Reality

[OrediggerPoke]

It seems like we have quite the relationship with the city of Buffalo NY. The mafia is very generous with their money when they see a worthwhile cause. Wishful thinking here, but could our university try to market NIL opportunities to the mafia? They could maybe sell it as "UW is your university too." type of thing. Imagine if JA was on board with something like this?

That would be very embarrassing to their own local FBS team…the Buffalo Bulls (who have been much better than Wyoming over the past 2 years). Given that, can’t imagine it would catch on (but you never know I guess).

 

[rich22]

I'm more for do better or drop completely. The athletic dept recieves $23-24 mill annually from taxpayers and students. When facility costs are included, I'm sure that number is MUCH higher. However, just take the direct contributions and reroute to in-state scholarships. You'd save the average grad $12k or so. Put it in an endowment for 5 years and would start paying out 4-5 mill/year. Keep the contribution going and imagine where it would be in 20 years? The endowment would be paying out somewhere around 50 mill annually in 20 years with the principle intact. That's very rough and simplistic. Reality is that it would probably grow more.

Justify to average WYO taxpayer why funding one of the worst athletic programs in the conference is of more benefit than investing more in WYO undergrads? It'd be a tough conversation.

I'm for athletics but they need to succeed and bring positive press, exposure, and help connect the state to the University. Year after year failure in almost every category does the opposite.

I understand your argument, but I also think that would be detrimental to the entire university. There is a possibility if you take the athletics dept away, the university starts to disappear. There was 13,000 students when I was there in the early 2000's. Now there is 10,000. I would imagine that about 5,000 students show up to every football game. It is an event that a lot of students love. They come to Wyoming for the full college experience. If you took that large part away, I wonder what the number of enrolled students would be. I think there is a university in every corner of the state, that is out of state, that offers the full college experience. Montana, Montana state, Colorado, Colorado state, Utah, BYU and Utah state. There is something wrong with dropping the entire athletic department or more institutions would do it.

I don't get how every one of our peers are growing and expanding and we are talking about dropping down or cutting the programs. What is the secret to recruiting not only good teams/players but also general students? We need better leadership across the entire university.

 

[bladerunnr]

I understand your argument, but I also think that would be detrimental to the entire university. There is a possibility if you take the athletics dept away, the university starts to disappear. There was 13,000 students when I was there in the early 2000's. Now there is 10,000. I would imagine that about 5,000 students show up to every football game. It is an event that a lot of students love. They come to Wyoming for the full college experience. If you took that large part away, I wonder what the number of enrolled students would be. I think there is a university in every corner of the state, that is out of state, that offers the full college experience. Montana, Montana state, Colorado, Colorado state, Utah, BYU and Utah state. There is something wrong with dropping the entire athletic department or more institutions would do it.

I don't get how every one of our peers are growing and expanding and we are talking about dropping down or cutting the programs. What is the secret to recruiting not only good teams/players but also general students? We need better leadership across the entire university.

The student part is simple. The population of Wyoming is not growing significantly. That's a real problem for a state university. I live in Colorado. The state has more than 6 1/2 million people.. There are no new universities so the existing ones grow. CSU has more than 35k students now. Utah, Idaho, and Nevada have had huge increases in number of residents. That practically insures more students.
To some degree, it will always be harder for Wyoming. Some athletes will never consider living in a small town like Laramie. The reputation of the school is not so great that it will attract students from all over the country. When I was in school, Wyoming used to get the small town kid who didn't get offered by a big program like Nebraska. Now, we lose that kid to Boise state or some other regional school.

 

[TheRealUW]

I understand your argument, but I also think that would be detrimental to the entire university. There is a possibility if you take the athletics dept away, the university starts to disappear. There was 13,000 students when I was there in the early 2000's. Now there is 10,000. I would imagine that about 5,000 students show up to every football game. It is an event that a lot of students love. They come to Wyoming for the full college experience. If you took that large part away, I wonder what the number of enrolled students would be. I think there is a university in every corner of the state, that is out of state, that offers the full college experience. Montana, Montana state, Colorado, Colorado state, Utah, BYU and Utah state. There is something wrong with dropping the entire athletic department or more institutions would do it.

I don't get how every one of our peers are growing and expanding and we are talking about dropping down or cutting the programs. What is the secret to recruiting not only good teams/players but also general students? We need better leadership across the entire university.

As bladerunnr has already said, the low student enrollment numbers are directly related to the lack of population growth in the state of Wyoming. The number of kids graduating from Wyoming high schools is actually slightly lower now than it was in 1990...kind of mind blowing.

That lack of population growth coupled with people having less kids in general and less of those kids (especially males) pursuing a college education, and you have a recipe for disaster at UW. I'm honestly not sure how they turn the enrollment numbers around.

 

[Poke in New England]

The student part is simple. The population of Wyoming is not growing significantly. That's a real problem for a state university. I live in Colorado. The state has more than 6 1/2 million people.. There are no new universities so the existing ones grow. CSU has more than 35k students now. Utah, Idaho, and Nevada have had huge increases in number of residents. That practically insures more students.
To some degree, it will always be harder for Wyoming. Some athletes will never consider living in a small town like Laramie. The reputation of the school is not so great that it will attract students from all over the country. When I was in school, Wyoming used to get the small town kid who didn't get offered by a big program like Nebraska. Now, we lose that kid to Boise state or some other regional school.

I always struggle to understand why this is. As you point out, nearly every state surrounding Wyoming has grown like crazy this century.

If the complaint is weather and politics well, Idaho and Utah are not so different. Lack of a big metro? 60 years ago, Casper, Cheyenne and Boise had basically the same population (35k-40k). Maybe someone smarter than me can explain why Boise now has 235k and Casper and Cheyenne have 60k.

 

[TheRealUW]

I always struggle to understand why this is. As you point out, nearly every state surrounding Wyoming has grown like crazy this century.

If the complaint is weather and politics well, Idaho and Utah are not so different. Lack of a big metro? 60 years ago, Casper, Cheyenne and Boise had basically the same population (35k-40k). Maybe someone smarter than me can explain why Boise now has 235k and Casper and Cheyenne have 60k.

The answer is what always drives population growth…the job market.

Boise worked to strengthen and diversify its job market over the past couple decades. They were very successful, particularly within the tech sector.

Another important factor not to be overlooked is its location. It is much closer, and easier to get to, from West Coast cities where a lot of the people moving into Boise are coming from. In general, a lot of the people coming to Boise want the lower cost of living and the family friendly environment, but want easy access back to California for the more mild weather, more advanced healthcare, and shopping it offers.