Fullback41 wrote:I question if "WyomingProud" is really a UW fan, he just joined this board Saturday and smells of a rival fan trying to bring down WyoNation. "WyomingProud" shouldn't you be happy your Rebels won on Saturday instead of trying to bring us Wyoming fans down?
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
It isn't even really worth discussing, but since there are some real Wyoming fans debating the topic on this thread, here are a few points:
1. Dropping to FCS will destroy the Men's and Women's Basketball programs as well as the football program. I noticed a couple of posts saying we should focus on Basketball. That's fine (I actually agree to a point, I believe our ceiling is much higher in hoops and that the program has not been properly supported), however in the same post they argue we should drop to the Big Sky. Those two things don't go together. Ask Coach Schroyer what it is like to try to develop a nationally relevant program in the Big Sky. No offense to Mr. Titleist but the Big Sky is a one-bid league routinely finishing in the 20's in conference RPI. The travel is very difficult and only a couple of programs have even a glimmer of fan support. There are few recruiting hotbeds to play in (Sacto and PDX is about it) and very little name recognition among opponents.
2. Dropping to FCS will cause a severe reduction in sports offered and in the number of scholarships available to student athletes. FB schollies drop from 85 to 63 for starters, but that is just the beginning. Due to a massive decline in revenue (say goodbye to NCAA tournament credit revenue, media contract revenue, conference tournament revenue, ticket sales, merchandise, contributions, etc.) there will be additional non-revenue sports dropped. Due to the reduction in 22 Men's schollies from football, the department will be able to drop a corresponding number of Women's scholarship players. Depending on what the Big Sky requires for sports it is likely that UW would drop Women's Tennis, Women's Golf, and maybe 1 or 2 more sports. We would drop down to the absolute bare minimum required to be Division 1. We would have no choice as we would no longer have the revenue to support the program.
3. We have been playing at the highest level of collegiate athletics since the 1930's. We aren't going back. Sorry to BYU fans that wish we would so it would validate their sense of superiority, but it isn't going to happen and those that want it to happen will be sorely dissapointed.
4. In regards to competitiveness, we are competitive at the D-1A level. Are we good? No. Are we competitive. Yes. Non-competitive would be NMSU, Idaho, Kent. ST. Over the last 5+ years we have 5 victories over teams from the so-called "AQ Leagues". That is more wins that 2/3 of the WAC schools....combined. Ditto for CUSA and MAC. You have to take the bottom 6-8 teams in those leagues combined to find that many AQ victories. We have struggled in conference and have performed similar to UNLV and SDSU. I would argue we have been more successful than each of them due to our OOC performance although conference play has been roughly equal (Pokes have won 4 of 5 against the Rebels FWIW). Las Vegas and San Diego have huge populations and great weather (well, SD does anyway, Vegas depends on your tolerance for heat I suppose) and yet we have outperformed them. Keep in mind these are not exactly our glory years and we have still managed to be competitive.
5. We have the financial resources to compete at the D-1 A level. Our athletic budget is higher than CSU's and larger than most MAC and WAC schools (Boise, Fresno, Hawaii being the exceptions). We have recently and are in the process of investing tens of millions of dollars in capital improvements to athletic department facilities. I guarantee you we are on par with many of our MWC peers (not all) in facilities at this point.
This is the most ridiculous argument I have ever heard. So Dave Christensen goes 1-2 to start his Wyoming career and we should drop down a level or drop the athletics department entirely?
I am as frustrated as the next guy regarding the failures of the Wyoming athletic department, but I can assure you that the problems won't go away just by dropping a level. Our location doesn't get any more desirable and our leadership does not automatically become more competent. In fact just the opposite, their weaknesses will be exposed as they will handcuffed financially in trying to build a competitive program.