Are we a basketball school?

[jessejames02]

For some reason, growing up in Wyoming I always thought of UW as a football school. Yeah, bball would have shining moments every once in a while, but everyone made a big deal out of driving down for football games, got excited about the coaches and the recruits.

Given there's only been one plus .500 regular season in a decade, is UW now a basketball school? What's the vibe like in Wyo? I haven't been home for more than a few days in a looong time.

 

[Wyokie]

Gawd, I hope not but......sadly think we are now thanks to the morons running things at UW.

 

[seattlecowboy]

I always thought of Wyoming as more of a basketball school than a football school because we had more success in basketball then we did football. Driving down for Saturday football games is made more of a big deal just because of the overall atmosphere of a football game since there are not near as many of them as there are with basketball and you have all of the tailgating and everything that goes along with it.

I love both college football and college basketball but if Wyoming had to pick one sport to be good at I would rather it be basketball. They have a far better chance at competing at high levels in basketball than they ever do football.

If you look below at the basketball accomplishments they far outweigh anything we have done in Football. We have a national championship plus more regular season titles or conference championships.

Not sure we are really more of a basketball or football school though. We have more tradition with basketball over the history I would say. At least we rank higher in ESPN and whoever else basketball tradition schools than we do in their football tradition schools when they put rankings out.

Basketball accomplishments

Pre-tournament Helms champions
1934
NCAA Tournament champions
1943
NCAA Tournament Final Four
1943
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1952
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1952, 1953, 1967, 1987
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1981, 1982, 1987, 2002
NCAA Tournament appearances
1941, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2002, 2015
Conference tournament champions
1987, 1988, 2015
Conference regular season champions
1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1967, 1969, 1981, 1982, 1986, 2001, 2002


Football

Bowl games 13 total

1951 Gator Bowl 1956 Sun Bowl 1958 Sun Bowl (December) 1966 Sun Bowl 1968 Sugar Bowl 1976 Fiesta Bowl 1987 Holiday Bowl 1988 Holiday Bowl 1990 Copper Bowl 1993 Copper Bowl 2004 Las Vegas Bowl 2009 New Mexico Bowl 2011 New Mexico Bowl

15 conference titles in Football.

 

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

I always thought of Wyoming as more of a basketball school than a football school because we had more success in basketball then we did football. Driving down for Saturday football games is made more of a big deal just because of the overall atmosphere of a football game since there are not near as many of them as there are with basketball and you have all of the tailgating and everything that goes along with it.

I love both college football and college basketball but if Wyoming had to pick one sport to be good at I would rather it be basketball. They have a far better chance at competing at high levels in basketball than they ever do football.

If you look below at the basketball accomplishments they far outweigh anything we have done in Football. We have a national championship plus more regular season titles or conference championships.

Not sure we are really more of a basketball or football school though. We have more tradition with basketball over the history I would say. At least we rank higher in ESPN and whoever else basketball tradition schools than we do in their football tradition schools when they put rankings out.

Basketball accomplishments

Pre-tournament Helms champions
1934
NCAA Tournament champions
1943
NCAA Tournament Final Four
1943
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1952
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1952, 1953, 1967, 1987
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1981, 1982, 1987, 2002
NCAA Tournament appearances
1941, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1967, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 2002, 2015
Conference tournament champions
1987, 1988, 2015
Conference regular season champions
1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1967, 1969, 1981, 1982, 1986, 2001, 2002


Football

Bowl games 13 total

1951 Gator Bowl 1956 Sun Bowl 1958 Sun Bowl (December) 1966 Sun Bowl 1968 Sugar Bowl 1976 Fiesta Bowl 1987 Holiday Bowl 1988 Holiday Bowl 1990 Copper Bowl 1993 Copper Bowl 2004 Las Vegas Bowl 2009 New Mexico Bowl 2011 New Mexico Bowl

15 conference titles in Football.

:thumb: I agree completely. I love football but would rather watch a game at the AA!

 

[JimmyDimes]

Get back to the level of play during the mid to late 80's and we can be both. I was lucky to be in school at that time....top of the conference and ranked in both at some point or another. That was a year or two after skiing won a national title.

 

[cali2wyo]

... we can be both.

No way. Maybe within the conference but if we try to get both programs in the national spotlight both will end up being mediocre. There's so few schools that have been able to do it. Ohio state, Michigan state, louisville, maybe ucla.

Bowl eligibility every year and occasionally in contention for the division, with the basketball team finishing top 4 with big dance hopes every year. I think that's our ceiling if we strive to be a 2 sport school.

 

[NowherePoke]

I don't think you can classify UW as one or the other. Primarily because we have not been successful enough in either consistently to warrant that designation.

I agree with seattlecowboy and others that our Basketball history trumps our Football history and our potential is higher in that sport due to a number of reasons (composition of D1 vs. the FBS/FCS split, attendance limitations, number of athletes, etc.).

 

[LanderPoke]

I don't know why we can't strive to be top-notch in both... After this football season people will start to realize that being top-4 annually in the MWC in bball and football is possible for WYO.

 

[NowherePoke]

... we can be both.

No way. Maybe within the conference but if we try to get both programs in the national spotlight both will end up being mediocre. There's so few schools that have been able to do it. Ohio state, Michigan state, louisville, maybe ucla.

Bowl eligibility every year and occasionally in contention for the division, with the basketball team finishing top 4 with big dance hopes every year. I think that's our ceiling if we strive to be a 2 sport school.

Have we really seen any evidence that we could reach the levels you describe even if we focus on one sport? We have been pretty much devoting the majority of investment/focus into Football for the last 10-15 years (especially if the 2nd phase of the AA renovation ends up downsized) and what has that gotten us? 3 winning seasons this century.

We have spent money on the War (not enough, but that's a separate topic), the IPF, and now the High Altitude Training facility and we have hired the top FCS coaches and a top ranked P5 coordinator and I am not sure we are any better today than we were under Vic (our Sagarin ranking the last two years: 134 and 126. Vic's last two years: 118 and 120). We have only succeeded in dumbing down our schedule, primarily by being left behind by the better teams in the conference.

I think the strategy of focusing only on Football, which led to the cheapo Heath Schroyer hire, is a faulty one. I understand conceptually that College Football drives the bus in terms of media revenue and conference alignment, but the reality is that due to our market limitations we will never be considered for "Power Conference" membership. It just won't happen. Our current level, whatever you want to call it (G5, mid-major, etc.) is our destiny one way or the other. We should make every effort to be good in both revenue sports and to fund them to the maximum of our abilities.

I do feel that we have started to make up some ground in that regard as Shyatt is borderline top half of the league in terms of compensation and the first phase of the AA was a significant positive for the program and the student-athletes. However, as shown by the Shyatt contract issue, the AA 2nd phase delay, and the massive investment into the High Altitude training center (which won't serve basketball), we are still focusing the majority of our efforts/resources on football.

 

[JimmyDimes]

... we can be both.

No way. Maybe within the conference but if we try to get both programs in the national spotlight both will end up being mediocre. There's so few schools that have been able to do it. Ohio state, Michigan state, louisville, maybe ucla.

Bowl eligibility every year and occasionally in contention for the division, with the basketball team finishing top 4 with big dance hopes every year. I think that's our ceiling if we strive to be a 2 sport school.

It wouldn't be an easy task, but I think we do have the coaching in place. We had Brandy running the basketball program and Roach the football program. I don't think Shy and Bohl are that far off. Bohl still has to prove he can build Wyoming like he did NDSU. But, if and when he does, and if Shyatt can keep it going, Wyoming would need to build off the success. We can't afford to take backward steps. Luckily, it appears both want to be in Laramie.

Fingers crossed.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Gawd, I hope not but......sadly think we are now thanks to the morons running things at UW.

You hope not? You would rather Wyo be known for our football? Are you kidding me? Dude, this isn't the 80s anymore, get with it.

Wyo is not a football school. Not even close.

Wyo is a basketball school and has been since the National Title in the 40s.

Wyo hoops has had success throughout the decades meanwhile football has had like 5 good seasons. A few in the 60s and a few in the 80s.

Calling Wyoming a football school would be like calling Bama or Miami basketball schools. Sure we don't have the hoops success they have had in football but our football success is probably even worse than what they have in hoops.

 

[hithere]

I don't think you can classify UW as one or the other. Primarily because we have not been successful enough in either consistently to warrant that designation.

I agree with seattlecowboy and others that our Basketball history trumps our Football history and our potential is higher in that sport due to a number of reasons (composition of D1 vs. the FBS/FCS split, attendance limitations, number of athletes, etc.).

Agreed. At this point UW is an Ag school.

No knock on these people who think Wyoming is a football school but the vast majority of them were probably born before pictures of the President were in color. Tooting your horn about several Copper and Holiday Bowl losses peppered in with an appearance in the WAC championship game isn't holding water in being a football school.

I've heard all about the 60's teams but today's recruits weren't even born until 1997 when the accomplishment was Dana Dimel not getting blown out by Georgia.

 

[Wyokie]

I've heard all about the 60's teams but today's recruits weren't even born until 1997 when the accomplishment was Dana Dimel not getting blown out by Georgia.

And technically beating Colorado. They had an ineligible player that day.

I was born in 1974 and I do remember our glorious 2 years where the WAC stood for Wyoming's Athletic Conference in 1987-88.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

I don't know why we can't strive to be top-notch in both... After this football season people will start to realize that being top-4 annually in the MWC in bball and football is possible for WYO.

$$$$$

 

[cali2wyo]

Gawd, I hope not but......sadly think we are now thanks to the morons running things at UW.

You hope not? You would rather Wyo be known for our football? Are you kidding me? Dude, this isn't the 80s anymore, get with it.

Wyo is not a football school. Not even close.

Wyo is a basketball school and has been since the National Title in the 40s.

Wyo hoops has had success throughout the decades meanwhile football has had like 5 good seasons. A few in the 60s and a few in the 80s.

Calling Wyoming a football school would be like calling Bama or Miami basketball schools. Sure we don't have the hoops success they have had in football but our football success is probably even worse than what they have in hoops.

As soon as this thread was made I was hoping beaver would show up! Haha :lol:

Wyoming mentality: basketball works here... But let's keep trying at football.

 

[Wyokie]

Well...part of my problem is that the culture here in Oklahoma is win in football or don't bother coming home. If you have to cheat at winning, so be it...just as long as you don't get caught!!! Basketball is not a big thing here especially at the high school level. Yes, even with the OKC Thunder being here.

My attitude changed when I went to Cody over the 4th of July weekend.

 

[WYCowboy]

We'll see how this turns out - we should know in the next couple of years. The present and the future are what matters now.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I've always thought of us as more of a basketball school since that's the sport we've actually done something in historically. College hoops is great because schools like Wyoming can always have a chance to build a competitive team in the landscape. Part of it is just the sport itself. You can have bunch of guys who aren't even the greatest athletes or even really that big be somewhat successful with some combo of coaching, high IQ, chemistry, and 3 point shooting. Look at schools like Air Force and what they've done over the years with their talent pool. Wyoming often finds itself in that same underdog boat but in basketball an underdog can win and compete for conference titles. You don't always need a shit ton of money in hoops to be successful but it does help.

Football is completely different. It is a straight power fest. How do you compete with bigger, stronger,and faster players? Well you often don't if they have you beat in that way at 5 or more positions and if that is the case you often lose by 21 plus points.Coaching does matter but more so does the size of your lines. You can't out coach the work done in the weight room or the natural speed of players as easily. Money is everything now in college football as well and it talks. The college football landscape has drastically changed to benefit the bigger cash schools in this last decade even more so. It's kinda gross and a very American way of doing business these days.

I think Wyoming may have had a chance to become a football school had we done everything we could've to hold onto to Tiller back in the day. He had the program at a very exciting place and was a great coach. We didn't see the need to cough up enough coin or love for that guy and it cost us the program. Was it a money thing again? Since then we just haven't even put a team out that's really been at that level imo. We could've been building a reputation since that era and with it tradition/history. Instead its just been falling apart. Our football history is depressing (might even be an understatement) and so to is the state of college football. It sorta reflects the wealth inequality in our country. The haves and the have nots. Have fun trying to beat the haves and good luck to ya but most the time they'll be running rough shot over you with straight power while you try to claw back.

 

[djm19]

You are all wrong. It is wrestling. Not football. Not basketball.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

You are all wrong. It is wrestling. Not football. Not basketball.

Yeah I think this is actually right. We've been a much better wrestling school the whole time haven't we? I remember wrestling was good when I was there, but I never went. I was only into football (which got beat out of me), hoops, and women's soccer. Should've gone to volleyball...what was I thinking?