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BoT Meeting

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!
 
Itsux2beaewe said:
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!
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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?
 
Itsux2beaewe said:
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!
Click to expand...
What an idiot.
 
McPeachy said:
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
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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.
 
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.
 
307bball said:
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.
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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.
 
PAPoke said:
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.
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I really don't mean to let him off the hook....side effect of noticing a trend that predates him I guess.

I think letting him off the hook is a mistake..don't want to do that. I also don't want to act like, if it weren't for him, everything would be great...that would also be a mistake.

I think it first came to my mind when Utah, TCU, and BYU left the MWC that there may be things going on that are less explicable than just having a good or bad coach. Fast forward to Bohl and some of that feeling sort of went away....but then NIL happened....then the Pac-stabbers happened. The more I look at this, I really think we were further down the wrong road than anybody thought back in 2006 when Burman took over. I'm not plugged in to the leadership like some folks....but I don't recall people calling for a completely new way of doing things back then....that is what it would have taken...and even by then there were some things going on in terms of spiraling revenue at the top end of the sport that was already starting to rear it's head. Whatever was going on in the leadership at UW during the last 30 (yes..more than 20) was not up to the task. There was very little excellence in UW athletics from 1996 forward.
 
stymeman said:
Burman is the one that needs to be concerned as i heard his contract is up in July...so be it
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Knowing that Burman's contract is up in July is the best news I have heard all week.........and if they renew his contract, it will be the worst news I will have heard in years!
 
307bball said:
I really don't mean to let him off the hook....side effect of noticing a trend that predates him I guess.

I think letting him off the hook is a mistake..don't want to do that. I also don't want to act like, if it weren't for him, everything would be great...that would also be a mistake.

I think it first came to my mind when Utah, TCU, and BYU left the MWC that there may be things going on that are less explicable than just having a good or bad coach. Fast forward to Bohl and some of that feeling sort of went away....but then NIL happened....then the Pac-stabbers happened. The more I look at this, I really think we were further down the wrong road than anybody thought back in 2006 when Burman took over. I'm not plugged in to the leadership like some folks....but I don't recall people calling for a completely new way of doing things back then....that is what it would have taken...and even by then there were some things going on in terms of spiraling revenue at the top end of the sport that was already starting to rear it's head. Whatever was going on in the leadership at UW during the last 30 (yes..more than 20) was not up to the task. There was very little excellence in UW athletics from 1996 forward.
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The real issue was that Burman was resigned to watching Wyoming slide because there was little that he could do..........we were all told.

0% creative thinking has come from the AD's office at UW in 20 years! Unless you want to give him credit for creative construction of seats in the War and the AA..... He has watched UW slip behind other schools constantly and done absolutely NOTHING about it. He has pumped up hires he has made, mainly in men's basketball and football that has NOT produced even ONE season champion in either sport in his 20 years at UW! The fan base has constantly bought his hype only to be constantly disappointed. Zero accountability has fallen on Tom, he is the "Teflon AD".

When we got Tom Burman as the AD we got a "good old boy from Laramie who will stay at UW instead of bolting off for the next job somewhere in the US".....that was one of the main reasons that Tom Burman got the job, he was a local guy who would not leave.....and see what we got!!!!!!!!!!

Not all blame should be showered on Tom though, UW has been cursed with many university president's over the years that truly didn't give a dog turd about athletics. As long as the books balanced and they didn't receive too much grief they didn't care, and the BoT just went along with it. It has been a joint effort of incompetence from the BoT to the university's president's office to the AD's office which has led us to where we are today.
 
BigHorn said:
The real issue was that Burman was resigned to watching Wyoming slide because there was little that he could do..........we were all told.

0% creative thinking has come from the AD's office at UW in 20 years! Unless you want to give him credit for creative construction of seats in the War and the AA..... He has watched UW slip behind other schools constantly and done absolutely NOTHING about it. He has pumped up hires he has made, mainly in men's basketball and football that has NOT produced even ONE season champion in either sport in his 20 years at UW! The fan base has constantly bought his hype only to be constantly disappointed. Zero accountability has fallen on Tom, he is the "Teflon AD".

When we got Tom Burman as the AD we got a "good old boy from Laramie who will stay at UW instead of bolting off for the next job somewhere in the US".....that was one of the main reasons that Tom Burman got the job, he was a local guy who would not leave.....and see what we got!!!!!!!!!!

Not all blame should be showered on Tom though, UW has been cursed with many university president's over the years that truly didn't give a dog turd about athletics. As long as the books balanced and they didn't receive too much grief they didn't care, and the BoT just went along with it. It has been a joint effort of incompetence from the BoT to the university's president's office to the AD's office which has led us to where we are today.
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Time will tell but it feels like the General is putting more emphasis on athletics. He has to be feeling the same frustration as we feel every Saturday.

I like your “Teflon Tom” reference. It’s very fitting!
 
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