Candidates

[Cowboy20]

So there’s no doubt we’ll be hiring- sooner rather than later, who do we want to see as potential candidates? What strategy does the department take? My 2 cents; go after a proven coach who just didn’t pan out at a higher level. No more FCS newbies. Give me someone who coached their way up the ranks, did well at another G6 program, but wasn’t “good enough” for a P4. Good enough is very different at the P4 level. Thoughts?
My top 5
Nick Rolovich
Scott Frost
Dana Holgorsen
Seth Littrell
Mike Gundy
The questions are, for any of these guys, could they turn things around or have we sunk too far? Is Wyoming an attractive place to restart a head coaching career? Can we actually pay them enough to want to make a move?
Lots to ponder for Tom and Reeves.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

So there’s no doubt we’ll be hiring- sooner rather than later, who do we want to see as potential candidates?

There’s no doubt!?!? What???

Who is coughing up the $2.5 million+ immediately due to Sawvel on firing and who is coughing up the money for a new staff?

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Lots to ponder for Tom and Reeves.

The only thing Tom should be pondering is what he will be doing in all his free time.

 

[HiCountryCowboy]

Rolovich didn’t fail, he told the man to fuck off when it came to the covid tyranny. Legend. Would be a home run.

 

[Cowboy20]

There’s no doubt!?!? What???

Who is coughing up the $2.5 million+ immediately due to Sawvel on firing and who is coughing up the money for a new staff?

There’s options. Shoot, we could take out a loan! It’d be worth it!
And I do believe there’s no doubt. When you look at what lost revenue will happen with an empty War, you gotta do something. There’s no CSU or Boise coming in November anymore to boost the usual late season attendance. This current product already has people staying home let alone cold weather.

 

[SDPokeFan]

There’s options. Shoot, we could take out a loan! It’d be worth it!
And I do believe there’s no doubt. When you look at what lost revenue will happen with an empty War, you gotta do something. There’s no CSU or Boise coming in November anymore to boost the usual late season attendance. This current product already has people staying home let alone cold weather.

I don’t know about this. The games now seems to be an event. People want to tailgate, gather, etc. It’s almost like a lot of people couldn’t care less about the product on the field.

 

[phxpoke]

I don’t know about this. The games now seems to be an event. People want to tailgate, gather, etc. It’s almost like a lot of people couldn’t care less about the product on the field.

I don't agree. Maybe for now you are right, but as the losses pile up, the apathy will grow. There were 8 of us who were planning on attending the NIU game. We decided it's not worth the airfare and expensive hotels to watch a boring team probably lose to another bad team.

 

[PAPoke]

So there’s no doubt we’ll be hiring- sooner rather than later, who do we want to see as potential candidates? What strategy does the department take? My 2 cents; go after a proven coach who just didn’t pan out at a higher level. No more FCS newbies. Give me someone who coached their way up the ranks, did well at another G6 program, but wasn’t “good enough” for a P4. Good enough is very different at the P4 level. Thoughts?
My top 5
Nick Rolovich
Scott Frost
Dana Holgorsen
Seth Littrell
Mike Gundy
The questions are, for any of these guys, could they turn things around or have we sunk too far? Is Wyoming an attractive place to restart a head coaching career? Can we actually pay them enough to want to make a move?
Lots to ponder for Tom and Reeves.

I find this list a bit unrealistic, frankly. Wyoming is neither an attractive enough location nor, at this point, a good enough job to be pulling established names like this out of retirement or away from comfortable situations.

And even if one of them were interested, what exactly are we selling them? Unless we’re prepared to dramatically increase NIL (probably several times over), we not only have to pay the coach enough to entice him to Laramie; we have to give him enough resources to acquire and retain the players needed to actually run his system. Hiring a recognizable name without fixing the underlying resource problem just gives us an expensive recognizable name.

IMO, we should be looking at the regional up-and-comer. Find an OC or DC who is killing it, understands this part of the country, recruits his ass off, and is ready to proves he belongs in the FBS. Give him Wyoming, knowing full well that, if he succeeds, he’ll probably use us as a stepping stone in three or four years.

That would be a tremendous step up from where we are now because that’s how far we’ve fallen. We shouldn’t be searching for the guy who views Wyoming as the comfortable final stop of his career. We need the ambitious guy who views Wyoming as the place where he can prove he belongs somewhere bigger.

If he wins enough here that a P4 program comes calling, great. It means Wyoming football mattered again.

None of this matters, though, if Burman is making the hire.

I think the more important conversation is who the realistic candidates are for the AD job. I’d be picking up the phone and calling the ADs at Montana State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. Those three departments have reached levels of competitive success, fundraising, revenue growth, and facility development that we would kill to see in Laramie.

Get the right person running the department first. Then let that person hire the next football coach.

 

[LawPoke]

I think the better and priority question is who could be a good candidate to replace our AD. Start there.

 

[Douglaspoke]

Dave Logan--He can keep his gig at KOA and the Broncos---Immediate Colorado boost/ The guy has forgot more about football than the combined current UW staff.

 

[Cowboy20]

I find this list a bit unrealistic, frankly. Wyoming is neither an attractive enough location nor, at this point, a good enough job to be pulling established names like this out of retirement or away from comfortable situations.

And even if one of them were interested, what exactly are we selling them? Unless we’re prepared to dramatically increase NIL (probably several times over), we not only have to pay the coach enough to entice him to Laramie; we have to give him enough resources to acquire and retain the players needed to actually run his system. Hiring a recognizable name without fixing the underlying resource problem just gives us an expensive recognizable name.

IMO, we should be looking at the regional up-and-comer. Find an OC or DC who is killing it, understands this part of the country, recruits his ass off, and is ready to proves he belongs in the FBS. Give him Wyoming, knowing full well that, if he succeeds, he’ll probably use us as a stepping stone in three or four years.

That would be a tremendous step up from where we are now because that’s how far we’ve fallen. We shouldn’t be searching for the guy who views Wyoming as the comfortable final stop of his career. We need the ambitious guy who views Wyoming as the place where he can prove he belongs somewhere bigger.

If he wins enough here that a P4 program comes calling, great. It means Wyoming football mattered again.

None of this matters, though, if Burman is making the hire.

I think the more important conversation is who the realistic candidates are for the AD job. I’d be picking up the phone and calling the ADs at Montana State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. Those three departments have reached levels of competitive success, fundraising, revenue growth, and facility development that we would kill to see in Laramie.

Get the right person running the department first. Then let that person hire the next football coach.

Coaches are a strange breed. We aren’t at the level where you’re selling them something. You’re offering up a challenge. A way to get back to a level where they sell you something. The challenge is the most appealing. Even the great coaches often exit on a bad note. That’s never acceptable to the person that is a competitor and has won. That itch to take on a challenge and rise out of the ashes is what we can offer. We don’t have the time to wait on Burman. What could be done is tell Tom that he can announce his retirement now, effective at the end of his contract, OR we announce his release. Offer him the opportunity to walk away. Then, tell him he needs to make the announcement for Sawvel’s release. Open the football job, hire a committee for that hire, and Reeves makes the final decision. All of that can be done by November if we target guys like the ones on my list. Not waiting for the up and comer to finish their season. The guys on the list have a pedigree. Transfer portal for them is easy.