Or how about this nugget... BYU will be paying a single player $7 million for next season. https://frontofficesports.com/byu-secures-no-1-2026-hoops-recruit-with-7-million-nil-deal/
While it's tempting so say that Burman caused all of this...I think the most accurate thing you can say is that his tenure has coincided with extraordinary challenges for college athletics programs that are outside of the perceived main stream. Burman is an empty suit...nobody is going to convince me otherwise, but the idea that there was some otherwise obvious path to athletic relevance that he studiously ignored needs to be challenged. He's making the "safe" choice at nearly every juncture just like every other admin type person tends to do. That would be great if we were the top dog and were just maintaining that position. But we aren't...we suck and need singular extraordinary vision...even given that, it is not guaranteed that things are any better.
Well, like I said. It could be debated. I will say for Burman directly, he had disastrous bball coach hires and the AA renovation could have been handled better. He's also built an athletic dept where 44% of the budget goes to coaches and office/administration. That's higher percentage-wise than a lot of conference peers. I didn't look at bball funding but it would be interesting to see how he allocated resources over the years. Did bball budget increase at the same percentage as football, for example.
The Denver Nuggets fired their coach AND general manager today two years after winning an NBA championship. And with a 47-32 record. I didn't hear a bunch of excuses about how tough it was to compete as an NBA franchise in Denver or how much the NBA has changed. If you are serious about winning you move on when the program / franchise loses. UW athletics is the equivalent of the Colorado Rockies. UW and the state of Wyoming are paying the guy $551,000 a year. For that type of money the expectation is win or you get fired.
Grand Canyon bball 37 million lmao. That is some funny, ridiculous shit. Invalidates the whole study right there. Comical.
I didn't necessarily mean to debate Burman's merits (or more accurately, his lack thereof).
Ignore the AA renovations. That has more to do with attendance at least somewhat. Burman took over a program that was upper 1/3 in terms of attendance within the previous couple of years.
I think it matters what we as fans focus on.
I generally agree - my only departure from your logic comes on the "input" side of the equation. I see money as the key to success going forward. Without fans and donors that are engaged and motivated, modern programs won't just wither on the vine - they will shrivel up, turn to powder, and blow to Nebraska faster that Fast Eddie can say, "send my wife $500k or lose your job." The reality is that no one is hyped for men's basketball. NO ONE. Students show for football games but avoid the AA like it is radioactive. Attendance for MBB is in the crapper and has been for almost a decade. The admin - both through the reno of the AA and god awful coaching hires - has exacerbated the headwinds we were already facing with NIL and the portal. To be good today at WYO, your execution, hires, and investments have to hit darn near every time. TB, Fast Ed and his predecessors, the BOT, and the rest of the Fraggles in Laramie are batting about .125 as best I can tell.
We've certainly debated this several times. I haven't been able to find the bball budget from 09 to now but it would be interesting. We disagree on a few things; allocation of resources, imo, can certainly impact a program's success. I would say that, fundraising, and coaching hires are the most direct way an AD influences success.
You are studiously ignoring what I'm trying to point at. I grant you that Burman is not helping things...nobody here seems to be willing to defend him. Also..I will grant you every single esoteric budgetary point you have made. Let's set that aside for a moment. Let's also set aside your focus on the nuances of internal and inter-departmental budget allocation. For the sake of this discussion let's assume that your every darkest suspicion is correct about Burman and his superiors.
I agree with a lot but not this. Sustained success in sports builds programs, donations, etc. Fans are fickle. There is no way to know what winning could generate at WYO; we've never won. Rat boy had the AA rocking for a few years so potential is there.
If we're willing to play the game, NIL might actually help in this regard. Money talks.
The way you sell Laramie is not to the players but to their parents. Small town, less distractions from education, close knit community etc. The fact is however that the player will want to go wherever they see the chance to play/start and for the most money. Wyoming can offer lots of the former but very little in the grand scheme of things when it comes to money.
Might I interject that Laramie is comparable to Missoula, Bozeman, Fargo, Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Ogden, Sioux Falls, etc. A move to the Big Sky would make sense both competitively and financially. How can others not see that?
