Why cant WYOMING be the next Boise State?

[DocHolliday]

The quality of the responses here are tremendous, thought provoking, with ideas a plenty that hopefully the UW administration is proactively already thinking about.

UW fans are the best, and it's good to see that there are many here like myself who refuse to see WYOMING as nothing more than a mediocre football program, and who want to see the athletic department move us up to the next level.

Bravo to you all!

P.S. Keep the hits coming!

 

[Wyovanian]

So you are conceding that there is a lack of 'vision' within the program?

TV market, yes, however, how big is the Boise TV market?

I appreciate the response but I think those hurdles are ones that can be jumped over successfully and should not preclude an effort to make WYO football bigger & better.

Laramie, more so than the rest of the state, seems to suffer from a systemic lack of real vision and an underlying complacency. The lack of "vision" is not necessarily within the program, but comes from the vision of too many Laramie residents being exactly what Laramie currently is. Laramie people have long been unwelcoming, and unaccustomed to, change. This seems to be attenuating as generations begin to pass, but the change is mitigated by the high out-flow of 21-35 year-olds. The synergetic potential between WyoTech and UW has never been realized, and since the UP curtailed ops in Laramie decades ago, no other industry/ employer or combination thereof has ever compensated. While UW, in many good ways has continued to grow, the community that it calls home has lagged greatly in mirroring that growth.

Until Laramie becomes a genuine college city of a caliber comparable to the University, UW Football (and UW Athletics) will continue to face its own town as a challenge as great as any of its opponents.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

So you are conceding that there is a lack of 'vision' within the program?

TV market, yes, however, how big is the Boise TV market?

I appreciate the response but I think those hurdles are ones that can be jumped over successfully and should not preclude an effort to make WYO football bigger & better.

Laramie, more so than the rest of the state, seems to suffer from a systemic lack of real vision and an underlying complacency. The lack of "vision" is not necessarily within the program, but comes from the vision of too many Laramie residents being exactly what Laramie currently is. Laramie people have long been unwelcoming, and unaccustomed to, change. This seems to be attenuating as generations begin to pass, but the change is mitigated by the high out-flow of 21-35 year-olds. The synergetic potential between WyoTech and UW has never been realized, and since the UP curtailed ops in Laramie decades ago, no other industry/ employer or combination thereof has ever compensated. While UW, in many good ways has continued to grow, the community that it calls home has lagged greatly in mirroring that growth.

Until Laramie becomes a genuine college city of a caliber comparable to the University, UW Football (and UW Athletics) will continue to face its own town as a challenge as great as any of its opponents.

I think Laramie has beem MUCH more proactive when it comes to change than other places in Wyoming. Wasn't Laramie the first city in the state to pass a smoking ban (Casper caught on about a decade later)? Didn't Laramie pass and build a rec center (yes, the type that is voted down time and again in the Capital City) ? and there are numerous other examples...

Personally, I would not want to see Laramie turn into a large city that contains the same things as all of the rest (ala Fort Collins). The small town college environment and its setting is what makes it unique and special IMO. Altho, they could fund their snow removal quite a bit more.

 

[DocHolliday]

Judging by many of the responses, it seems to me that many feel that it is the community of Laramie, and not the UW athletic department, that seems satisfied and content with nothing more than the status quo. That's a huge detriment no doubt.

Tell me, does anyone believe that Ft. Collins supports the CSU administration more than Laramie supports UW?

If so, and if it is true that the vigor within Laramie doesn't quite match the zeal that UW enjoys for its vision and growth, then perhaps UW needs better sales people to gin up the excitement as well as noting the potential tangible community benefits (see $$$) that a Wyoming football team with much more prominence can mean to the city of Laramie...as well as to the entire state of Wyoming.

 

[J-Rod]

Tell me, does anyone believe that Ft. Collins supports the CSU administration more than Laramie supports UW?

I can't say for sure, but it seems like a lot of citizens in Ft. Collins are vehemently against this spectacular stadium they school wants to build. I applaud them thinking big, and a lot of the money coming through is from boosters (mostly bonds though), but still the community is making a fuss about everything. Sewage, parking, local businesses, you name it. While the school has a plan, the city seems far from diving in head first in all of this.

I too wonder what would the reaction in Laramie be if the school came forward with a plan to make a massive stadium (45K+), being paid via bonds and booster money. Positive? Nit-picky? Pissed? I don't know. Food for thought though.

 

[WyoBrandX]

Cheyenne is pro-growth.
Casper is pro-growth (mostly).
Laramie - not so much.

The rest of the state - they prefer negative growth.

The community of Laramie is "Wyoming Liberal." Whatever the hell that means anyways.

There is alot that can be done here, if the community focuses on it enough. What makes Laramie awesome? 7220 ft, in the mountains, small population, etc. Some moderate growth wouldn't hurt. More access to public lands, improved bike lanes and outdoor activities. Face it, winters up here are brutal, you better enjoy winter sports, and that should be a huge selling point and a point of focus.

I've been to several games where it seemed like we had 7-14k in the stands. The roads were closed. WYDOT had to plow the opposing team into the county. With only 30k of us here, your not going to fill the stadium.

The other option is grow the university - with 50k college kids, we may be able to sell out. Probably not the kind of support everyone is thinking of tho.

 

[fromolwyoming]

Laramie is growing, and improving roads and everything, but a lot of it should have happened years ago. But the city council also has their heads up their collective asses about a lot of things, and seem to have no common sense. Like closing 30th and Grand while school was still in session. If you live here, you know how ugly that got.

 

[msuhunter]

So you are conceding that there is a lack of 'vision' within the program?

TV market, yes, however, how big is the Boise TV market?

I appreciate the response but I think those hurdles are ones that can be jumped over successfully and should not preclude an effort to make WYO football bigger & better.

Laramie, more so than the rest of the state, seems to suffer from a systemic lack of real vision and an underlying complacency. The lack of "vision" is not necessarily within the program, but comes from the vision of too many Laramie residents being exactly what Laramie currently is. Laramie people have long been unwelcoming, and unaccustomed to, change. This seems to be attenuating as generations begin to pass, but the change is mitigated by the high out-flow of 21-35 year-olds. The synergetic potential between WyoTech and UW has never been realized, and since the UP curtailed ops in Laramie decades ago, no other industry/ employer or combination thereof has ever compensated. While UW, in many good ways has continued to grow, the community that it calls home has lagged greatly in mirroring that growth.

Until Laramie becomes a genuine college city of a caliber comparable to the University, UW Football (and UW Athletics) will continue to face its own town as a challenge as great as any of its opponents.

This is the heart of the issue. Laramie may be appealing to those who have lived their whole lives here and those with family connections here, but that's about it. It is not appealing to most 18/19 year old HS recruits. The University and campus are the only shows in town. Laramie doesn't have to be 100K + to be attractive to out-of-state athletes, but it needs to have growth and become more of a typical "college town." Until that happens, UW will struggle with recruiting and thus struggle with winning consistently. Unfortunately, this is not a problem that the University or fans can fix. It's incumbent upon the city and residents to make that change. :twocents:

 

[Wyovanian]

Cheyenne is pro-growth.
Casper is pro-growth (mostly).
Laramie - not so much.

The rest of the state - they prefer negative growth.

The community of Laramie is "Wyoming Liberal." Whatever the hell that means anyways.

There is alot that can be done here, if the community focuses on it enough. What makes Laramie awesome? 7220 ft, in the mountains, small population, etc. Some moderate growth wouldn't hurt. More access to public lands, improved bike lanes and outdoor activities. Face it, winters up here are brutal, you better enjoy winter sports, and that should be a huge selling point and a point of focus.

I've been to several games where it seemed like we had 7-14k in the stands. The roads were closed. WYDOT had to plow the opposing team into the county. With only 30k of us here, your not going to fill the stadium.

The other option is grow the university - with 50k college kids, we may be able to sell out. Probably not the kind of support everyone is thinking of tho.

Gotta disagree with your list- Gillette's gotta be on there, Evanston, Rock Springs, Jackson (despite what many think, Jackson has grown a lot as it's popularity as a world-class destination has grown). Relative to Laramie, there are a lot more enterprise-minded communities than Laramie.

Don't get me wrong- I'm not advocating Gillette-style growth or growing out of the small-town image (which would remain even if Laramie doubled it's population), but the town's got to do a better job of offering people reasons to visit and opportunities to spend. A slightly broader-based economy (high-tech manufacturing, transportation, etc.) would add just about the right amount of people and money to make the town more self-actuating. With a 12,000 enrollment D1 Carnegie- Research Tier 1 univerisity, Laramie, and the university, would be better served by a (full-time) population of around 35-40K. People are any university and college town's greatest resource.

 

[Wyo2dal]

Here is the exact problem, 2 Cities in the state above 40K population, I don't really count Laramie cause the population constantly fluctuates during school periods. You just can't expect a state with 600K to compete with a state with 1.6 million. Wyoming has very very minimal growth I remember when I lived in Cheyenne and Cheyenne had opportunities for multiple larger businesses and instead they went to Fort Collins. For whatever reason Wyoming turned everything away except the Dish Network facility which was small compared to the Budweiser Brewery.

 

[Brew_Poke]

I ask this question in all seriousness.

With Colorado State ramping up their efforts to be a much bigger player on the college football stage, why should The University Of Wyoming settle for mediocrity?

I'm not saying that mediocrity is the objective with WYO officials, however, as the only game in the state, with terrific facilities and visionary leadership, why cant Wyoming become the next little engine that could school similar to the development of the Boise State program?

Idaho is better than Wyoming? With all due respect to Idaho and the town of Boise, I'll take Wyoming and Laramie over them any day of the week.

It seems to me that there is both untapped and unlimited platforms of success that Wyoming should be striving for...that as a school with many advantages to it, we should not be a stepping stone football program for coaches, but a destination program where the right coach under the correct parameters could build something special, something enduring, something of lasting value.

I guess in summation what I'm saying is that I feel Wyoming football has the opportunity to be a much more vibrant and meaningful football program than perhaps history has indicated up to this point.

Your follow up thoughts and points would be appreciated.

Because it's full of Wyomingites. (I'm from Lyman).

 

[Brew_Poke]

Laramie is growing, and improving roads and everything, but a lot of it should have happened years ago. But the city council also has their heads up their collective asses about a lot of things, and seem to have no common sense. Like closing 30th and Grand while school was still in session. If you live here, you know how ugly that got.

That was WyDOT.

 

[fromolwyoming]

Laramie is growing, and improving roads and everything, but a lot of it should have happened years ago. But the city council also has their heads up their collective asses about a lot of things, and seem to have no common sense. Like closing 30th and Grand while school was still in session. If you live here, you know how ugly that got.

That was WyDOT.

Close enough sometimes.

 

[DocHolliday]

MAJOR LEAGUE KUDOS to virtually everyone who responded to this issue with some very well thought out ideas and theories...now let me bring it to the next level: Is there anything WE all can do, in order to bring about some of the positive change that will spur the action that will result in WYO football becoming BIGGER and BETTER? Anything realistic, I should say.

 

[WYCowboy]

MAJOR LEAGUE KUDOS to virtually everyone who responded to this issue with some very well thought out ideas and theories...now let me bring it to the next level: Is there anything WE all can do, in order to bring about some of the positive change that will spur the action that will result in WYO football becoming BIGGER and BETTER? Anything realistic, I should say.

It is kinda like preaching to the choir here on the message board - if we weren't avid fans of UW, we wouldn't be here. We need to be smart voters and vote for the intelligent, open minded candidates running for state offices - not just the most popular politician who is mired in mediocrity and can't see what it takes to make people think of the Wyoming Cowboys when they hear Wyoming mentioned.
Let the local newspapers hear from you if they aren't covering UW Athletics the way you think they should. Contact your legislative people and let them know your feelings about UW Athletics and how important it is to you and the State of Wyoming.

 

[Wyovanian]

MAJOR LEAGUE KUDOS to virtually everyone who responded to this issue with some very well thought out ideas and theories...now let me bring it to the next level: Is there anything WE all can do, in order to bring about some of the positive change that will spur the action that will result in WYO football becoming BIGGER and BETTER? Anything realistic, I should say.

Laramie folks could start by spending their dollars locally instead of heading to Ft. Collins to buy things that are just as available in Laramie. Support your local merchants and restaurants. Seems CJC and the university could do a better job of cross-marketing UW events (not just athletic) with local merchants to encourage locals to buy locally, and at the same time, gin up attendance and interest in UW Athletics and events.

If more investors saw more success in Laramie, choices would expand with ventures.

 

[BeachPoke]

I can only apply this one thing, BSU was a very lucky in the fact that they played in a waterdown league(WAC) at the time they were better than everyone in the league.. thus they gain some national attention, team gain some mojo, play a good game with some trick plays and it got them exposure. Thus they had a great couple years in recruting and continued the next few years on a roll... I can say they will leave the MWC without a championship because they had their chance last year to make it happen this year they are mid league at best.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

I can say they will leave the MWC without a championship because they had their chance last year to make it happen this year they are mid league at best.

Huh?? "mid-league at best"...

The MWC has performed very poorly in OOC and I don't see how anyone could argue that BSU is "mid-league at best." I think that without a doubt that they are still the top dog in the league; however, I think that we knock them off in Laramie.

 

[cowboyz]

I can only apply this one thing, BSU was a very lucky in the fact that they played in a waterdown league(WAC) at the time they were better than everyone in the league.. thus they gain some national attention, team gain some mojo, play a good game with some trick plays and it got them exposure. Thus they had a great couple years in recruting and continued the next few years on a roll... I can say they will leave the MWC without a championship because they had their chance last year to make it happen this year they are mid league at best.

Beachpoke hit it. To become the next Boise you have to be better than the rest of the teams in the MWC (and beat them) for a couple years, while winning the "big" OOC game on your schedule (Texas this year, Nebraska last year, etc.). All of the sudden you are undefeated with a quality win which gets you ranked high, gives you exposure and helps a great deal with recruiting. Then just keep the momentum (ie-stay good!), which continues the exposure and recruiting and so on...

Our facilites are good and getting better, and with a little marketing of the product (the players) maybe the fan base interest would grow. Shutting out the few media types that cover the team and shutting out the fans for that matter, does nothing to grow the excitement (secrets don't sell!). I can find out more about the other teams we play than I do the Pokes. Many teams have more fans at their practices then we have at our scrimmages. Hell, some teams have more fans at their spring game than we have at half of our home games combined. They let their players mingle with the fans, have Q&A's and sign autographs. Nothing fancy, just exposure.

A good first step would be to hold on to the players we have. A lot of fans say "if they don't want to be here, then f ' em". Well, most of them did want to be here, that's why they showed up. We can not be Boise if it seems as if every year we're breaking in true freshmen QB's, RB's, receivers, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to see of these playmakers and point scorers in their 4th season? That's how we'd start winning more games. I got killed on this forum when I said that Pittser would transfer seeing as he never saw they field. Now I'm worried who might go next or why. Are they going to offer Williams a scholarship? It's only 2 games in but he's already our leading scorer and has been one of our bright spots. Or do they just hope Sullivan comes back healthy?

I don't agree that Boise is mid league this year. At worse I'd guess 2nd. This week won't tell us anything as they have a weak opponent at home. We'll still need the next few games to judge them.

 

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

We shouldn't be trying to be the next Boise State. If we want to emulate another college program, we should look east to Nebraska. We should not want to become a flash in the pan or a fad school but one of tradition that every member of our state wants to support. Believe me, I hate the Huskers like any good Wyoming fan should but I can't help but admire the support their state has for their school. You ever been in a small Nebraska town on a Saturday in the fall? Good luck finding anything open. They close business because they love their Huskers so much. They recruit their own state. Before you jump my shizz, I know they have a much bigger base to recruit but still. Good players in Nebraska want to STAY in Nebraska. Husker football is feverish. I really wish Wyoming would catch the Brown and Gold Flu. I hate their school but can't help but admire what they've done to reach every corner of the state. As always, GO POKES!!