Money and a new coach

Another day, a few more names mentioned as possible head football coaches for the University of Wyoming.

If I had a dollar for very time I have been asked in the last couple of days, “Who do you think will be the next football coach,” … well, let’s just say I’d have a few bucks to spare.

Then, it is “Who do you want to be the next coach?”

Maybe I should ask for $2 per question.

My honest answer is always, “I don’t know.” It’s actually a pretty easy response. When you think about it, you can say “I don’t know” and lie. You can say “I don’t know” and actually not know.”

I actually don’t know.

What I can tell you and this is no lie, whoever Tom Burman selects as the next Cowboy football coach, there will be people out there who will not be happy.

Actually, there’s people out there who are already not happy. Some thought Glenn should have been fired earlier, some believe Glenn should have been give another chance. There are probably some in a cave who don’t even know who Joe Glenn is.

A caller on Sportsline Live two nights ago didn’t even know that TCU was in the Mountain West Conference.

Burman was asked during the teleconference on Monday about the financial package Wyoming can offer a new coach. This goes back to, do you hire an up and comer and not have to pay as much or do you hire a well known veteran that will command more money?

Of course, Burman didn’t bite, which is a good thing. You don’t advertise for a new coach by dangling dollar signs in the media.

“I’m not going to discuss that because that would limit my ability to negotiate with a candidate down the road,” Burman said. “I don’t think we can pay somebody like they do Gary Patterson at TCU, but we can still put a package together that will be competitive within the Mountain West Conference that will allow us to lure the kind of candidate we want to have at the University of Wyoming.”

Wyoming isn’t the only MWC school looking for a head football coach. The Long boys, Rocky and Chuck (no relation) are out at New Mexico and San Diego State respectively. There’s probably no doubt that Wyoming might have to battle those two schools for possibilities as well, although Burman made it clear that he wasn’t going to get into a bidding war with the rival MWC programs.

In fact, if a prospective coach tries to play Wyoming against other schools, he’ll drop to the bottom of the list.

“I’ll hire a guy who wants this job,” Burman said. “I’m not going to get into a situation he might be looking at three or four jobs and use us as leverage. That will make him less appealing to me."

There’s no doubt that finances can play a part in the new hire. After all, Wyoming is Wyoming and not BYU or another moneybag schools. Yet, Wyoming is not in the Sister of the Poor situation either.

There’s also the fact that Wyoming has invested some serious dough in the new Indoor Practice Facility and improvements at War Memorial Stadium.

That’s another reason to try to find a winner.

“We’re going to be aggressive, but we are also going to be within reason of the expectations of the people of Wyoming,” Burman said.

So, who is going to be the next head coach? Maybe John L Smith or Ted Gilmore or Dave Christiansen or Gary Barnett or Mike Van Diest or Brandon Gregg or Mike Leech or any assistant coach who has ever coached at Wyoming since the 1970s or any coach who has ever driven through the state of Wyoming.

Maybe none of the above.

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