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Not A Soccer Fan At All, But...
- Thread starter McPeachy
- Start date
NowherePoke
Well-known member
LasCrucesPoke said:
Agreed. It's just kind of the nature of college athletics and revenue vs. non-revenue sports. If we finished 2nd in the regular season and lost in the conference title game with the bulk of production from freshman and sophomores in basketball? We would be heading to the NCAA tournament and planning for an epic run that would be huge for the overall athletic department. In other sports? 2nd or 9th looks the same on the director's cup standings.
Back to this team though, great run and I can't really look at any of our non-revenue programs right now and be disappointed with where they stand. Obviously Golf is not consistently competitive, but maybe they just need more practice during the year ..checks current weather in Laramie (18F, feels like 2, snowing)... nevermind.
Anyway, taking a quick look at the non-revenue sports (except Golf):
1. Women's Volleyball (3rd in MWC currently) - Obviously the Yerty saga was not a positive for the University, but Callihan has been a nice hire. Back to back 20 win seasons to start his tenure (5 straight 20 win seasons for the program overall I believe, although technically the wins under Yerty were vacated) with likely Top 4 MWC finishes both years (4th last year, probably will finish either 2nd or 3rd this year). Cowgirls are winning at home and I think bringing a lot of positive attention back to this sport.
2. Women's Soccer - As noted above, 2nd in both regular season and tourney with a ton of contributors that are freshman and sophomores including the FOY and OPOY in Lomsnes. I wasn't sure this hire would work out at first, but things really seem to be going in a positive direction. SDSU dominates this league in Women's Soccer (much like CSU in Volleyball), so that's a tough threshold to pass.
3. Wrestling (preseason #1 in WWC) - Branch has won around 70% of his duals (90% in WWC) since taking over the program and has the Pokes consistently at the top of their conference and in the discussion for national rankings.
4. Swimming and Diving (Men - 2nd in WAC last year, Women - 4th in MWC) - Both teams have been consistently competitive under Tom Johnson, which is really impressive because we simply do not have the facilities required to compete at the top end of this sport (hopefully that will change in the near future). Top 3 finishes are the norm for both, going back to when both were MWC sports. You have to go back to 2006 to find a finish outside the Top 4. Clearly a Top 2/3 overall program in the MWC/WAC.
4. Track and Field (Last year - Women's Indoor - 2nd, Women's Outdoor - 4th, Men's Indoor/Outdoor - 5th)
5. Cross Country (Women - 3rd, Men - 6th)
XC/T&F Comments - Lumping these together since they all fall under Berryhill. There definitely seems to be some upward trajectory in these programs and they are certainly competitive today.
6. Women's Tennis (T-2nd in MWC last spring) - Under Clower, the Cowgirls have finished 2nd in MWC play in 2 of 3 years (he is 13-7 overall in MWC play). Gyulai got things going and Clower has continued an overall upward trend (with an assist from the changes in MWC membership).
I have been one of Burman's biggest critics on here, but it's hard for me to find fault with the current coaching hires in any of these sports. I wish we could do more to provide them with the support required to compete, but that's a big picture problem.
WestWYOPoke
Well-known member
Winning the conference tournament is not winning a conference championship. It's nice to have and it gets you in to NCAAs, but it's not the same as having a conference championship.
