Winning means winning games
First of all, Tom Burman said he didn’t give a "bowl game or you're out" ultimatum to former Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn to begin the season.
“Misinformation,” Burman said.
“If you look back on the record, you will see that I stated that I expected us to have a winning record (at least seven wins),” Burman said Monday during a news conference, discussing Glenn’s dismissal. “I think the issue was that this year we finished with one win in the league and last year we finished with two wins in the league. We needed better than that after six seasons.”
Let’s face it, in this day and age of collegiate athletics, winning is at the top of the list. That’s not to say that there are other factors in a successful program -- academics is the big key, as well as behavior.
Yes, Glenn did about everything right except for winning conference games.
The Cowboys this season weren’t even close to being competitive with the league’s top four teams -- Utah, TCU, BYU and Air Force -- being outscored by the four teams 151-17.
.
Yet, it wasn’t even those four teams that Burman mentioned as a program that he would like to model Wyoming after. How about Boise State.
“Boise State is unique because they have hired very good coaches, and when those coaches move on to more high-profile BCS jobs, they replace them with someone within the staff,” Burman said. “This is where I want to get our program to; we hire a great coach and that coach gets recruited to take a high BCS-level job and we pat him on the back and name a coordinator and move on. To me, that’s the ideal situation we could be in.”
Of course, with that in mind, you can also compare Boise State to Utah. Urban Meyer took the Utes to a BCS bowl and then left for Florida. Kyle Whittingham now has the program on the cusp of another BCS opportunity.
Yes, Burman would like a coach who stays in Laramie for a long time, just as Glenn had hoped he would do. But in this day and age …. that’s the key here. Times change.
“When you look at the top programs in the country, like Michigan, Ohio state, Florida, Oklahoma, you always have to worry about coaches going to the NFL,” Burman said. “If you look at non BCS programs, turnover is always going to happen. If we can get some to come in and kick-start the program and stay three or four years, get us to a bowl game or two, if we have somebody on the staff that can take over, I don’t have an issue with that.”
I.E., Dan Hawkins to Chris Petersen at Boise State, Meyer to Whittingham at Utah.
There’s been plenty of names thrown around in the last few days -- Ted Gilmore from Nebraska, John L. Smith, Gary Barnett, Dave Christensen of Missouri. As they say, just to name a few. Burman won’t name names. That’s just his style and that’s fine.
The new coach, though, will have to have certain aspects that Burman believes in.
"Obviously, we're going to look at leadership abilities, organizational abilities and the ability to sell the program to recruits -- first and foremost -- and to the state secondly,” Burman said. “And then staff. What kind of staff will the next head coach bring with him? What will those individuals be made up of? What will their backgrounds be like?"
It all comes down to being a winner in Burman’s eyes.
“We're not going to limit ourselves to a certain level of football,” he said. “We're going to look all over the country to find the right fit for the University of Wyoming, who can help us get over the hump.”
There’s been plenty of debate on when Burman decided to make his move. Some say it has been a few weeks, some say it was earlier last week. Officially, he said it was Saturday night when he made the decision and Sunday when he followed through on it.
With that in mind, he has a short list that he is looking at. It’s a list he has had for some time. Burman has short lists for coaching replacements in all sports at all times.
“I needed to be prepared for the worst, and in this case, the worst is what happened in my mind,” he said. “If you asked me right now if I had a list to replace any current coach on my staff, I would say yes.”
With that in mind, Burman is working with the Neinas Sports Search Firm at a fee of $35,000.
“The search firm is primarily very detailed background searches relative of what other coaches in country think of people,” Burman said. “He (Chuck Neinas) knows the college football criteria better than anybody. It really accomplishes a lot of things.”
Burman is in somewhat of a rock and hard place. He needs to bring in a new staff soon to recruit and get going, yet he said he can’t make a rush judgment just for the sake of recruiting.
Patience is a virtue, he believes.
“Some would say I didn’t have any patience with this staff, but we gave them ample time to turn things around and I think coach Glenn would concur,” he said. “In reality, we aren’t where we want to be when compared to the top of the league and we have to catch up.”
At least moving forward, to say the least.
“Misinformation,” Burman said.
“If you look back on the record, you will see that I stated that I expected us to have a winning record (at least seven wins),” Burman said Monday during a news conference, discussing Glenn’s dismissal. “I think the issue was that this year we finished with one win in the league and last year we finished with two wins in the league. We needed better than that after six seasons.”
Let’s face it, in this day and age of collegiate athletics, winning is at the top of the list. That’s not to say that there are other factors in a successful program -- academics is the big key, as well as behavior.
Yes, Glenn did about everything right except for winning conference games.
The Cowboys this season weren’t even close to being competitive with the league’s top four teams -- Utah, TCU, BYU and Air Force -- being outscored by the four teams 151-17.
.
Yet, it wasn’t even those four teams that Burman mentioned as a program that he would like to model Wyoming after. How about Boise State.
“Boise State is unique because they have hired very good coaches, and when those coaches move on to more high-profile BCS jobs, they replace them with someone within the staff,” Burman said. “This is where I want to get our program to; we hire a great coach and that coach gets recruited to take a high BCS-level job and we pat him on the back and name a coordinator and move on. To me, that’s the ideal situation we could be in.”
Of course, with that in mind, you can also compare Boise State to Utah. Urban Meyer took the Utes to a BCS bowl and then left for Florida. Kyle Whittingham now has the program on the cusp of another BCS opportunity.
Yes, Burman would like a coach who stays in Laramie for a long time, just as Glenn had hoped he would do. But in this day and age …. that’s the key here. Times change.
“When you look at the top programs in the country, like Michigan, Ohio state, Florida, Oklahoma, you always have to worry about coaches going to the NFL,” Burman said. “If you look at non BCS programs, turnover is always going to happen. If we can get some to come in and kick-start the program and stay three or four years, get us to a bowl game or two, if we have somebody on the staff that can take over, I don’t have an issue with that.”
I.E., Dan Hawkins to Chris Petersen at Boise State, Meyer to Whittingham at Utah.
There’s been plenty of names thrown around in the last few days -- Ted Gilmore from Nebraska, John L. Smith, Gary Barnett, Dave Christensen of Missouri. As they say, just to name a few. Burman won’t name names. That’s just his style and that’s fine.
The new coach, though, will have to have certain aspects that Burman believes in.
"Obviously, we're going to look at leadership abilities, organizational abilities and the ability to sell the program to recruits -- first and foremost -- and to the state secondly,” Burman said. “And then staff. What kind of staff will the next head coach bring with him? What will those individuals be made up of? What will their backgrounds be like?"
It all comes down to being a winner in Burman’s eyes.
“We're not going to limit ourselves to a certain level of football,” he said. “We're going to look all over the country to find the right fit for the University of Wyoming, who can help us get over the hump.”
There’s been plenty of debate on when Burman decided to make his move. Some say it has been a few weeks, some say it was earlier last week. Officially, he said it was Saturday night when he made the decision and Sunday when he followed through on it.
With that in mind, he has a short list that he is looking at. It’s a list he has had for some time. Burman has short lists for coaching replacements in all sports at all times.
“I needed to be prepared for the worst, and in this case, the worst is what happened in my mind,” he said. “If you asked me right now if I had a list to replace any current coach on my staff, I would say yes.”
With that in mind, Burman is working with the Neinas Sports Search Firm at a fee of $35,000.
“The search firm is primarily very detailed background searches relative of what other coaches in country think of people,” Burman said. “He (Chuck Neinas) knows the college football criteria better than anybody. It really accomplishes a lot of things.”
Burman is in somewhat of a rock and hard place. He needs to bring in a new staff soon to recruit and get going, yet he said he can’t make a rush judgment just for the sake of recruiting.
Patience is a virtue, he believes.
“Some would say I didn’t have any patience with this staff, but we gave them ample time to turn things around and I think coach Glenn would concur,” he said. “In reality, we aren’t where we want to be when compared to the top of the league and we have to catch up.”
At least moving forward, to say the least.
Comments
As for Glenn: better things await.