For everyone comparing this season to the Vic era, the silver lining might be this. During that horrendous period in the early 2000’s, while football was painful to watch, Cowboy basketball had its shining moments winning conference titles and the NCAA tournament. Can Sunny bring that back to the AA and help drown our football sorrows? I sure hope so! Just wishful thoughts.
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Maybe there’s hope…
- Thread starter Cowboy20
- Start date
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Hope springs eternal! I don’t think we will be very good this year in basketball but it’s great to have an energetic and passionate coach to root for. I think I’m done attending football games for the year at least.
laxwyo
Well-known member
Man, I'm not too optimistic about BB either. There's something about Sunny that I find kind of fake. I get the feeling its all an act but I'm probably wrong and I hope he really is a good passionate dude with lots of energy. It's also possible that we've never had a coach like him and its so foreign that I don't really know how to feel. Much like Prime taking over Buffs. I said it'd be a disaster and bet money on it. First season I was right but look at them now. They doing pretty good. I hope I can keep something like that in perspective when it comes to Wicks. He certainly deserves more rope than Sawvel does. Although as much as I hate him right now, Sawvel probably deserves a tiny miniscule amount of leniency for being a first time coach but its hard to knowing how many returning players we had.
It’s not an act, that’s him. High energy and high expectations was how he was raised and how he rolls. It might be a bit “much” for those that are not cut from that cloth, but it’s genuine. His interview with Thornburn on the One Wyoming podcast explains it all. I felt similar to you until I listened to that. If you haven’t listened, find it on Spotify. You’ll get it then.
I don’t think this will be the year he gets us back to the top of the league, but I think he will get us back in 2.
Sawvel should get no leniency. He has messed up at every turn. Bad coordinator hires, retaining Grant, retaining Haug, the Svoboda disaster, no discipline…he took a team that was senior laden coming off a 9-4 season to the toilet of 1-11. And we have looked the part of a crappy bottom feeder. Things will get worse next year and then we will really be in trouble. On the cusp of moving to a worse conference, back to back horrible seasons, even less NIL, transfers out the wazoo (anybody good anyway), a feckless booster organization, Freedumb Caucus slash and burn in the budget year following the craptastic two years of Sawvel - things are very dark and very bad.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
PBJ doesn't get any leniency, period. That was "allegedly" the main reason for hiring him.
I'm hoping bball can crank it again! It'd be cool to get the excitement going after a very disappointing football year.
I'm hoping bball can crank it again! It'd be cool to get the excitement going after a very disappointing football year.
Midwest Cowboy
Well-known member
He was pretty well liked here in Wisconsin. Green Bay has been an up and down program since Bennett left. Behind Marquette and Wisconsin, there is UW Milwaukee and Green Bay as Div 1 programs. He turned it around pretty quick. I believe his departure is genuinely regarded as a loss for the program. I think he is the real deal and will be the coach who is available to help guide kids 24/7 with on and off the court issues. My buddy that also went to UW feels he may be a little too much like Bobby Knight. I don't see the mind games like BK played. But I do see a guy that demands and commands respect. I am sold on him and will follow basketball this year. I watched the Pokes play UW Milwaukee years ago. Can't remember who was coach. We had a gifted player but he was selfish. Got angry and took his shirt off on the court (I think he got a technical) and the team melted down. Don't see that happening with Sunny.
Absolutely not.
This is the second highest level of professional football in the world, and the coaches are compensated accordingly. This was not a rebuild. We did not lose a ton of talent. He has absolutely no excuses for this disaster of a season.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
I agree with this.
If Sawvel was an outside hire who was unfamiliar with the team and talent, then I’d agree that some leniency would be expected. Sawvel inherited the same players he had been working with for years and converted them from a 9-4 team beating good teams like Texas Tech, App State and Toledo…to a 1-11 team losing to mid-level FCS teams like Idaho.
Honestly - it would be hard to imagine any outside hire doing so bad with the group of returners we had. It is inexplicable for someone who has been with the program.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Love it! Sawvel just stated he is a ‘horeshit’ head coach. Maybe there is a clever argument that created cause for firing. We presume a coach has a minimum level of competency before accepting such a contract and he ‘misled’ us by not disclosing that he was a ‘horseshit’ Coach up front.
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
Ditto.
His compensation package is near $1.5 million per year heavy on the guarantee side. The fear Burman has that a coach with success will walk for a better deal cemented us in to dwelling long term in failure.
When was the last coach to leave in the dark of night for a better deal? To me it was Dennis Erickson and that happened after Pat Dye and Fred Akers. I know since those guys Tiller left, but Moon wouldn’t offer him a contract extension in the middle of a WAC division championship season otherwise he might have stayed with the program. Dimhole left for Houston but while here he at least kept the continuity Tiller built.
I was not the least surprised that Wyoming could have QB struggles post Peasley, but I also drank the kool-aid that svoboda was improving because that was the word from Bohl himself and I was willing to look the other way and give it a chance. Not blaming this entire fiasco on the QB situation, but an offense that continually has empty possessions only enhances defensive weaknesses. An offense that fails to score emboldens the opponent to take greater risks in their game plan.
Sawbill was out coached/out classed by an interim 33 year old USU coach leading a team that had severe internal issues last summer and also lost a number of players.
I can’t even state his name correctly because I am so angry that this is happening. Maybe to use his own words his new name should be Coach Shitville.
As much as I want the guy out of the head coach position, I do have some sympathy for his situation.
I think he is starting to realize that he doesn't have what it takes to be a head coach in today's college football world. It is a terrible feeling to be in a position that you don't have the competence for. I do think he can continue to be a successful DC somewhere.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
From a financial standpoint- he is set for life. Most people would be happy to trade places with him. I agree he belongs in a coordinator role or defensive assistant role. He is a very likable person but has no business running a team.
Burman needs to retire - and for several reasons. One primary consideration is that his tenure and approach are all overly biased by his early life experiences at Wyoming. Losing great coaches when we were on the cusp of good things clearly has scarred him. I get it, but my view has always been that if your coach is getting poached, it means you are winning. No matter what we do, we cannot protect ourselves from poaching - it is simply impossible. The size of pocketbooks in the bigger conferences is simply too big (even other P4 schools' coaches are getting poached - ask Washington who had a team in the title game last year). As Porker eloquently stated in his post, this fear-based approach has cost us in terms of guarantees and being forced to keep coaches longer than we should have to when they are clearly awful. There is no reason for paying a coach like Sawvel, that no one in the nation was wanting, $1.5 mil with mostly guaranteed money. None. He had little leverage. We had no exposure if he didn't accept the head gig - which he was never going to do.
Beyond all of that, we need a new vision at UW. I have appreciated Burman's investments in facilities, etc., but I'm frankly done with more fat cat boxes and loge boxes and other high fallootin', posh digs. We need to go back to the blocking and tackling of running an athletics department - fund raising for NIL, restructuring and rebuilding CJC, being creative...and I don't think TB has it in him to do these things any more.
Beyond all of that, we need a new vision at UW. I have appreciated Burman's investments in facilities, etc., but I'm frankly done with more fat cat boxes and loge boxes and other high fallootin', posh digs. We need to go back to the blocking and tackling of running an athletics department - fund raising for NIL, restructuring and rebuilding CJC, being creative...and I don't think TB has it in him to do these things any more.
Itsux2beaewe
Well-known member
If you watched Sundance as an assistant it’s not fake. That’s just who he is. I would say any great leader has a bit of being a shapeshifter for the need at hand, but he seems pretty genuine, and charismatic. I believe it’ll translate well for MBB.
cowpokeguy
Active member
Did Sawvel ever say anything about the 15 yard penalty he got himself? Seems like that has gotten buried a bit, but I can't recall the last time I actually saw a head coach get a personal foul. He shoud be apologizing to the team for directly causing them 15 yards on a drive that really moved the momentum to USU.
laxwyo
Well-known member
His decision to trot out Svboda with 2 minutes shifted momentum way more than a 15 yard penalty. Anderson was playing pretty good and should have stayed. I get it had Anderson maybe struggled more but he didn’t. I fault him for that much more than the penalty.
The reprimand from the conference could very likely be cause.
