It's really not a hard formula. University of Wyoming seems incredibly corrupt and incompetent by comparison.
That simply cannot happen. That is waiving the white surrender flag to athletics completely.
It wouldn't surprise me if that's what ultimately happens. The resources Wyoming has relative to other schools in our conference is miniscule. I know a lot folks hate Jeff Linder. But he turned things around here pretty fast. And then NIL happened. If Ike didn't leave, the entire trajectory of our program would have been different. And if we don't pay these kids hundreds of thousands of dollars, they are not coming here. And if they develop, they aren't staying either.
Hard to argue. UNLV hit a home run. If only UW could think that way.
I disagree on the resources, the Athletic Department budget is like $51 million very comparable to what the rest of the conference has. Additionally, they just threw another $80 million into stadium upgraades. We have a tremendous basketball facility and the MPG is to notch also. Plus indoor football facility is over the top as well. Somebody else posted the NIL $$$$ and surprisingly Wyoming was right in the middle of the pack on that as well. You are absolutely correct on Linder. Linder was frustrated at the Lack of NIL $$$ for Graham Ike and Maldonado. Wyoming completely missed the boat on the NIL they had that thing where you clicked on the athletes picture and then made a donation for $12. Burman (and UW) were so completely behind on the NIL that it cost him a rising basketball program. I don't know that they could have kept Ike, but at least had something. HOnestly, they are still behind. The recent donation by the Shwab family wasn't to an NIL collective, but more money for the Cowboy Joe Club. WHy? Do we need to pay Sawvel more $$$. THat money should just be going to the athletes in the modern world.
Are you really criticizing how a donor chooses to spend their money? What if they want their money to go to fund scholarships (which is what a lot of CJC money goes to)?What if they want their money to go to something that lasts longer than a couple years such as a facility improvement?
That's not what this is anymore. Schools are paying kids if UW doesn't then they won't be any good. Imagine if they could have matched Gonzaga offer for Ike? Think things wouldn't have been different for the basketball program? Just by having Ike you would get better players that just wanted to play with him.
At some point, I believe that integrity and rationality should prevail over an insatiable appetite to win. The legislature will answer this question with Burman’s emergency request for an additional 1 time 1.5 million athletic department funding in a non-budget year.
I have sympathy and somewhat share your sentiments. I met a BYU grad in a Vegas sportsbook a few weeks ago. He claimed to be the uncle of Nico Lamaleava. He said Tennessee paid Nico 7 million in NIL. I really didn't know if he was on the level or not. I looked it up later and it appears the deal is actually 8 million. This is no longer college sports. For the bigger schools with rich boosters, it probably never was.
I’m with you. For those that say what if Ike would have stayed, I say that’s not the player I really care to root for. Give me the player who is there for their teammates, who is there for the love of the game, who will leave it on the court, who is their to be a member of the college community and get an education.
"detached University folks" is exactly correct. These people are so far removed from business or the private sector. Our AD making $551k a year for completely arbitrary decision making. I don't support most of the Freedom Caucus stuff, but optomistic they will reign in the nutty spending at UW.
It’s not actually that simple IMO.
I take it you’ve not attended a Division 2 or Division 3 college contest. I’d hardly call the ‘free’ uniform and small bit of swag most of those athletes get as compensation and it would be hard to argue they are competing for anything but ‘the love of the game.’
