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WTE weighs in Mead's proposal for UW athletics

SnowyRange

Well-known member
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2015/12/17/opinion/staff_editorials/29editorial_12-13-15.txt#.VnMNA0orJFE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
That is a good reminder of why I don't read that paper.

They bring up some valid points (salary increases, budget cuts, etc), but they also did themselves a big disservice by saying UW needs to drop down a level. At the end, they say they don't mind spending money on athletics when the state has money, but the real reason for the article is they think UW shouldn't be competing in the FBS.
 
This is a MAJOR area where Burman has failed. He allows this type of piece to be written by his own inaction. By now, Burman should have laid out a clear plan with supporting data that undeniably demonstrates a return on investment in athletics. "For the 30+ million invested in athletics, the University sees x million return; the state sees y million in tax revenue; the city of Laramie sees z million in spending by patrons" or something along those lines.

100% Burman's job to highlight and clearly define the economic and academic benefits of athletics to UW, the state, and Laramie.
 
He should absolutely work on putting that to bed. They did that research on dropping a division back in 2003/2004 if I remember right. The thing they learned from the research is athletics would lose a bunch of money (and of course support) - and would require the university to heavily subsidize athletics.

Its 2015 - no respectable institution should be advocating dropping a level based upon that report. That is a huge failure of the administration to go out and demonstrate the economics and viability of athletics.
 
What I want to know is the people that take pride in writing these articles actually care about? I come from Nebraska and outside of Nebraska football, what do most people outside the region no Nebraska for? The answer is they wouldn't if there wasn't Nebraska football. Now it's time for people to realize that if it wasn't for athletics at the University, people west of Utah and east of Nebraska probably would barely know Wyoming existed. Take pride in your pride in your state. Take pride in the school. Take pride in the Cowboys.
 
The "we can only be so good" crowd along with the risk-averse folks who think money saved is better than money invested are dug in like ticks in Wyoming. It's that mentality that contributes greatly to the out-migration of Wyoming natives searching for opportunity. Too many generations of Wyoming have bought into simply riding the boom-bust wave and socking money away in the trough.

There is tremendous fear of change creating a very insular culture among too many Wyomingites. With any luck we'll see it diminish as they die or and seek greener Luddite pastures in Montana.
 
I agree that the investment in the athletic brand is critical - the Cowboys, Jackson Hole, and Yellowstone are about the only identifiable things about Wyoming for most out of the region. Bottom line, though, is that athletics won't be successful with someone so incompetent leading the department. Guy's had 10 years and we mostly ever see the 'Boys (and 'Girls) being boatraced on the ESPN ticker along with empty threats that we will someday be "competitive". The department is not healthy with him in charge. Give the extra money, but to a winner (EVEN IF HE ISNT A NATIVE)!
 
Wyovanian said:
The "we can only be so good" crowd along with the risk-averse folks who think money saved is better than money invested are dug in like ticks in Wyoming. It's that mentality that contributes greatly to the out-migration of Wyoming natives searching for opportunity. Too many generations of Wyoming have bought into simply riding the boom-bust wave and socking money away in the trough.

There is tremendous fear of change creating a very insular culture among too many Wyomingites. With any luck we'll see it diminish as they die or and seek greener Luddite pastures in Montana.


Well said. I know of several legislators and media types with the same mentality.
 
I would guess that is mostly driven by Eckhardt. He is consistently negative towards UW and the people of Wyoming in general.
 
I realize that the article is mostly directed at football, but I like how they conveniently don't mention basketball and how money provided to athletics has been successfully utilized for that sport.
 
NowherePoke said:
I would guess that is mostly driven by Eckhardt. He is consistently negative towards UW and the people of Wyoming in general.
Eckhardt is a tool. I give no credence to that paper until he's gone, which may be a while.
 
Bohl did build a winner at ndsu at a fcs level, it wouldn't be a bad idea here ,to start there to be respectable on the field then build a fbs program . Fbs takes a ton more money to operate then fcs and at the end what difference really is there , tbh this is totally a fcs area.... being so far away from any population.
 
Hampshire said:
Bohl did build a winner at ndsu at a fcs level, it wouldn't be a bad idea here ,to start there to be respectable on the field then build a fbs program . Fbs takes a ton more money to operate then fcs and at the end what difference really is there , tbh this is totally a fcs area.... being so far away from any population.
Huh? Leave FBS in order to become FBS? Your logic is baffling.
 
Hampshire said:
Bohl did build a winner at ndsu at a fcs level, it wouldn't be a bad idea here ,to start there to be respectable on the field then build a fbs program . Fbs takes a ton more money to operate then fcs and at the end what difference really is there , tbh this is totally a fcs area.... being so far away from any population.
Not this sh-t again.

Did you miss the entire threads that pretty much discredited such a move, or are you choosing to ignore what is already a foregone conclusion.

Wyoming will either field an FBS football team or it won't field a football team at all. FCS is simply off the table as an option, per the University's own study.
 
I didn't read the post no ..... the way it's seen is its a given that's it's going to be hard here to field a competitive team unless a lot has changed the last few years...... which it hasn't. I would say fcs would be a good fit but it looks like the logic is to go down with the ship and not jump into a life raft. That's cool too . I'm not going to read it but sounds like they have the same understanding of the situation.
 
The problem with dropping down a level is money. We would lose significant amounts of money from TV contracts, advertising, ticket sales, etc, etc. We would essentially be a broke FCS team that would probably have a hard time fielding a team.

That money trickles around all of athletics too. Football brings in enough revenue to subsidise the other athletic teams. Losing that source of revenue would probably just kill our athletics entirely.
 
Well that seems like a horrible business plan , each program should at least take care of them selves and with that a school shouldn't make a ton of money off of one program , if anything it should stay in the program it was made from . It seems like money is running the program, or greed .
 
Hampshire said:
Well that seems like a horrible business plan , each program should at least take care of them selves and with that a school shouldn't make a ton of money off of one program , if anything it should stay in the program it was made from . It seems like money is running the program, or greed .

Football is the sport that brings in the money at most every school to help run all the other sports. It isn't like that is just Wyoming's plan. Not sure if that is what you meant or you think Wyoming is the only school to have this "plan" as you put it in place.

As has been stated before Wyoming already did a very detailed research study on what would happen if Wyoming were to drop to FCS level for football and they found the whole university would lose a lot of money. It was found you would be better off not having a football team at all than dropping down to FCS. So even with a crappy losing FBS team Wyoming as a athletic department and University as a whole is better off than dropping down to FCS or not having a team.

The problem is most people don't look into this and just assume they "know" what they are talking about and spout off and say Wyoming should drop down to FCS when in reality that would be the worst possible thing that the University could do. People need to do some research before they speak and understand what they are saying otherwise they look like fools. Just like the man who wrote the editorial looks like a fool for even writing it but to himself he probably thinks he is a genius. Little does he know.
 

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