the experience to be a head coach. I hope that if Larry does decide to retire, then Allen Edwards brings in one incredible recruiter for the last assistant position.

I understand that it is Coach Shyatt's decision but I do hope that he makes it sooner rather than later. It is never a positive thing for everyone involved in my opinion to drag these things out. With Allen Edwards moving into the HC position, I would NOT expect a turnover of the roster, but if they go outside it very likely would end up with a rather significant turnover in the roster, and I think that this is one of the reasons why Tom is agreeable to going along with a succession plan. I am pretty certain that Tom likes the recruiting that Larry and his staff have been able to accomplish and there is a lot of young talent on the club that I am sure Tom would not want to lose. If anyone leaves from the present roster it most likely would be Marshall, and from what I have read it would be for other things besides basketball.

I have also heard that it is a 50/50 thing that Larry will retire, so this discussion might all be for nothing right now, but if Larry doesn't retire then it is not a sure thing that Allen Edwards will be around to be the HC in the future, some school might just come in and make an offer that he can't refuse. Allen has been a long time assistant here and personally I think it is time for him to be the next HC at Wyoming...that is just my opinion.

One last note, I hope that UW FINALLY gets its act together and fix the transfer issues, should have been done years ago, but too many "little kingdoms" at UW make it difficult to get things done sometimes, I hope that the new president is able to step in and get this taken care of NOW!

+1 Well said.

[WyoBrandX]

Shyatt and McClain were both good coaches. I'd be happy with either at the helm today. McClain ended up down in the GPA ratings and got fired. So they hired Schroyer on. He sucked. They extended him a contract.

The real problem here isn't coaches - its the administration.

I hope Shyatt doesn't retire. I think he can do well here. It might be hit and miss - but nobody is going to come into Laramie and embarrass us (except for boise this year) with him at the helm. And we won't ever embarrass anyone while he is here. We will win more than we lose though.

I think next years class won't be special, but it will be strong. Many of these guys are coming back -we have some depth. Conference champions? Its certainly possible.

[carbonpoke]

I am in the field of coach not retiring. He seems a man of his word, and he himself stated that he was going to fix this program; or hell, or high water. I am starting to see a recruiting problem... not with his philosophy about developing the right players for success... but with getting at least one high-liner per class. He needs to get at least one impactful recruit per year in my estimation. Local kids are great, development is great, but we need consistency to build up our attendance.

He may still get this recruiting class squared away through luck and no fault of his own with the Washington departure. But we REALLY need a stop-bleed acquisition. Whatever we bring in needs to generate positive +/- NEXT year. I believe in our staff... but we have to finish in the top 5 of the league each year to get this program to where we want it, and where he wants it. There is a extreme need now to get this extra recruit.

lets wait and see.

[JimmyDimes]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Read my posts, I DONT want Shyatt to leave. I would prefer he stay. But if he's going to leave, I would prefer he do it in a timely manner.

And 2nd best winning percentage? What has that gotten us? We ran off a coach with more post season accolades so why does Shyatt get a pass? Because he's beaten a ton of non-conference patsies and then stumbled come conference? Gimme a break. The MWC lately has been as soft as ever and we have struggled. McClain would have won a lot of games in this MWC

A lot more if it weren't for some bar incidences and injuries. Just reached the top 25 before Martinez got booted. Top 3 before Larry went down for the year. Swept last years conference champ (reg season) when he had Larry.....lost a couple when he and Herndon went down with mono.

So, in reality, the record and post season appearances could've/should've been better.

Why do the "What ifs" only apply to Shyatt?

How would McClain's tenure have looked if Ugo hadn't wrecked his knee and then Bailey wrecked his? Both of those teams went 8-6 in MWC play (better than any Shyatt team except 14-15) after losing their best player to a knee injury early in the season. In between those two injury plagued seasons were back to back regular season conference titles, a NCAA appearance and a NCAA win. If those two injuries don't occur, we could be talking about a program that won 4 consecutive MWC titles with multiple NCAA berths (02-03 certainly would have been a NCAA team if Bailey stayed healthy) and possibly multiple NCAA wins. McClain likely would have landed a Power Conference job after that and we would remember McClain the way we do Brandenburg.

Not saying McClain is better than Shyatt, but every coach has to deal with injuries and attrition. It's part of the game. What Quinn Higgins? Maybe Schroyer could have had at least a respectable showing if Afam had stayed healthy (ok, probably not but you get the idea). Injuries occur at every school. I don't see anybody on here giving Eustachy a pass after losing Clavell or Rice/Simon for all the injuries/issues UNLV faced this year (both UNLV and CSU finished ahead of our healthy team for the record).


In terms of the topic at hand, lets hope Shyatt stays. We are better off with him at the helm than if Burman is tasked with finding his successor. Ideal situation is Shyatt sticks around for 3 more years and builds a decent program again before handing over the reins to Edwards (assuming Duncan would retire as well considering his age by that point). We have some talent gaps but in basketball that can be fixed and there is enough young talent here to at least get started.

It is frustrating that we are kind of back to square one in terms of roster development, but I would rather have Larry Shyatt coaching that roster than just about anyone else.

Well, because if we don't use what/if's for Shyatt, then posters will look at the win/loss record and assume that is his body of work. When in reality, the team suffered some tremendous set-backs. Losing your best player 3 years in a row definitely affected the conference win/loss record, do you agree?

In regards to McClain...his success came after Ugo's injury. However, his quality of work declined and that had very little to do with injuries.

It is frustrating that he allowed the classes to become so uneven that the Pokes were in the position they were in this year. But, I don't think that is in any way, shape, or form a step back for the program as we should see the benefits of the uneven classes in the next year or so. But I also agree he has had some whiff's in recruiting too.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Read my posts, I DONT want Shyatt to leave. I would prefer he stay. But if he's going to leave, I would prefer he do it in a timely manner.

And 2nd best winning percentage? What has that gotten us? We ran off a coach with more post season accolades so why does Shyatt get a pass? Because he's beaten a ton of non-conference patsies and then stumbled come conference? Gimme a break. The MWC lately has been as soft as ever and we have struggled. McClain would have won a lot of games in this MWC

A lot more if it weren't for some bar incidences and injuries. Just reached the top 25 before Martinez got booted. Top 3 before Larry went down for the year. Swept last years conference champ (reg season) when he had Larry.....lost a couple when he and Herndon went down with mono.

So, in reality, the record and post season appearances could've/should've been better.

Why do the "What ifs" only apply to Shyatt?

How would McClain's tenure have looked if Ugo hadn't wrecked his knee and then Bailey wrecked his? Both of those teams went 8-6 in MWC play (better than any Shyatt team except 14-15) after losing their best player to a knee injury early in the season. In between those two injury plagued seasons were back to back regular season conference titles, a NCAA appearance and a NCAA win. If those two injuries don't occur, we could be talking about a program that won 4 consecutive MWC titles with multiple NCAA berths (02-03 certainly would have been a NCAA team if Bailey stayed healthy) and possibly multiple NCAA wins. McClain likely would have landed a Power Conference job after that and we would remember McClain the way we do Brandenburg.

Not saying McClain is better than Shyatt, but every coach has to deal with injuries and attrition. It's part of the game. What Quinn Higgins? Maybe Schroyer could have had at least a respectable showing if Afam had stayed healthy (ok, probably not but you get the idea). Injuries occur at every school. I don't see anybody on here giving Eustachy a pass after losing Clavell or Rice/Simon for all the injuries/issues UNLV faced this year (both UNLV and CSU finished ahead of our healthy team for the record).


In terms of the topic at hand, lets hope Shyatt stays. We are better off with him at the helm than if Burman is tasked with finding his successor. Ideal situation is Shyatt sticks around for 3 more years and builds a decent program again before handing over the reins to Edwards (assuming Duncan would retire as well considering his age by that point). We have some talent gaps but in basketball that can be fixed and there is enough young talent here to at least get started.

It is frustrating that we are kind of back to square one in terms of roster development, but I would rather have Larry Shyatt coaching that roster than just about anyone else.

Well, because if we don't use what/if's for Shyatt, then posters will look at the win/loss record and assume that is his body of work. When in reality, the team suffered some tremendous set-backs. Losing your best player 3 years in a row definitely affected the conference win/loss record, do you agree?

In regards to McClain...his success came after Ugo's injury. However, his quality of work declined and that had very little to do with injuries.

It is frustrating that he allowed the classes to become so uneven that the Pokes were in the position they were in this year. But, I don't think that is in any way, shape, or form a step back for the program as we should see the benefits of the uneven classes in the next year or so. But I also agree he has had some whiff's in recruiting too.

What a BS response. What is a good measure of the body of work if its not the win/loss record with overall accolades? McClain lost players and dealt with adversity all while playing in a MW that would massacre this one. Shyatts recruits currently would have gotten eaten alive in McClains MW, its not even close. If Shyatt gets a pass now because the poor guy lost some players than McClain gets a pass for playing in a conference far superior to this one. And McClain still won more than Shyatt up to this point in his career here.

[TSpoke]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Read my posts, I DONT want Shyatt to leave. I would prefer he stay. But if he's going to leave, I would prefer he do it in a timely manner.

And 2nd best winning percentage? What has that gotten us? We ran off a coach with more post season accolades so why does Shyatt get a pass? Because he's beaten a ton of non-conference patsies and then stumbled come conference? Gimme a break. The MWC lately has been as soft as ever and we have struggled. McClain would have won a lot of games in this MWC

A lot more if it weren't for some bar incidences and injuries. Just reached the top 25 before Martinez got booted. Top 3 before Larry went down for the year. Swept last years conference champ (reg season) when he had Larry.....lost a couple when he and Herndon went down with mono.

So, in reality, the record and post season appearances could've/should've been better.

Why do the "What ifs" only apply to Shyatt?

How would McClain's tenure have looked if Ugo hadn't wrecked his knee and then Bailey wrecked his? Both of those teams went 8-6 in MWC play (better than any Shyatt team except 14-15) after losing their best player to a knee injury early in the season. In between those two injury plagued seasons were back to back regular season conference titles, a NCAA appearance and a NCAA win. If those two injuries don't occur, we could be talking about a program that won 4 consecutive MWC titles with multiple NCAA berths (02-03 certainly would have been a NCAA team if Bailey stayed healthy) and possibly multiple NCAA wins. McClain likely would have landed a Power Conference job after that and we would remember McClain the way we do Brandenburg.

Not saying McClain is better than Shyatt, but every coach has to deal with injuries and attrition. It's part of the game. What Quinn Higgins? Maybe Schroyer could have had at least a respectable showing if Afam had stayed healthy (ok, probably not but you get the idea). Injuries occur at every school. I don't see anybody on here giving Eustachy a pass after losing Clavell or Rice/Simon for all the injuries/issues UNLV faced this year (both UNLV and CSU finished ahead of our healthy team for the record).


In terms of the topic at hand, lets hope Shyatt stays. We are better off with him at the helm than if Burman is tasked with finding his successor. Ideal situation is Shyatt sticks around for 3 more years and builds a decent program again before handing over the reins to Edwards (assuming Duncan would retire as well considering his age by that point). We have some talent gaps but in basketball that can be fixed and there is enough young talent here to at least get started.

It is frustrating that we are kind of back to square one in terms of roster development, but I would rather have Larry Shyatt coaching that roster than just about anyone else.

Well, because if we don't use what/if's for Shyatt, then posters will look at the win/loss record and assume that is his body of work. When in reality, the team suffered some tremendous set-backs. Losing your best player 3 years in a row definitely affected the conference win/loss record, do you agree?

In regards to McClain...his success came after Ugo's injury. However, his quality of work declined and that had very little to do with injuries.

It is frustrating that he allowed the classes to become so uneven that the Pokes were in the position they were in this year. But, I don't think that is in any way, shape, or form a step back for the program as we should see the benefits of the uneven classes in the next year or so. But I also agree he has had some whiff's in recruiting too.

What a BS response. What is a good measure of the body of work if its not the win/loss record with overall accolades? McClain lost players and dealt with adversity all while playing in a MW that would massacre this one. Shyatts recruits currently would have gotten eaten alive in McClains MW, its not even close. If Shyatt gets a pass now because the poor guy lost some players than McClain gets a pass for playing in a conference far superior to this one. And McClain still won more than Shyatt up to this point in his career here.

I disagree about McClain coaching in a tougher MW. If you look back at RPI's and teams making the tournament that doesn't bear out. The last time the MW only got one team into the tournament was back in the Mcclain era. 2000-2001(we tied for first place and were stiffed so it shows the conference wasn't very good). Then throughout his tenure we got either 2 or 3 teams into the tournament with a RPI conference rank in the 7-8-9 range for the most part.
Larry came on board during the best couple years of the MW. In 11-12 we had 4 teams in the tournament and had a 5th ranked conference and the nest year we had 5 teams make the tournament and an RPI rank of 1. This year was a VERY bad year for the MW but overall I wouldn't say that Shyatt has had an easier course through the MW than McClain. I would say they could be pretty comparable. We forget how down the conference was in the early 2000's

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Read my posts, I DONT want Shyatt to leave. I would prefer he stay. But if he's going to leave, I would prefer he do it in a timely manner.

And 2nd best winning percentage? What has that gotten us? We ran off a coach with more post season accolades so why does Shyatt get a pass? Because he's beaten a ton of non-conference patsies and then stumbled come conference? Gimme a break. The MWC lately has been as soft as ever and we have struggled. McClain would have won a lot of games in this MWC

A lot more if it weren't for some bar incidences and injuries. Just reached the top 25 before Martinez got booted. Top 3 before Larry went down for the year. Swept last years conference champ (reg season) when he had Larry.....lost a couple when he and Herndon went down with mono.

So, in reality, the record and post season appearances could've/should've been better.

Why do the "What ifs" only apply to Shyatt?

How would McClain's tenure have looked if Ugo hadn't wrecked his knee and then Bailey wrecked his? Both of those teams went 8-6 in MWC play (better than any Shyatt team except 14-15) after losing their best player to a knee injury early in the season. In between those two injury plagued seasons were back to back regular season conference titles, a NCAA appearance and a NCAA win. If those two injuries don't occur, we could be talking about a program that won 4 consecutive MWC titles with multiple NCAA berths (02-03 certainly would have been a NCAA team if Bailey stayed healthy) and possibly multiple NCAA wins. McClain likely would have landed a Power Conference job after that and we would remember McClain the way we do Brandenburg.

Not saying McClain is better than Shyatt, but every coach has to deal with injuries and attrition. It's part of the game. What Quinn Higgins? Maybe Schroyer could have had at least a respectable showing if Afam had stayed healthy (ok, probably not but you get the idea). Injuries occur at every school. I don't see anybody on here giving Eustachy a pass after losing Clavell or Rice/Simon for all the injuries/issues UNLV faced this year (both UNLV and CSU finished ahead of our healthy team for the record).


In terms of the topic at hand, lets hope Shyatt stays. We are better off with him at the helm than if Burman is tasked with finding his successor. Ideal situation is Shyatt sticks around for 3 more years and builds a decent program again before handing over the reins to Edwards (assuming Duncan would retire as well considering his age by that point). We have some talent gaps but in basketball that can be fixed and there is enough young talent here to at least get started.

It is frustrating that we are kind of back to square one in terms of roster development, but I would rather have Larry Shyatt coaching that roster than just about anyone else.

Well, because if we don't use what/if's for Shyatt, then posters will look at the win/loss record and assume that is his body of work. When in reality, the team suffered some tremendous set-backs. Losing your best player 3 years in a row definitely affected the conference win/loss record, do you agree?

In regards to McClain...his success came after Ugo's injury. However, his quality of work declined and that had very little to do with injuries.

It is frustrating that he allowed the classes to become so uneven that the Pokes were in the position they were in this year. But, I don't think that is in any way, shape, or form a step back for the program as we should see the benefits of the uneven classes in the next year or so. But I also agree he has had some whiff's in recruiting too.

What a BS response. What is a good measure of the body of work if its not the win/loss record with overall accolades? McClain lost players and dealt with adversity all while playing in a MW that would massacre this one. Shyatts recruits currently would have gotten eaten alive in McClains MW, its not even close. If Shyatt gets a pass now because the poor guy lost some players than McClain gets a pass for playing in a conference far superior to this one. And McClain still won more than Shyatt up to this point in his career here.

I disagree about McClain coaching in a tougher MW. If you look back at RPI's and teams making the tournament that doesn't bear out. The last time the MW only got one team into the tournament was back in the Mcclain era. 2000-2001(we tied for first place and were stiffed so it shows the conference wasn't very good). Then throughout his tenure we got either 2 or 3 teams into the tournament with a RPI conference rank in the 7-8-9 range for the most part.
Larry came on board during the best couple years of the MW. In 11-12 we had 4 teams in the tournament and had a 5th ranked conference and the nest year we had 5 teams make the tournament and an RPI rank of 1. This year was a VERY bad year for the MW but overall I wouldn't say that Shyatt has had an easier course through the MW than McClain. I would say they could be pretty comparable. We forget how down the conference was in the early 2000's

Only one MW team getting a bid means those teams weren't stacked? You're telling me those Utah, BYU, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming teams wouldn't have absolutely demolished all the current teams? You're spending too much time in Colorado if you think this years MWC (or any Shyatt has faced this go around) is anywhere near the level of the MWC McClain won....

[Coeur d' Alene]

Steve Gosar still retired from coaching?

[NowherePoke]

Who do you guys want to hire then? Go look back at Wyoming basketball and see what anyone has done here. No one has done much since Brandenburg except for Shyatt. McClain won because of Shyatt's recruits and after those players were gone he sucked.

I'm not saying Shyatt is the end all be all but not seeing who Wyoming could get that would be better quite frankly.

Brandenburg did it in the 80's also , times are a lot different now.

If Wyoming got someone worth a crap they would be gone in 2 years anyways so it really doesn't matter. Unless Wyoming starts paying the basketball coaches a couple million a year we won't ever be that relevant for a sustained period of time. Wyoming won't be paying the basketball coach 2 million a year anytime soon either so think this whole discussion is pretty much pointless.

Porperpoke wants to diss on Shyatt every chance he gets but he must be bad at history because if he looks back he won't see anyone doing much at Wyoming ever except for a couple of coaches.

So as much as people want to push Shyatt and his staff out they have the 2nd best winning percentage at Wyoming since the 1950's. Shyatt and staff have won 60% of their games between the first and second times he was here. I guess we should be careful what we wish for because we could go back to Schroyer type ball if we aren't careful.

I say if Shyatt retires let Allen Edwards take over.

Read my posts, I DONT want Shyatt to leave. I would prefer he stay. But if he's going to leave, I would prefer he do it in a timely manner.

And 2nd best winning percentage? What has that gotten us? We ran off a coach with more post season accolades so why does Shyatt get a pass? Because he's beaten a ton of non-conference patsies and then stumbled come conference? Gimme a break. The MWC lately has been as soft as ever and we have struggled. McClain would have won a lot of games in this MWC

A lot more if it weren't for some bar incidences and injuries. Just reached the top 25 before Martinez got booted. Top 3 before Larry went down for the year. Swept last years conference champ (reg season) when he had Larry.....lost a couple when he and Herndon went down with mono.

So, in reality, the record and post season appearances could've/should've been better.

Why do the "What ifs" only apply to Shyatt?

How would McClain's tenure have looked if Ugo hadn't wrecked his knee and then Bailey wrecked his? Both of those teams went 8-6 in MWC play (better than any Shyatt team except 14-15) after losing their best player to a knee injury early in the season. In between those two injury plagued seasons were back to back regular season conference titles, a NCAA appearance and a NCAA win. If those two injuries don't occur, we could be talking about a program that won 4 consecutive MWC titles with multiple NCAA berths (02-03 certainly would have been a NCAA team if Bailey stayed healthy) and possibly multiple NCAA wins. McClain likely would have landed a Power Conference job after that and we would remember McClain the way we do Brandenburg.

Not saying McClain is better than Shyatt, but every coach has to deal with injuries and attrition. It's part of the game. What Quinn Higgins? Maybe Schroyer could have had at least a respectable showing if Afam had stayed healthy (ok, probably not but you get the idea). Injuries occur at every school. I don't see anybody on here giving Eustachy a pass after losing Clavell or Rice/Simon for all the injuries/issues UNLV faced this year (both UNLV and CSU finished ahead of our healthy team for the record).


In terms of the topic at hand, lets hope Shyatt stays. We are better off with him at the helm than if Burman is tasked with finding his successor. Ideal situation is Shyatt sticks around for 3 more years and builds a decent program again before handing over the reins to Edwards (assuming Duncan would retire as well considering his age by that point). We have some talent gaps but in basketball that can be fixed and there is enough young talent here to at least get started.

It is frustrating that we are kind of back to square one in terms of roster development, but I would rather have Larry Shyatt coaching that roster than just about anyone else.

Well, because if we don't use what/if's for Shyatt, then posters will look at the win/loss record and assume that is his body of work. When in reality, the team suffered some tremendous set-backs. Losing your best player 3 years in a row definitely affected the conference win/loss record, do you agree?

In regards to McClain...his success came after Ugo's injury. However, his quality of work declined and that had very little to do with injuries.

It is frustrating that he allowed the classes to become so uneven that the Pokes were in the position they were in this year. But, I don't think that is in any way, shape, or form a step back for the program as we should see the benefits of the uneven classes in the next year or so. But I also agree he has had some whiff's in recruiting too.

What a BS response. What is a good measure of the body of work if its not the win/loss record with overall accolades? McClain lost players and dealt with adversity all while playing in a MW that would massacre this one. Shyatts recruits currently would have gotten eaten alive in McClains MW, its not even close. If Shyatt gets a pass now because the poor guy lost some players than McClain gets a pass for playing in a conference far superior to this one. And McClain still won more than Shyatt up to this point in his career here.

I disagree about McClain coaching in a tougher MW. If you look back at RPI's and teams making the tournament that doesn't bear out. The last time the MW only got one team into the tournament was back in the Mcclain era. 2000-2001(we tied for first place and were stiffed so it shows the conference wasn't very good). Then throughout his tenure we got either 2 or 3 teams into the tournament with a RPI conference rank in the 7-8-9 range for the most part.
Larry came on board during the best couple years of the MW. In 11-12 we had 4 teams in the tournament and had a 5th ranked conference and the nest year we had 5 teams make the tournament and an RPI rank of 1. This year was a VERY bad year for the MW but overall I wouldn't say that Shyatt has had an easier course through the MW than McClain. I would say they could be pretty comparable. We forget how down the conference was in the early 2000's

There is a big difference between being a 7-8-9 RPI league which is where the MWC has been for most of its tenure and being the 11th and 12th like it has been the last two years. Shyatt has had some teams in years where the league was pretty good (including 97-98), but to be at the bottom of the league when the league reaches its nadir is very disappointing.

If you are looking at RPI, you will notice that this year's team had the lowest RPI of any Wyoming team in the last 35+ years that wasn't coached by Schroyer. Worse than any Dees, Wright, or McClain team and that is despite the fact that we stayed pretty healthy this year.

[TSpoke]

And SHyatt also coached in the best years of this conference. This year and last(to a lesser extent) were bad years for the conference. I'm not going to argue that. Probably worse than the early 2000's but the couple years before that(Shyatts first couple years in the conference) were the best years the MW has ever seen. We had top 5 conference RPI's with the #1 RPI in one of those years. So you can't say Shyatt had it easier because this year was bad while forgetting how good the conference was in his first couple years. The fact of the matter is the quality of the conference fluctuates and both coaches had some good confernces to compete in and some bad ones.
The year we won the conference was obviously a better MW than this year but wasn't as good as 12-13(? the year we were #1). I think the SDSU team from this year could have competed with those teams from that year but that's about it from this years MW.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

And SHyatt also coached in the best years of this conference. This year and last(to a lesser extent) were bad years for the conference. I'm not going to argue that. Probably worse than the early 2000's but the couple years before that(Shyatts first couple years in the conference) were the best years the MW has ever seen. We had top 5 conference RPI's with the #1 RPI in one of those years. So you can't say Shyatt had it easier because this year was bad while forgetting how good the conference was in his first couple years. The fact of the matter is the quality of the conference fluctuates and both coaches had some good confernces to compete in and some bad ones.
The year we won the conference was obviously a better MW than this year but wasn't as good as 12-13(? the year we were #1). I think the SDSU team from this year could have competed with those teams from that year but that's about it from this years MW.

League bids and RPI don't necessarily mean this conference makeup is better than years past. Do you foresee any of the four teams last year beating the 01-02 Wyoming team 5 or mor times out of 10? I certainly don't. The same SDSU that lost to Fresno State on a neutral court would hang with the teams from yesteryear? Man I just don't see that. Those teams were teams built to run and score. To win you had to outscore them because you weren't going to stop them. SDSUs offense is anemic to say the least. They weren't going to outrun that Wyoming team or any other top team in that MWC

[Wyolie Coyote]

Steve Gosar still retired from coaching?

Thankfully yes....

[JimmyDimes]

And SHyatt also coached in the best years of this conference. This year and last(to a lesser extent) were bad years for the conference. I'm not going to argue that. Probably worse than the early 2000's but the couple years before that(Shyatts first couple years in the conference) were the best years the MW has ever seen. We had top 5 conference RPI's with the #1 RPI in one of those years. So you can't say Shyatt had it easier because this year was bad while forgetting how good the conference was in his first couple years. The fact of the matter is the quality of the conference fluctuates and both coaches had some good confernces to compete in and some bad ones.
The year we won the conference was obviously a better MW than this year but wasn't as good as 12-13(? the year we were #1). I think the SDSU team from this year could have competed with those teams from that year but that's about it from this years MW.

League bids and RPI don't necessarily mean this conference makeup is better than years past. Do you foresee any of the four teams last year beating the 01-02 Wyoming team 5 or mor times out of 10? I certainly don't. The same SDSU that lost to Fresno State on a neutral court would hang with the teams from yesteryear? Man I just don't see that. Those teams were teams built to run and score. To win you had to outscore them because you weren't going to stop them. SDSUs offense is anemic to say the least. They weren't going to outrun that Wyoming team or any other top team in that MWC

That was a good Wyoming team......it is too bad McClain couldn't have built on the success he had instead of having that team be the pinnacle of his tenure at Wyoming.

[ragtimejoe1]

McClain's first 5 years were leaps and bound better than Shyatt's first 5 years. The next 3 years or so, if we are so fortunate, will determine Shyatt's legacy at WYO.