BoT Meeting

[Itsux2beaewe]

Part of Burmans comments;
Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman spoke about the state of Wyoming athletics while speaking to the UW Board of Trustees on Wednesday. Football was on his list.

While Burman pointed to plenty of positives throughout the athletic department, he said football is a different story right now.

“The challenge that we're facing right now is: how do we get football on track?” Burman said. “Football is the one entity of our 17 sports plus two rodeo teams that when it's bad, when it's not performing, the fan base, the public views Wyoming in a negative light. So we have to address that.”

Head football coach Jay Sawvel has an 8-19 record overall since taking over the program in 2024. Wyoming is 1-2 after last Saturday's 24-10 loss at Central Michigan. The Cowboys return home Saturday to face Hawaii.

Burman said turning things around starts Saturday as Mountain West Conference play begins.

“We are going to start by Saturday and get that moving in the right direction,” he said.

What’s he going to do? Wave a magic wand tomorrow!

 

[Poke in New England]

Part of Burmans comments;
Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman spoke about the state of Wyoming athletics while speaking to the UW Board of Trustees on Wednesday. Football was on his list.

While Burman pointed to plenty of positives throughout the athletic department, he said football is a different story right now.

“The challenge that we're facing right now is: how do we get football on track?” Burman said. “Football is the one entity of our 17 sports plus two rodeo teams that when it's bad, when it's not performing, the fan base, the public views Wyoming in a negative light. So we have to address that.”

Head football coach Jay Sawvel has an 8-19 record overall since taking over the program in 2024. Wyoming is 1-2 after last Saturday's 24-10 loss at Central Michigan. The Cowboys return home Saturday to face Hawaii.

Burman said turning things around starts Saturday as Mountain West Conference play begins.

“We are going to start by Saturday and get that moving in the right direction,” he said.

What’s he going to do? Wave a magic wand tomorrow!

No offense to any member or fan of the rodeo teams. But is he suggesting that rodeo has more of an impact on the fan base/public view of UW than the basketball teams?

 

[McPeachy]

Part of Burmans comments;
Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman spoke about the state of Wyoming athletics while speaking to the UW Board of Trustees on Wednesday. Football was on his list.

While Burman pointed to plenty of positives throughout the athletic department, he said football is a different story right now.

“The challenge that we're facing right now is: how do we get football on track?” Burman said. “Football is the one entity of our 17 sports plus two rodeo teams that when it's bad, when it's not performing, the fan base, the public views Wyoming in a negative light. So we have to address that.”

Head football coach Jay Sawvel has an 8-19 record overall since taking over the program in 2024. Wyoming is 1-2 after last Saturday's 24-10 loss at Central Michigan. The Cowboys return home Saturday to face Hawaii.

Burman said turning things around starts Saturday as Mountain West Conference play begins.

“We are going to start by Saturday and get that moving in the right direction,” he said.

What’s he going to do? Wave a magic wand tomorrow!

What an idiot.

 

[DamThatRiver22]

Actual clown shit lmfao

 

[307bball]

That is just an excuse. The fucking guy has been at the helm for 20 years. No matter what was going on before him, he had 20 years to make UW athletics even just decent, and yet all he did was shit all over it. And, Gary Barta had the momentum going, and future facility plans already in place (IPF, RAC, and similar).
SportsMemorabilia

No arguments from me defending But man. Could you let me in on what the excuse is for? Does the fact that the slide of college athletics at UW predates him let him off the hook in your opinion? If so....then he's in the clear. I don't think that is a widely held opinion. He took over a program that was on a trajectory and pretty much maintained course. Moon to Barta to Burman is directionally consistent.

 

[stymeman]

Burman is the one that needs to be concerned as i heard his contract is up in July...so be it

 

[DamThatRiver22]

Let's not forget Burman was also actually assistant AD when the great downward spiral of Wyoming Football started. He skipped away to PSU for a bit before coming back and now everyone forgets that he's had a hand in shit for even longer than his current "tenure". Lol.

I've defended Burman over a lot of shit in the past but it's clear who at least the majority of the problem is at this point.

 

[PAPoke]

Would be great to get rid of Burman....But the ship was already going down when he took over....obviously he had no positive impact on the direction...but the systemic problems pre-date him.

I’m usually in lockstep with you, but I think this lets Burman off the hook a little too much. He’s been the AD since 2006. The systemic problems may predate him, but after nearly 20 years, he owns a meaningful share of the responsibility for where the department is.

That doesn’t mean he’s solely responsible. The BOT, the state, university leadership, and the broader system have all contributed. The constant presidential turnover probably hasn’t helped either, because every new president has had to spend time getting the institution itself in order (which has been a fruitless endeavor),

NIL has probably widened the gap for schools like Wyoming more than it closed it. But it was still a major inflection point in college athletics and an opportunity to rethink the strategy, which I think he failed at.

At some point, though, systemic disadvantages become the challenge you were hired to overcome. Burman’s job was to adapt, build resources, make the right hires, advocate for athletics, and find a way forward. Instead, it feels like we’ve spent too much time explaining why Wyoming can’t compete.

The system dealt him a difficult hand. I still think he failed to play it well enough.