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Craig Bohl keeps moving up

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PokesArePeopleToo

Well-known member
With the win against CSU Craig Bohl's career Wyoming coaching record is now only one game under .500. Bohl's record now stands at 52-53 coaching the Pokes. For a guy who inherited a disastrous first and second year roster this is more than impressive. Take out years 1 and 2, and Bohl's Cowboys record is 44-35 over the last 7 seasons to this point. He's won a divisional title and will be bringing his team to their 5th bowl game appearance in the last 7 years. Of course this season's story has not been totally written yet and next week's game against Boise State is gargantuan. Bohl should become Wyoming's all time winningest head coach sometime next season when he surpasses the all time mark of the great Lloyd Eaton who coached the Pokes to 57 wins during his magnificent run from 1962-70.
 
Everyone on this board said he needed 2 seasons before it was his yet they still used it against him. Covid year was a big let down but he’s averaging more than 6 wins a year?
 
Yeah, laxwyo, you know, I myself have been pissed at some things from time to time with Coach Bohl and yes the frustration makes many of us get irrational in the heat of the moment, but if one stands back and looks at the overall growth of this football program since Bohl touched down in town, it really is something impressive and we have been so fortunate to have him here for 9 years, and hopefully, for many more. He's not only a very good football coach but he's also a decent man who has become a Cowboy himself as much as anyone else over in the sports department. He's brought much needed stability and continuity to the War and I truly hope he can cap his well decorated coaching career with a MWC championship before he hangs up his whistle for good. Craig Bohl has been good for Wyoming and Wyoming has been very good for Craig Bohl.
 
So, dropping his first 2 years after coming in Bohl is 6-1 against sheep huh? That’s almost legendary status. Bohl eligible quite a bit.
 
In the end, we may look back and having that mass transfer exodus may be the best thing to happen to Bohl.
 
Still 32-36 in conference and only over .500 in 3 of 9 seasons.

He promised championships when he was hired, not just Potato bowls and border wars. I’m not mad at those, but I do still believe he’s underperformed given the talent, facilities, and level of competition he’s been handed.
 
Subcanis said:
Still 32-36 in conference and only over .500 in 3 of 9 seasons.

He promised championships when he was hired, not just Potato bowls and border wars. I’m not mad at those, but I do still believe he’s underperformed given the talent, facilities, and level of competition he’s been handed.
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Things were soooo bad from 2000-2015 that we're actually celebrating mediocrity now, lol.

I get that it's all relative, and don't get me wrong...Craig Bohl was an excellent hire and has done soooo much for the program and the community overall. And yea, I'm as happy as anyone at what he's done with his back against the wall coming into this year.

But I'm not necessarily going to worship at the altar of a man who, after almost NINE seasons, is .500 overall and still has a losing conference record....while barely squeaking out one divisional title (and then proceeding to lose both the championship and bowl game) even though he had a roster that eventually sent nearly a dozen players to the NFL. I'm not going to sing the praises of a man whose offenses rank at or near the bottom of all of FBS in multiple categories year after year, which...along with some frustrating game management and inability to make in-game adjustments...leads to astonishing, unacceptable losses to far inferior teams, and costs us championships year after year.

The man was the highest paid coach in the MWC last year, and is second or third this year. His current contract will expire after his eleventh season. So yea, I expect more at this point.

And yea, I'm happy we beat the Sheep again, but don't expect me to be happy about squeaking out a 1-point victory against a 2-7 (now 2-8) CSU team that is very, very bad...in a game that may have cost us everything (multiple starters hurt right before a pivotal BSU game).

Let's see what happens against BSU and Fresno State...and see if he can break his perpetual "7-5 with no championship" ceiling, before we anoint him as a god. If the man can't get it done in one of the worst years for the MWC, historically...might wanna dial back that talk.

Yes, he was handed a bad deal coming into this year....some of it may have been self-inflicted, who knows...but he was also handed a conference that is having an incredibly bad year and needs to show that he can at least take advantage of that.
 
All fair points made by some. He did talk up championships when he arrived ("Those who stay will be champions") and that hasn't materialized yet. Offensive inconsistency has been the hallmark of his tenure and I'm not sure why this hasn't been fixed at this point. I thought the offensive game plan last night was less than good. The conference record is a negative. I don't think anyone is celebrating mediocrity, but he has brought about much needed stability to the position and to the program overall, I don't believe that may be disputed. Another bowl game for certain is coming later this year. We're playing this Saturday night for the division championship potentially and we all would have signed up for that several weeks ago.
 
SJSU's wheels fell off sometime after we played them, and then somehow, we've won all our conference games since. Color me surprised for such a young team. That said...
9 years, even with the Covid years, to only have 1 division title (then to lose both the following title game and bowl game) in 9 years is not great. Bohl is good at FBS. Solid seasons with bowl games, yes. But that ceiling is getting awful close right now.
 
During the time that Bohl has been at Wyoming there are three teams that have appeared in multiple title games....BSU, Fresno, and SDSU. BSU has been in 5 while SDSU and Fresno have both been in 3.

The following teams have appeared in one title game:

AFA
WYO
HAW
SJSU
USU

So basically if you aren't Fresno SDSU or BSU...you have had a bright moment but have not been impactful year in year out. Barring Wyoming winning against BSU and Fresno, that trend will continue.

If you are a long time pokes fan...This century has been abysmal until CB took over. We all want to have the results that BSU has enjoyed just like everybody else in the conference. I think most fans see what they want to in Bohl. If you hate that Wyoming is not on the level of Boise, SDSU, or Fresno, you probably say he's a bum that isn't worth the median MWC coaching compensation...If you have bad memories of having 0 or 1 win conference seasons then you appreciate that those outcomes are pretty much a bad memory.

I've been super high on Bohl and I've been down on him. I think at this point ... regardless of what individual fans think of him...the results speak for themselves. He's been the most successfull coach at Wyoming in the BCS/Playoff era. It is what it is. You can call that an indictment of how bad we are and you would probably be right....you could also say that the conditions to succeed at Wyoming are very difficult to achieve and Bohl is the right guy for the job.

Love him, hate him ... he's in the ring getting it done this year. Kudos.
 
307bball said:
During the time that Bohl has been at Wyoming there are three teams that have appeared in multiple title games....BSU, Fresno, and SDSU. BSU has been in 5 while SDSU and Fresno have both been in 3.

The following teams have appeared in one title game:

AFA
WYO
HAW
SJSU
USU

So basically if you aren't Fresno SDSU or BSU...you have had a bright moment but have not been impactful year in year out. Barring Wyoming winning against BSU and Fresno, that trend will continue.

If you are a long time pokes fan...This century has been abysmal until CB took over. We all want to have the results that BSU has enjoyed just like everybody else in the conference. I think most fans see what they want to in Bohl. If you hate that Wyoming is not on the level of Boise, SDSU, or Fresno, you probably say he's a bum that isn't worth the median MWC coaching compensation...If you have bad memories of having 0 or 1 win conference seasons then you appreciate that those outcomes are pretty much a bad memory.

I've been super high on Bohl and I've been down on him. I think at this point ... regardless of what individual fans think of him...the results speak for themselves. He's been the most successfull coach at Wyoming in the BCS/Playoff era. It is what it is. You can call that an indictment of how bad we are and you would probably be right....you could also say that the conditions to succeed at Wyoming are very difficult to achieve and Bohl is the right guy for the job.

Love him, hate him ... he's in the ring getting it done this year. Kudos.
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This is a really insightful post. It's correct. Firing the coach won't necessarily solve the problems. Hiring the right new coach will. Then you figure it's going to take 2-4 years for the new coach to get his players and system right.
 
In an ideal world, I don't want to fire Craig Bohl.

I want him to hire an offensive coordinator that runs a modern offense and is allowed to operate without impediment. It's a very real issue and shortcoming, and it's plain as day that it's holding us back from being truly great. Recognizing what good a coach has done, while also recognizing he's doing some key things to shoot himself in the foot, are not mutually exclusive.

But at the end of the day, if a coach has shown us his ceiling and has shown a sheer, stubborn unwillingness to change those drawbacks, then yes...it's time to see what new blood can do, and continue to strive for something more.

That's literally how competitive sports work.
 
I am so conflicted about Bohl. Watching the Boise St Utah St game, proves Boise is pretty darn good. We should have - could have beat them. I don’t get that we have that talent, game plan, preparation, whatever, against Boise but lose to teams we shouldn’t, ever, lose to. We lost to Boise with a terrible passing game, and horrible turnovers. I actually don’t mind the power run game, and Swen proved against Boise we can run, against a great defense. We get a QB who could throw and a scheme that adds some innovative passes, who knows……..
 
DamThatRiver22 said:
In an ideal world, I don't want to fire Craig Bohl.

I want him to hire an offensive coordinator that runs a modern offense and is allowed to operate without impediment. It's a very real issue and shortcoming, and it's plain as day that it's holding us back from being truly great. Recognizing what good a coach has done, while also recognizing he's doing some key things to shoot himself in the foot, are not mutually exclusive.

But at the end of the day, if a coach has shown us his ceiling and has shown a sheer, stubborn unwillingness to change those drawbacks, then yes...it's time to see what new blood can do, and continue to strive for something more.

That's literally how competitive sports work.
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I'm in agreement with you. Too many programs pull the plug too fast. But after 6 years most programs have become what they're going to be. Barring a significant change in offensive philosophy, we've reached out ceiling.
 
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