Overall...

[kansasCowboy]

We're just fine. Yes, it sucked that the injury bug bit us at the end of the year. I'm glad our transfer decided to call it quits around the same time and go figure, we have a kid making stupid choices.
We fell apart here at the end, but overall, this team has shown turnaround potential. Before the injury we were 17-9 and looking at all sorts of possibilities: winning out; conf tourney run; NCAA tourney; NIT Tourney.
Yes, 17-12 sucks. But I think even now after the injury that this team is showing more progression than Shyatts first and second years... And we may not even hit 20 wins.
Shyatt literally brought this team up from absolutely nothing. He received almost no players back from a team that went 20-42 the two years prior. L. Washington was a question mark, he easily could've been another Hankerson, but he stepped up his game. Waddell was a reliable big, but not great. Somehow he built a team up to play stingy D and we went 21-12. Then we showed our toughness the next year with a 13-0 mark and even a win over top ranked Colorado. Had we not had a player making a stupid choice I doubt we limped to a 7-14 finish that year. Even without Martinez we played teams extremely close. We were on the verge in year two.
This year we got hit by an injury, and yet this team is still playing its heart out, yet we may finish 17-15.
Considering where we were only three years ago, I cannot believe how much people are complaining about these teams, about players and about coaches. This program has almost done a complete 180 in "only" three years.
Next year even without Nance, I expect this team to be better. Grabau who hits almost .500 from 3 pt, and .900 from Ft will be back and better. Adams who can make plays from anywhere and with his shooting % getting better we got an example of what his potential is last week. Cooke will be stronger and probably more reliable in his shot and even Fts. This team has some big talent coming back, and on top of that they play as a team.
Everyone talks glory years. Brandenburg, Dembo, Leckner. But even in Brandenburgs amazing 9 years here and his multiple tourney runs, he himself had teams who were better than the records show he had three teams of 17-13, 16-14, and 15-14. But what was he known for? His tourney teams. We choose to remember his great years but forget his rebuilding years. Even the great Ev Shelton had rebuilding years.
Shyatt has had three years and has shown vast improvement during each one. So for those who want to bicker. Or constantly look down on or complain about this team, remember we could easily relive the Strannigan years, or the Wright years or even the Schroyer years.

 

[SDPokeFan]

I don't think anybody is calling for Larry's head or are unappreciative of the turnaround from Schroyer, but two consecutive second half collapses (regardless of the reasons) are troubling, and point to a lack of depth. That's something we all would like to see addressed.

 

[JimmyDimes]

I don't think anybody is calling for Larry's head or are unappreciative of the turnaround from Schroyer, but two consecutive second half collapses (regardless of the reasons) are troubling, and point to a lack of depth. That's something we all would like to see addressed.

Not as much troubling as disappointing. Both seasons the Pokes were playing very good ball. They were undefeated prior to the Luke incident and working toward a 3rd place finish before Nance and then Hankerson. The Pokes and fans are victims of some very bad luck.

Do need to address the depth issue....which should get better going forward.

 

[stymeman]

I in no way am upset with Shyatt's term and what's going on, as i do see things that make me happy, the only thing i have issues with is the type of player we are bring in with some. but their hardwork and dedication (hopefully) will pay off and i have all faith that Larry and his staff can get things do, we need players that want to work hard, play hard/well and want to be here to be a WYOMING COWBOY!!!!!
we'll get there!!!
PS: i like your write up!!!!

 

[hithere]

Everyone talks glory years. Brandenburg, Dembo, Leckner. But even in Brandenburgs amazing 9 years here and his multiple tourney runs, he himself had teams who were better than the records show he had three teams of 17-13, 16-14, and 15-14. But what was he known for? His tourney teams. We choose to remember his great years but forget his rebuilding years. .

Very good point. These six sentences changed my perspective. Thank you. Now pardon my next choice statements as they area a product of years of pent up frustrations.

Back to grumbling; these sentiments are the wet dreams of shitty/mediocre AD's like Burman. "It'll get better next year." "Better times are ahead." "I'll get it right one of these years."

This man hired and extended Heath Schroyer.

 

[fromolwyoming]

Not angry at Shyatt or the players (except Hankerson for being stupid with the law), just frustrated that we seem to have horrible luck at the worst times. Granberry tries (he still passes up a few too many open looks for my liking, but he still tries), he's just too small to try and go up against actual post players. Sobey has stepped up remarkedly well since Nance went down, making plays and putting up points. Grabau, he's usually tightly covered, but is still money at the free throw. Adams, he has some incredible games, and then some WTF? games. If he can be more consistent, he would easily be right there with Nance as a great player (and despite his size, seems to play the post area better than some bigs in this conference with his offense and defense). Cooke, for a guy who has only been playing b-ball for a few years, he's not bad, he's just in over his head against most other bigs without Nance for support. Still needs to work on his free throws, badly.

Trey Washington, at the beginning of the season, like in OOC and what not, he showed a lot of promise that he will be a really good player. Now, he gets playing time, but doesn't seem to do much with it. Sellers is big, and isn't pushed around by anyone, but he turns the ball over, doesn't get rebounds, and rarely scores.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Lol wait let me get this straight... You point out how Burman hired and extended Schroyer in a video showing him welcoming the God and Savior called Bohl?
Lol...
So it's okay to rag on Burman for his shitty hires but LITERALLY ignoring the fact that he has hired Shyatt and Bohl.
Whether it was a committee or not or whatever, you can't just take the good and ignore the bad. Or in this case, take the bad and ignore the good.

 

[tweaked]

Quit raggin on Burman. I get it. It's easy to do when something doesn't work out. But it's bullshit. Actually, Burman has made good decisions on hires. When we hired DC, most people were shocked UW landed him. DC was widely regarded as one of, if not the best, college football offensive minds in the country at the time. Even the Schroyer decision was based on some inside knowledge. The players on the 2001 and 2002 teams gave Schroyer the most credit for coaching them up during their MWC title runs, particularly on the defensive side. When Schroyer left UW for a head coaching position in Portland, the players were extremely disappointed. Schroyer goes off to Portland and turns around that dismally performing program. The fact is that Schroyer was regarded as an up-an-coming young bball coach who people thought, based on his assistant tenure, understood Wyoming. Not a bad decision. And of course Burman gets credit for Legerski, Branch, and Shyatt hires--which have been damn good hires for UW. Look, sometimes what looks like the most informed, best decision in the moment doesn't work out. That's life. Tired of all the ragging on Burman.

 

[Cuttslam]

Is Burman a good AD? No, is Burman a horrible AD? No. Now back to the first question, and their is your answer.

 

[BackHarlowRoad]

Quit raggin on Burman. I get it. It's easy to do when something doesn't work out. But it's bullshit. Actually, Burman has made good decisions on hires. When we hired DC, most people were shocked UW landed him. DC was widely regarded as one of, if not the best, college football offensive minds in the country at the time. Even the Schroyer decision was based on some inside knowledge. The players on the 2001 and 2002 teams gave Schroyer the most credit for coaching them up during their MWC title runs, particularly on the defensive side. When Schroyer left UW for a head coaching position in Portland, the players were extremely disappointed. Schroyer goes off to Portland and turns around that dismally performing program. The fact is that Schroyer was regarded as an up-an-coming young bball coach who people thought, based on his assistant tenure, understood Wyoming. Not a bad decision. And of course Burman gets credit for Legerski, Branch, and Shyatt hires--which have been damn good hires for UW. Look, sometimes what looks like the most informed, best decision in the moment doesn't work out. That's life. Tired of all the ragging on Burman.

Good post. A person can only know so much about a person before hiring them. It's an educated guess, doesn't matter what profession. Scapegoats hunts are always successful.

“It's too easy to criticize a man when he's out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else's mistakes.” - Leo Tolstoy

 

[hithere]

Quit raggin on Burman. Tired of all the ragging on Burman.

You'd better just go ahead and ignore all my posts then. I don't think for a minute you'll be missing out on much by doing so but in the few blustering spout offs I do put up, I will continue to maintain that Tom Burman's tenure as the UW AD has been more of a failure than a success.

When Wyoming wins a MW conference title in football or basketball with a coach that he hired, I'll stop thinking he sucks at his job.

Until then, never forget.

 

[hithere]

Lol wait let me get this straight... You point out how Burman hired and extended Schroyer in a video showing him welcoming the God and Savior called Bohl?
Lol...
So it's okay to rag on Burman for his shitty hires but LITERALLY ignoring the fact that he has hired Shyatt and Bohl.
Whether it was a committee or not or whatever, you can't just take the good and ignore the bad. Or in this case, take the bad and ignore the good.

Heavens to Betsy!

I can do whatever the consarn I want. If I want to post gobbledygook and stupid pictures of a born wrong, clap-happy cue ball so mean spirited teenagers like yourself can LOL, while all the while using words that make me sound like Foghorn Leghorn then I sure as shit will.

Anyway, Bohl hasn't done one thing to equate him to Tarvu. So Burman clapping awkwardly and conjuring images in my head of a spastic eating noodles fits my agenda.

 

[CowboyNV]

Lol wait let me get this straight... You point out how Burman hired and extended Schroyer in a video showing him welcoming the God and Savior called Bohl?
Lol...
So it's okay to rag on Burman for his shitty hires but LITERALLY ignoring the fact that he has hired Shyatt and Bohl.
Whether it was a committee or not or whatever, you can't just take the good and ignore the bad. Or in this case, take the bad and ignore the good.

Heavens to Betsy!

I can do whatever the consarn I want. If I want to post gobbledygook and stupid pictures of a born wrong, clap-happy cue ball so mean spirited teenagers like yourself can LOL, while all the while using words that make me sound like Foghorn Leghorn then I sure as shit will.

Anyway, Bohl hasn't done one thing to equate him to Tarvu. So Burman clapping awkwardly and conjuring images in my head of a spastic eating noodles fits my agenda.

Now that is the funniest line of the week....a spastic eating noodles. God damn that's funny shit. :rofl:

 

[McPeachy]

Quit raggin on Burman. I get it. It's easy to do when something doesn't work out. But it's bullshit. Actually, Burman has made good decisions on hires. When we hired DC, most people were shocked UW landed him. DC was widely regarded as one of, if not the best, college football offensive minds in the country at the time. Even the Schroyer decision was based on some inside knowledge. The players on the 2001 and 2002 teams gave Schroyer the most credit for coaching them up during their MWC title runs, particularly on the defensive side. When Schroyer left UW for a head coaching position in Portland, the players were extremely disappointed. Schroyer goes off to Portland and turns around that dismally performing program. The fact is that Schroyer was regarded as an up-an-coming young bball coach who people thought, based on his assistant tenure, understood Wyoming. Not a bad decision. And of course Burman gets credit for Legerski, Branch, and Shyatt hires--which have been damn good hires for UW. Look, sometimes what looks like the most informed, best decision in the moment doesn't work out. That's life. Tired of all the ragging on Burman.

Kind of defeats one (1) purpose of a message board. Raggin' that is.

And now for my retort.

It isn't bullshit, in fact far from it. He has made horrible decisions on hires (and extensions), with the exception of Branch (but that is another story). Burman shouldn't get credit for Legerski - he didn't hire Legerski. Burman shouldn't get credit for Shyatt (as mentioned he was selected by a committee outside of Burman and then handed over to Burman on a silver platter). I will give credit for Burman hiring Bohl, but the jury is out on that one for a few years.

Most importantly, there is more than just "who the AD hires & fires" that provides value & a great athletics department. And that is where Burman has continually failed, and failed miserably. It is called having a vision, and working your ass off toward that vision. I will never agree with the dummy-down philosophy, that if you can't beat em, drop down a level and then you can (well - maybe). Being mediocre is ok with some, and some also feel that there is no other option. But for me? Fuck that. UW needs to be competing for MWC championships - and by not doing so, it is completely unacceptable. Something needs to change in order to win MWC championships. At the top first. We have tried the new - hire coaches route.

Oh, and on DC...he was an egotistical headcase asshole from day 1. Any purple dinosaur named Barney could have seen then what some of us did - he is not going to work out at Wyoming. He was hired anyway, mistakenly, because of a Missouri reputation. He shouldn't have been hired - for the type / style of coach he is, and for the type of person he is, regardless how he worked out under Pinkel.

 

[Wyovanian]

Quit raggin on Burman. I get it. It's easy to do when something doesn't work out. But it's bullshit. Actually, Burman has made good decisions on hires. When we hired DC, most people were shocked UW landed him. DC was widely regarded as one of, if not the best, college football offensive minds in the country at the time. Even the Schroyer decision was based on some inside knowledge. The players on the 2001 and 2002 teams gave Schroyer the most credit for coaching them up during their MWC title runs, particularly on the defensive side. When Schroyer left UW for a head coaching position in Portland, the players were extremely disappointed. Schroyer goes off to Portland and turns around that dismally performing program. The fact is that Schroyer was regarded as an up-an-coming young bball coach who people thought, based on his assistant tenure, understood Wyoming. Not a bad decision. And of course Burman gets credit for Legerski, Branch, and Shyatt hires--which have been damn good hires for UW. Look, sometimes what looks like the most informed, best decision in the moment doesn't work out. That's life. Tired of all the ragging on Burman.

Burman's batting .0000 on revenue sport hires. We'll see what happens with Bohl- the resume's impressive but not jaw-dropping, and he seems like a good fit culturally, but the proof is in the numbers.

Burman's really done next to nothing achievement-wise. All the facilities fund-raising and pre-planning were inherited.

Don't get me wrong- I'd love to see a local boy really step up and leave a mark, but Burman seems to let far too many opportunities to do that float by while he focuses on the more automatic aspects of his job. Point-in-case would be CJC membership and fund-raising. Talk about stuck in 1988...

 

[Wyokie]

Talk about stuck in 1988...

I miss that football season so much. But due to the a-holes, who probably has ties to the "Unnamed Ones" in Provo," running the asylum we're screwed!!

 

[tweaked]

Stand corrected on Legerski ... but you're cherry-picking on giving credit or blame elsewhere. Still maintain given everything that was known at the time DC was good hire. Most everyone viewed it that way at the time as well. Further, in an era where the University faculty haven't been given shit, Burman has headed a division that has grown considerably and is setting the stage for better things. During his tenure, private and state money has been acquired to remodel a football stadium, build an indoor football practice facility, and fund the upcoming remodel of the AA, in addition to other enhancements. Burman was also part of the team that landed Shyatt--you're cherry picking on that one. And he landed Bohl. Of course, we wait for outcomes--but everyone in the damn country was stunned by the coup. Evaluating his performance as nothing to do with desiring MWC championships--we all want those. But this ship is sailing in the right direction. Takes some vision to see it; and of course it takes no vision to qb on monday mornings.

Incidentally, I'm all for ragging, venting, and giving expression to different viewpoints. You're entitled to your contrarian view on Burman. My ragging statement was just my venting. Go Pokes.

 

[Wyo2dal]

You know what really sucks about this year?

If the Josh Adams we have seen since Nance went down would have been there all year long we would have a great chance at being undefeated. I know it's a huge if but think about it we have needed a second man all year to be doing what Adams is doing but while Nance was still on the court.

I hope this is the same Adams we see next year and if it is this could be a really solid team.

 

[kdwrightuwyo]

Sobey, too.

 

[seattlecowboy]

The reason Adams and Sobey have improved each year and have got better during the year is because not only their own hard work but Shyatt and his coaching staff. He seems to always get the best out of his players and they seem to improve each year and become better as the year goes along.