New UW President, Ed Siedel: Gutless, Craven

[LanderPoke]

Here is our new president's response to canceling the season:

"With regard to the Mountain West Conference announcement to postpone fall athletics, I wanted to share some thoughts.

UW Athletics is so important to the university and our state, and the Cowboys and Cowgirls were well prepared to move forward for the fall season. That, along with how hard it would be for us to postpone, is what I expressed to my fellow Mountain West Conference presidents. But I listened to positions expressed by all of the presidents and, having heard the discussion, I expressed my willingness to go with the consensus view. The decision was made to postpone. Our focus must now be on helping our student-athletes during a difficult time. I can hardly wait to see them competing for the Brown and Gold. Let's all work to make that happen as soon as possible! #gowyo #wyoming #theworldneedsmorecowboys #uwyo"


Go with the consensus view? Are you kidding me? What a feckless wuss. I thought we got rid of the sheep in the president's office when Nichols left. Guess not. Thanks for nothing, BOT. What the hell.

 

[Wyoklaelk]

Completely agree with you on this

Fucking world needs more cowboys is a load of bullshit when we are led by sheeple

No boldness, no leadership, no vision, just gonna tuck tail with the rest of em

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Here is our new president's response to canceling the season:

"With regard to the Mountain West Conference announcement to postpone fall athletics, I wanted to share some thoughts.

UW Athletics is so important to the university and our state, and the Cowboys and Cowgirls were well prepared to move forward for the fall season. That, along with how hard it would be for us to postpone, is what I expressed to my fellow Mountain West Conference presidents. But I listened to positions expressed by all of the presidents and, having heard the discussion, I expressed my willingness to go with the consensus view. The decision was made to postpone. Our focus must now be on helping our student-athletes during a difficult time. I can hardly wait to see them competing for the Brown and Gold. Let's all work to make that happen as soon as possible! #gowyo #wyoming #theworldneedsmorecowboys #uwyo"


Go with the consensus view? Are you kidding me? What a feckless wuss. I thought we got rid of the sheep in the president's office when Nichols left. Guess not. Thanks for nothing, BOT. What the hell.

WTF do you expect him to do!?!? Tell the MWC fuck you, we will play with or without you? I’m sure that would do miracles for keeping Wyoming in the conference.

So what...you want Wyoming to sponsor football this fall without a conference? How then would we sponsor women’s sports to comply with title ix without a conference?

Come on man. There was no other realistic decision to be made once it became clear the conference would vote to cancel fall sports. Your blame is misplaced.

 

[WyomingAgJ]

Here is our new president's response to canceling the season:

"With regard to the Mountain West Conference announcement to postpone fall athletics, I wanted to share some thoughts.

UW Athletics is so important to the university and our state, and the Cowboys and Cowgirls were well prepared to move forward for the fall season. That, along with how hard it would be for us to postpone, is what I expressed to my fellow Mountain West Conference presidents. But I listened to positions expressed by all of the presidents and, having heard the discussion, I expressed my willingness to go with the consensus view. The decision was made to postpone. Our focus must now be on helping our student-athletes during a difficult time. I can hardly wait to see them competing for the Brown and Gold. Let's all work to make that happen as soon as possible! #gowyo #wyoming #theworldneedsmorecowboys #uwyo"


Go with the consensus view? Are you kidding me? What a feckless wuss. I thought we got rid of the sheep in the president's office when Nichols left. Guess not. Thanks for nothing, BOT. What the hell.

WTF do you expect him to do!?!? Tell the MWC [#]f##k you, we will play with or without you? I’m sure that would do miracles for keeping Wyoming in the conference.

So what...you want Wyoming to sponsor football this fall without a conference? How then would we sponsor women’s sports to comply with title ix without a conference?

Come on man. There was no other realistic decision to be made once it became clear the conference would vote to cancel fall sports. Your blame is misplaced.

How come air force is still playing army and Navy then? They seemed to have told the conference they are playing anyway.

I would have at least liked the president to vote the way he felt Wyoming should vote, not just cave to consensus. The majority vote still probably cancels the season and I can understand Wyoming also cancelling because we are part of the conference and follow the conference rules. But it doesn't mean our vote had to be to roll over to consensus rather than voting for our stance on the issue even if that stance is in the minority side of the vote.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Here is our new president's response to canceling the season:

"With regard to the Mountain West Conference announcement to postpone fall athletics, I wanted to share some thoughts.

UW Athletics is so important to the university and our state, and the Cowboys and Cowgirls were well prepared to move forward for the fall season. That, along with how hard it would be for us to postpone, is what I expressed to my fellow Mountain West Conference presidents. But I listened to positions expressed by all of the presidents and, having heard the discussion, I expressed my willingness to go with the consensus view. The decision was made to postpone. Our focus must now be on helping our student-athletes during a difficult time. I can hardly wait to see them competing for the Brown and Gold. Let's all work to make that happen as soon as possible! #gowyo #wyoming #theworldneedsmorecowboys #uwyo"


Go with the consensus view? Are you kidding me? What a feckless wuss. I thought we got rid of the sheep in the president's office when Nichols left. Guess not. Thanks for nothing, BOT. What the hell.

WTF do you expect him to do!?!? Tell the MWC [#]f##k you, we will play with or without you? I’m sure that would do miracles for keeping Wyoming in the conference.

So what...you want Wyoming to sponsor football this fall without a conference? How then would we sponsor women’s sports to comply with title ix without a conference?

Come on man. There was no other realistic decision to be made once it became clear the conference would vote to cancel fall sports. Your blame is misplaced.

How come air force is still playing army and Navy then? They seemed to have told the conference they are playing anyway.

I would have at least liked the president to vote the way he felt Wyoming should vote, not just cave to consensus. The majority vote still probably cancels the season and I can understand Wyoming also cancelling because we are part of the conference and follow the conference rules. But it doesn't mean our vote had to be to roll over to consensus rather than voting for our stance on the issue even if that stance is in the minority side of the vote.

The Air Force has a completely different mission with extraordinary control over its students compared to the rest of the conference. Apples to oranges.

I would tend to guess UW voted to have a season in the straw poll. Once it was determined that there were the votes to cancel the season, that is when Seidel didn’t have much choice in the ‘actual’ poll which is really a dog and pony show. These ‘actual’ votes are done to show a conference ‘unity’ that doesn’t really exist but it helps preserve Wyoming’s place as a driving decision maker in the conference without pissing off the other universities.

 

[Old-Bull]

I dont think it's fair to call a guy gutless when he's not willing to risk the long term health of the people working under him so we can watch football this fall.

Regardless of people's personal opinions, covid is NOT a hoax. The entire planet shut down because of it. The world medical community is currently working to solve it. No one has any idea what the long term effects are.

Seidel expressed that Wyoming wanted to play but the consensus of the group is that it wasn't a good idea.

Calling the guy gutless is just ignorant. He's the university president. It's his job to protect the people working under him.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

I dont think it's fair to call a guy gutless when he's not willing to risk the long term health of the people working under him so we can watch football this fall.

Regardless of people's personal opinions, covid is NOT a hoax. The entire planet shut down because of it. The world medical community is currently working to solve it. No one has any idea what the long term effects are.

Seidel expressed that Wyoming wanted to play but the consensus of the group is that it wasn't a good idea.

Calling the guy gutless is just ignorant. He's the university president. It's his job to protect the people working under him.

Or he could explore opportunities for WYO if football can be played safely. It is not unanimous (at this point) that the season needs to be shut down. Why would the MWC care if we play (if we can line a schedule up)?

 

[WestWYOPoke]

The MWC would most definitely care. The Big Ten came out today and told Nebraska that they won't be playing this fall. If they do, they would risk expulsion from the conference. The MWC could threaten the same thing and that would NOT be good for UW.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

The MWC would most definitely care. The Big Ten came out today and told Nebraska that they won't be playing this fall. If they do, they would risk expulsion from the conference. The MWC could threaten the same thing and that would NOT be good for UW.

They don't have a leg to stand on especially with the AF situation. That and we aren't the B1G.

 

[Old-Bull]

The MWC would most definitely care. The Big Ten came out today and told Nebraska that they won't be playing this fall. If they do, they would risk expulsion from the conference. The MWC could threaten the same thing and that would NOT be good for UW.

They don't have a leg to stand on especially with the AF situation. That and we aren't the B1G.

Burman said that the Pentagon told AFA that they have to play Navy and Army.

 

[ragtimejoe1]

The MWC would most definitely care. The Big Ten came out today and told Nebraska that they won't be playing this fall. If they do, they would risk expulsion from the conference. The MWC could threaten the same thing and that would NOT be good for UW.

They don't have a leg to stand on especially with the AF situation. That and we aren't the B1G.

Burman said that the Pentagon told AFA that they have to play Navy and Army.

So? Have the governor sign a napkin that says WYO has to play if reasonable and safe.

The MWC ain't kicking anyone out.

 

[307bball]

Here is our new president's response to canceling the season:

"With regard to the Mountain West Conference announcement to postpone fall athletics, I wanted to share some thoughts.

UW Athletics is so important to the university and our state, and the Cowboys and Cowgirls were well prepared to move forward for the fall season. That, along with how hard it would be for us to postpone, is what I expressed to my fellow Mountain West Conference presidents. But I listened to positions expressed by all of the presidents and, having heard the discussion, I expressed my willingness to go with the consensus view. The decision was made to postpone. Our focus must now be on helping our student-athletes during a difficult time. I can hardly wait to see them competing for the Brown and Gold. Let's all work to make that happen as soon as possible! #gowyo #wyoming #theworldneedsmorecowboys #uwyo"


Go with the consensus view? Are you kidding me? What a feckless wuss. I thought we got rid of the sheep in the president's office when Nichols left. Guess not. Thanks for nothing, BOT. What the hell.

WTF do you expect him to do!?!? Tell the MWC [#]f##k you, we will play with or without you? I’m sure that would do miracles for keeping Wyoming in the conference.

So what...you want Wyoming to sponsor football this fall without a conference? How then would we sponsor women’s sports to comply with title ix without a conference?

Come on man. There was no other realistic decision to be made once it became clear the conference would vote to cancel fall sports. Your blame is misplaced.

Spot on Oredigger! There is a difference between being a leader and being a braying jack@$$. Absolutely everybody...and I mean e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y, wants to play football this year....and it still ain't going to happen. This is not about puffing out your chest and being brave...it's about living to fight another day. The problem with blazes of glory is that they tend to go out and you are left with ashes.

Who knows...maybe something good will come out of this.

Nobody wan't to go through changes like this but stuff needs to change. There is a rot at the center of college football that has a sliver of a chance at getting expunged. If this is "amateur" sport .... then cancel it no questions asked. If it is a business then get your crap into a pile and call a spade a spade...involve the stakeholders (players) and play the damn season. You can't have it both ways. I think certain institutions (Nebraska, the Entire SEC, Boise St...probably more), are revealing their hand. They are rolling in the dough and can't stomach the thought of the gravy train coming to an end. These are football "factories". Their mission is not to educate...they have a fan-base that has given them extraordinary sums of money and now they have to justify that by constantly winning. Now that is made a lot easier as long as nobody really dives into the thorny "amateur-ism" debate ... 3/4 of your schedule, at the least, will be against institutions that are committed to an academic AND athletic mission. This is not rocket science....the same semi-pro programs will always be at the top. Even within the power conferences, this divide exists. I'm a huge college sports fan but the institutionalized "royalty" is tarnishing the whole thing. For the record...I don't see how the service academies fit into either category. They are just a garnish on this turd sunday.

 

[LanderPoke]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull shit. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

 

[Poke in New England]

I read somewhere (don't remember where) that he was the only finalist for UW president that didn't bring up football in his public statements.

 

[Bryoming]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull shit. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

You have clearly never been a leader, and frankly with statements like this never will be. Ask a general if winning the battle is worth losing lives. Ask a well-regarded CEO how easy it is to lay people off. Ask a football coach if putting a player at risk is worth winning the game. If any of these position have even an ounce of integrity they cannot look themselves in the mirror and feel good about putting people's lives at risk, be it risk of death, risk of income, or risk of injury.

The public in general crucifies coaches when they put a player on the field that has clearly had a concussion. We raise hell when soldiers are put in harms way for something we don't agree with. We boycott when corporations issue mass layoffs. The fact of the matter is that being a leader is HARD. There's a reason leaders are in the position they are in; they're willing to make the tough choices and live with the consequences.

 

[Pokes fan 24-7]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull Sh#t. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

Your living in a fantasy land if you don’t think the MWC could kick us to the curb and either roll with 11 and get a waiver for the conference champ game (like the AAC) or replace us with NMSU. If that happened we would beg conference USA for a spot with less tv money and more travel to play shittier competition or we would end up in independent hell. Just ask NMSU how that is going.

That being said I get your point about our leaders being too scared to make tough decisions. I just think in this case we don’t have the leverage to flip them the bird. Hopefully we can negotiate the ability to get games

 

[bladerunnr]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull Sh#t. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

You have clearly never been a leader, and frankly with statements like this never will be. Ask a general if winning the battle is worth losing lives. Ask a well-regarded CEO how easy it is to lay people off. Ask a football coach if putting a player at risk is worth winning the game. If any of these position have even an ounce of integrity they cannot look themselves in the mirror and feel good about putting people's lives at risk, be it risk of death, risk of income, or risk of injury.

The public in general crucifies coaches when they put a player on the field that has clearly had a concussion. We raise hell when soldiers are put in harms way for something we don't agree with. We boycott when corporations issue mass layoffs. The fact of the matter is that being a leader is HARD. There's a reason leaders are in the position they are in; they're willing to make the tough choices and live with the consequences.

Well, by this rationale, a "leader" should never allow a kid to get on a football field. The risk of injury, whether concussion or soft tissue or tendon rupture, is far more statistically probable than covid complications. The long term problems associated with these kind of injuries can be life altering. I haven't read any posts from you advocating an end to football as we know it.
Also, I was unaware that people boycott corporations that issue mass layoffs. Can you give me one example of this?

A leader looks at the big picture. We can save lives by reducing the speed limit to 50 mph. Is it worth the inconvenience of making people's travel times longer? We can save lives by banning alcohol and cigarettes. Do we want to allow people to make choices or do we want to control every aspect of their lives? Should we ban the sale of all handguns to reduce gun violence? Would it save lives? I personally would be against that because I believe some freedoms are worth the loss of life. Perhaps you don't.
If a player doesn't want to get on the field, I understand. The question we should be asking is: Is he at more risk on the field or not? The fact is: the bar has constantly shifted regarding covid. At first, we needed to isolate people to "flatten the curve". Now, the bar has been raised to trying to keep people from getting the virus in the first place. I don't believe that is realistic. We are all going to get this thing eventually. It's going to stay with us like colds and the flu.

 

[Expat_Poke]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull Sh#t. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

You have clearly never been a leader, and frankly with statements like this never will be. Ask a general if winning the battle is worth losing lives. Ask a well-regarded CEO how easy it is to lay people off. Ask a football coach if putting a player at risk is worth winning the game. If any of these position have even an ounce of integrity they cannot look themselves in the mirror and feel good about putting people's lives at risk, be it risk of death, risk of income, or risk of injury.

The public in general crucifies coaches when they put a player on the field that has clearly had a concussion. We raise hell when soldiers are put in harms way for something we don't agree with. We boycott when corporations issue mass layoffs. The fact of the matter is that being a leader is HARD. There's a reason leaders are in the position they are in; they're willing to make the tough choices and live with the consequences.

Well, by this rationale, a "leader" should never allow a kid to get on a football field. The risk of injury, whether concussion or soft tissue or tendon rupture, is far more statistically probable than covid complications. The long term problems associated with these kind of injuries can be life altering. I haven't read any posts from you advocating an end to football as we know it.
Also, I was unaware that people boycott corporations that issue mass layoffs. Can you give me one example of this?

A leader looks at the big picture. We can save lives by reducing the speed limit to 50 mph. Is it worth the inconvenience of making people's travel times longer? We can save lives by banning alcohol and cigarettes. Do we want to allow people to make choices or do we want to control every aspect of their lives? Should we ban the sale of all handguns to reduce gun violence? Would it save lives? I personally would be against that because I believe some freedoms are worth the loss of life. Perhaps you don't.
If a player doesn't want to get on the field, I understand. The question we should be asking is: Is he at more risk on the field or not? The fact is: the bar has constantly shifted regarding covid. At first, we needed to isolate people to "flatten the curve". Now, the bar has been raised to trying to keep people from getting the virus in the first place. I don't believe that is realistic. We are all going to get this thing eventually. It's going to stay with us like colds and the flu.

Not to get a total derail going, but this also illustrates the "saving lives" by doing x but being ignorant of draw backs that make it cost lives by doing x. A lot of highway fatalities in this state are people falling asleep at the wheel. Driving 50 mph on a highway with a design speed of 75-85 mph with a lot of long straight alignments can help induce a sort of hypnosis and drowsy affect contributing to people falling asleep at the wheel. Additionally, increasing travel times increases the time on the road which increases the temptation to do things that are distractions to driving. Not to mention having a much lower speed limit than design speed can make drivers complacent, which again increases temptation to perform distractions. I could make similar points with banning handguns and battles and casualties. Sorry, very non-pithy way of saying you got to look closely at "saving lives" because those acts may actually cost lives. I think you make some good points on the moving of the goal posts and the questions to be asked.

I wish we could have the meeting minutes of the MWC meeting and see what our president and AD said. I understand Burman's position of looking into ways of doing independence for a season, but doing it in a way that doesn't burn bridges with the MWC and not wanting to burn a bunch of eligibility for a handful of games.

 

[bladerunnr]

Keep going with the flow. Sure. See where that gets you. Being a sheep in the fold got us to where we are. No football, kids missing education, society at large walking around with masks on afraid to talk to each other, small businesses across America destroyed and a 15% economic contraction and a pending recession if not depression all because the average person has a .000001 chance of dying. Not enough people in leadership positions said ENOUGH of this bull Sh#t. We need some real, actual leaders who care more than something about kissing asses and keeping us safe.

You have clearly never been a leader, and frankly with statements like this never will be. Ask a general if winning the battle is worth losing lives. Ask a well-regarded CEO how easy it is to lay people off. Ask a football coach if putting a player at risk is worth winning the game. If any of these position have even an ounce of integrity they cannot look themselves in the mirror and feel good about putting people's lives at risk, be it risk of death, risk of income, or risk of injury.

The public in general crucifies coaches when they put a player on the field that has clearly had a concussion. We raise hell when soldiers are put in harms way for something we don't agree with. We boycott when corporations issue mass layoffs. The fact of the matter is that being a leader is HARD. There's a reason leaders are in the position they are in; they're willing to make the tough choices and live with the consequences.

Well, by this rationale, a "leader" should never allow a kid to get on a football field. The risk of injury, whether concussion or soft tissue or tendon rupture, is far more statistically probable than covid complications. The long term problems associated with these kind of injuries can be life altering. I haven't read any posts from you advocating an end to football as we know it.
Also, I was unaware that people boycott corporations that issue mass layoffs. Can you give me one example of this?

A leader looks at the big picture. We can save lives by reducing the speed limit to 50 mph. Is it worth the inconvenience of making people's travel times longer? We can save lives by banning alcohol and cigarettes. Do we want to allow people to make choices or do we want to control every aspect of their lives? Should we ban the sale of all handguns to reduce gun violence? Would it save lives? I personally would be against that because I believe some freedoms are worth the loss of life. Perhaps you don't.
If a player doesn't want to get on the field, I understand. The question we should be asking is: Is he at more risk on the field or not? The fact is: the bar has constantly shifted regarding covid. At first, we needed to isolate people to "flatten the curve". Now, the bar has been raised to trying to keep people from getting the virus in the first place. I don't believe that is realistic. We are all going to get this thing eventually. It's going to stay with us like colds and the flu.

Not to get a total derail going, but this also illustrates the "saving lives" by doing x but being ignorant of draw backs that make it cost lives by doing x. A lot of highway fatalities in this state are people falling asleep at the wheel. Driving 50 mph on a highway with a design speed of 75-85 mph with a lot of long straight alignments can help induce a sort of hypnosis and drowsy affect contributing to people falling asleep at the wheel. Additionally, increasing travel times increases the time on the road which increases the temptation to do things that are distractions to driving. Not to mention having a much lower speed limit than design speed can make drivers complacent, which again increases temptation to perform distractions. I could make similar points with banning handguns and battles and casualties. Sorry, very non-pithy way of saying you got to look closely at "saving lives" because those acts may actually cost lives. I think you make some good points on the moving of the goal posts and the questions to be asked.

I wish we could have the meeting minutes of the MWC meeting and see what our president and AD said. I understand Burman's position of looking into ways of doing independence for a season, but doing it in a way that doesn't burn bridges with the MWC and not wanting to burn a bunch of eligibility for a handful of games.

I understand and agree. I grew up in the late 70's where the Carter administration lowered the national speed limit to 55mph. The slogan was "55 saves lives". Yes, this slogan of saving lives has to be examined closely.

So, shouldn't we examine the covid issue the same way? Does the social isolation of online classes and the deprivation of sporting events have a human cost? Are we really saving lives by eliminating large social gatherings and sporting events? Or are we just delaying the inevitable? We know there is a huge economic cost. But there are other costs as well. Perhaps we need to weigh these costs in determining our policies regarding this virus.

 

[CowboyNV]

I understand and agree. I grew up in the late 70's where the Carter administration lowered the national speed limit to 55mph.

Nixon, not Carter, signed the 55mph speed limit into law 1/2/1974.