Wyoming fires coach

[ifarania]

Or better yet the ones featured in The Onion.

JL stay/go arguments remind me of the old "Point/Counter Point" segment on 60 minutes from '71-79, featuring James J Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander, parodied to perfection by SNL with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain...



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[Da Coach]

Might take a long time. Or it might not.

Should a coaching change ever take place? If so, when? If not, why? I am just curious.

So do you think Schroyer should have been fired in mid-season with his team struggling with injuries, and only 1 senior on the team?

[ifarania]

So do you think Schroyer should have been fired in mid-season with his team struggling with injuries, and only 1 senior on the team?

He was very unpopular here. People describe him as having "gutted" the program... Good at getting kids in class, but not at much else.

[BradleyBrave]

So do you think Schroyer should have been fired in mid-season with his team struggling with injuries, and only 1 senior on the team?

Why won't you answer my questions first?

As far as Wyoming goes, I don't know. I haven't followed them closely enough to have an opinion. ifarania seems to know more about the situation than most of us.

[Da Coach]

Here is your answer- of course there are instances when it's time a coach should go. But I do not believe it is ever in the best interest of a school to fire a coach in midseason unless there is corruption or cheating. None of that is the case, and that is why Wyoming needed to pay out 100% of the 3+ years of salary left on Schroyer's contract. And I also think they are making a mistake firing him after just 3+ seasons when it appears he has a lot of younger talent, as well as kids who will get healthy, that would make for an improved team next season. He did win 19 games his 2nd season. But then that's their choice. I am predicting they will struggle for many years to come.

Not only has Schroyer run a clean program with good kids, he has raised the academic profile of the team tremendously. His kids not only go to class, they get good grades. Under former coach Steve McClain, Wyoming not only was miserable on the court, they were one of the worst academic performers in the NCAA. Wyoming was penalized scholarships for poor APR performance before Schroyer got there.

[tornado]

Just for the sake of facts...

--Shroyer was given LESS time than Porter Moser was to turn the team into a winner.
He was there only a little over 3.5 years -- but had to take over a horrible program that way under .500 over the previous four seasons.

--Wyoming really has to do about 100% of their recruiting out of state and is a really bad place to lure kids to -- maybe even harder than Peoria??

--Steve McClain (Schroyer's predecessor) like him or not, took over a winning program whose head coach was hired away (to Clemson) and after 3 years began a slide that ended with FOUR consecutive near-.500-or-worse seasons before being fired -- in other words...McClain got the luxury of having a good program fall into his lap - and still got more time once he hit the skids than Schroyer got.

--Schroyer is only partly to blame....recall that he made the HUGE mistake of taking in Sean Ogirri after Ogirri destroyed morale at Wichita State.
Since Ogirri left this program has tanked...
Ogirri destroyed the morale at Wyoming and although Schroyer bears some responsibility - he has basically had to play the last two years with players who are no more talented that the guy named "Whathisname".

[ifarania]

It's true that he was running a tight, clean ship, in terms of developing and maintaining good character guys. However, I think you are dramatically overestimating the young talent and potential on our current roster. I've seen this team several times, I am friends with people (in and out of the university) in this town, and if there was a fan base at UW like we have at BU, I can safely say you would be seeing ten times the vitriol that gets spewed about Les at present. (N.B. I'm not inherently an anti-Les guy).

Here is your answer- of course there are instances when it's time a coach should go. But I do not believe it is ever in the best interest of a school to fire a coach in midseason unless there is corruption or cheating. None of that is the case, and that is why Wyoming needed to pay out 100% of the 3+ years of salary left on Schroyer's contract. And I also think they are making a mistake firing him after just 3+ seasons when it appears he has a lot of younger talent, as well as kids who will get healthy, that would make for an improved team next season. He did win 19 games his 2nd season. But then that's their choice. I am predicting they will struggle for many years to come.

Not only has Schroyer run a clean program with good kids, he has raised the academic profile of the team tremendously. His kids not only go to class, they get good grades. Under former coach Steve McClain, Wyoming not only was miserable on the court, they were one of the worst academic performers in the NCAA. Wyoming was penalized scholarships for poor APR performance before Schroyer got there.

[BradleyBrave]

I generally don't advocate in-season changes at the college level either, but clearly the fears of defections, lost recruits, and decades of rebuilding didn't dissuade the administration from making a change.

I don't know the situation at Wyoming, but unless you know this guy personally I am not sure why everyone is getting so upset about him losing his job.

[houstontxbrave]

I caught a Wyoming game a few weeks ago on one of the Fox sports channels and there looked like there might have been about 45 people in attendance.

Maybe the University is tired of the apathy, disinterest and decided a move at this time was best for the program. Kinda showing the alumni's etc that they see and hear their dissatisfaction and intend to try and provide a product worth both their time and money.

[Da Coach]

Here is a sensible assessment of the situation at Wyoming-

http://beyondthearc.nbcsports.com/2011/02/07/only-thing-tougher-than-winning-in-wyoming-finding-a-coach-who-can/

Here is an article from the Casper Star-Tribune with a rather unimpressive list of possible coaching replacements-

http://trib.com/college/wyoming/article_56775df6-330f-11e0-bc9e-001cc4c002e0.html

Some writers and many fans seem to want the school to hire a former player, Marcus Bailey (a 2003 grad), who has absolutely no coaching experience.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/588121-marcus-bailey-could-return-the-wyoming-cowboys-to-respectability

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_123788921028225#!/home.php?sk=group_123788921028225

http://www.wyomingathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/bailey_marcus00.html

Maybe this would be a good choice. A lot of Wyoming fans seem to think so. Good luck, but as I have said before, be careful what you wish for...


Here is an interesting column from last year about the criticism Schroyer was getting then-

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/04/08/sports/19sports_04-08-10.txt

Criticism of Schroyer has come from every angle: recruiting, scheduling, coaching style, the way he dresses, the way he acts on the bench and around his players during games.

Heck, I’ve even heard people be critical of the way Schroyer looks. They say that the way he and assistant coach Fred Langley dress and slick their hair back makes them look like a couple of mafia guys from back East.

[BradleyBrave]

Some writers and many fans seem to want the school to hire a former player, Marcus Bailey (a 2003 grad), who has absolutely no coaching experience.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/588121-marcus-bailey-could-return-the-wyoming-cowboys-to-respectability

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_123788921028225#!/home.php?sk=group_123788921028225

http://www.wyomingathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/bailey_marcus00.html

Maybe this would be a good choice. A lot of Wyoming fans seem to think so. Good luck, but as I have said before, be careful what you wish for...

Why are you saying 'be careful what you wish for' in hiring an alum with no experience?

[houstontxbrave]

Why are you saying 'be careful what you wish for' in hiring an alum with no experience?

Now that is funny.

[ifarania]

I'm not sure the two situations are so analogous. Wyoming and Bradley are VERY different institutions, with very different athletic cultures.... I think there are plenty of people who think Les should get one more go around with a healthy SM and TB (including me, as frustrated as I am with the record), while I haven't talked to ANYONE here who wanted this coach for another season. Also, Bradley is a much more attractive location in terms of tradition, history, and as a geographic location for a DI basketball player. It's relatively easier to get football players and wrestlers up here, but we have to go out of the US for a large portion of our basketball roster. Bradley has a much brighter horizon and potential for a new hire, while the basketball outlook here includes hanging around the basement of the MWC.

[Da Coach]

Why are you saying 'be careful what you wish for' in hiring an alum with no experience?

Obvious. For the same reason I am saying it now regarding Bradley.
Whomever they hire, they will hate him just as much in a few years as they hate Schroyer now. However, I am predicting they will be worse in 2 or 5 years than they would have been if they had kept him.

[BradleyBrave]

Obvious. For the same reason I am saying it now regarding Bradley.
Whomever they hire, they will hate him just as much in a few years as they hate Schroyer now. However, I am predicting they will be worse in 2 or 5 years than they would have been if they had kept him.

Hate is a strong word. Did anyone 'hate' Jim Molinari? Does anyone 'hate' Jim Les? I certainly don't. I think people are just tired of losing. In fact, I think losing is really the only thing that's 'hated'. If we won more, this conversation wouldn't be going in this direction. Maybe they're tired of losing at Wyoming too, I don't know. The object of the exercise is to win.