I hope that Coach Bohl

[calpoke25]

understands just how big of a mess he inherited. I think Craig a Bohl is a great head coach and is a great get for Wyoming . But this program is not mediocre, it is bad, and it starts at the top. We have 15 years of accepting losing weighing down on everyone in the Athletics department. Tonight's loss felt like the kind of loss that happens when this culture hangs over the program. It's institutional.

I thought Wyoming would lose tonight, although it sucks to get your hopes up after a fast start. I remember a lot of good Wyoming teams losing in Hawaii and this isn't a good Wyoming team. The thing that is disheartening is being able to sit in Aloha stadium and see things falling apart just as you thought they would. When Hawaii's #14 WR caught his touchdown I remember looking over and thinking, man if I was Hawaii I would throw it to him. He is 5 inches taller, 30 pounds bigger, and a second faster than the WYO player covering him. And then bingo, that happens. I'm not sure Pete Carroll could do much more. The more I watch our team, the more I become convinced that while our ad line could always be better, I really think the biggest gap between us and good teams is our secondary. Our cornerbacks are all 5'8, 180 soaking wet. Of course they can't make that open field tackle. We have to find a way to get bigger and more athletic there. Our front 7 isn't stout enough to stop the run on their own, but our CBs aren't good enough to leave them on an island either. I guess it's a chicken or egg question.

Other than the decision to try the 51 yard FG in that muggy air that everyone knew had no chance on 4th and 2, the offense needs to do a better job of identifying where the blitz is coming from and attack that side. It's QB 101. If you see a blitz coming, and Hawaii wasn't disguising anything, then attacking the side where the blitz is coming from. I think we abandon the run a little too much but oh well.

So I hope right now that the team on that long plane ride home figures something out. We aren't going to overcome the physical problems this year or next. But effort and heart can be controlled. The team can still accomplish a lot if they want to. But I can't stomach another DC-esque (at this point it's not DC-esque, it's Wyoming-esque) collapse and this feels like the beginning of one.

 

[Brew_Poke]

But we're branded perfectly! We're cowboy tough!

 

[SnowyRange]

[I hope Bohl] understands just how big of a mess he inherited. I think Craig a Bohl is a great head coach and is a great get for Wyoming . But this program is not mediocre, it is bad, and it starts at the top. We have 15 years of accepting losing weighing down on everyone in the Athletics department. Tonight's loss felt like the kind of loss that happens when this culture hangs over the program. It's institutional.

Of course Bohl understands exactly what he's working with. And there's nothing institutional about it -- the good coaches we have didn't come here because there's some institutional problem. Quite the opposite.

UW does what every single school does: try to hire good coaches and support them as they try to recruit. And every school labors under/enjoys various disadvantages or advantages, geographical, financial, historical, market size, you name it.

As for football specifically, we lost the arms race long ago...in the sense of every competing on a consistent basis with the big-time schools. So what we need to do is what we're trying to do: focus on our small pond, the MWC, and try to get to the top of that. The DC hire was a good one at the time, but he turned out to be Charlie Weis. Now the Bohl hire is a good one too...but that is again only in theory so far. We shall see. But UW is doing what it can do, and what it should be doing.

How it's going to work out? We'll see.