If you were to strip away the UW name, toss aside the brown and gold glasses most wear, and simply put together a spreadsheet that showed record and conference finish by team over the past decade, I think that you would find that "mediocre" is even generous. Records and standings tell the tale. We are, ON OUR VERY BEST DAYS, mediocre and have been for 10-20 years. Consequently, if we are mediocre and have done little to change that status (other than trading one crappy head coach for another crappy or mediocre coach), it seems that the evidence would support the notion that we accept mediocrity. Even when we engage a capital campaign, we tend to screw it up and end up with half-assery.With the hires of PBJ and guarantees/extension of Burman, do you feel the Sterberg report is accurate that UWYO accepts mediocrity? The definition of mediocrity is that UWYO accepts current results as reality that we can't control with our resources.
Where can I find this report?With the hires of PBJ and guarantees/extension of Burman, do you feel the Sterberg report is accurate that UWYO accepts mediocrity? The definition of mediocrity is that UWYO accepts current results as reality that we can't control with our resources.
It's likely digitally archived by now. I don't know of an active link to it? I'm sure if you requested it, UW would provide it to you.Where can I find this report?
I did some Google searches... Found the following link.... Is that it?It's likely digitally archived by now. I don't know of an active link to it? I'm sure if you requested it, UW would provide it to you.
Looks like it.I did some Google searches... Found the following link.... Is that it?
After looking through that particular document...The term that is reused a lot is a "culture of acceptance". I don't think the word mediocrity is in there anywhere. As far as reports go...It's fine but there is nothing in it that I would consider to be revelatory, even at the time. It spends a lot of time to say that basically, "Hey, this program that is languishing...guess what? On top of the external problems that it faces, it also lacks a culture of excellence". Shocking! Would this be different than any other also-ran collegiate athletic programs out there? Where is the program that does not have, as the report put it, a culture of acceptance? It's too banal of an observation to be helpful. To be fair to the report, it does recommend some steps to address it. I particularly like the recommendation to raise accountability coupled with changing the approach to revenue generation. You and I have gone on at length about coach compensation and what "should" be going on. I would love it if UW paid their coaches and staffs at the highest level in the conference and had a quick trigger on moving on from coaches.Looks like it.
Needs redone in the modern era with the twist are athletics worth it? I think the past 12 years since the report was done may indicate the juice wasn't worth the squeeze but I don't know for sure. Either way and regardless of reason, it appears accepting of mediocrity is prevalent. Pay for AD and HC is clearly not the issue. If the issue is outside of that, then there's clearly no justification to pay near the top of the conference for middle to bottom results.
To say there is a culture problem doesn't do much. My problem is not really with the report...it's that it came about 15 to 20 years too late. The time to implement ruthless administrative efficiency probably passed us by sometime in the '90s. By the time the report had been published, the trends that were passing UW athletics up had already calcified. Again, things would have been better had they cleaned house in 2013 but that is a pretty low bar. Better than what we got covers a lot of outcomes that we are still unhappy about.1 recommendation was development of a solid strategic plan. Have you read ours? No measurable goals or benchmarks, no key performance indicators, etc. The culture accepts that strategic plan as acceptable when it's really not.
There are unilateral coaching decisions which indicates likely many unilateral decisions are made without stakeholder, university, or community input.
There are so many things that were advised in that report yet seemingly were ignored.
At the end of the day, I'm starting to think you are right. Maybe UW sports just aren't for me any longer. I mean if UW doesn't care, why should I?
The culture problem is far more pervasive than UW and UW athletics. The reality is we (myself included) are unwilling to pay for what we think we want or deserve. We (royal we) loathe paying taxes but we want the services that those taxes pay. Sure there is waste and inefficiency that makes me grumble when I see the escrow payment for property taxes (I am particularly vexed by the top-heavy admin expenditures in K-12 ed - that said, my kids have gotten a fantastic public education), but all in all, Wyoming state and local government is pretty lean. All that is to say that I will go to some football games, but it isn't the event and cause in my life that it once was. I haven't been to a men's basketball game in three years - the atmosphere is lousy and the product on the floor has been worse than lousy. If they become competitive or I happen to be in Laramie, I might go to a game - but I won't go out of my way. I won't advocate for or against cutting athletics or dropping divisions...it's a waste of my feeble typing skills. To be sure, it isn't all UW's fault either - NIL, the portal, and the death spiral of my once proud university have allowed me to become more distant. I can't invest energy or passion into seeing a kid go from a lanky, bumbling Freshman to a polished Senior anymore...most likely any development is swept away with a hasty transfer their Sophomore or Junior years...so why care who is wearing the brown and gold. I won't invest energy into UW - the BOT and President are so inept that it makes no sense to get spun up anymore.To say there is a culture problem doesn't do much. My problem is not really with the report...it's that it came about 15 to 20 years too late. The time to implement ruthless administrative efficiency probably passed us by sometime in the '90s. By the time the report had been published, the trends that were passing UW athletics up had already calcified. Again, things would have been better had they cleaned house in 2013 but that is a pretty low bar. Better than what we got covers a lot of outcomes that we are still unhappy about.
Every time I bring this observation up, people accuse me of throwing in the towel and saying "why even have athletics". The question is a fair one even if the criticism of my observation is not. For myself, I love athletics...particularly youth and (real) college athletics. I like professional as well but it never got it's hooks into my like real amateur athletics has. I want UW to have a great athletic program. I can't make the economic case for it. Maybe it is over.
