Wyoming football garners columnist’s reflections

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Written by Brett Brown

Thursday, 20 November 2008 10:10

As we head into the great weekend of football that is known as the Border War, there’s a different feeling in the air. There’s no downplaying the rivalry and revenge on the Cowboys’ mind, but this could also be the last game for Joe Glenn as Wyoming’s headman.

Before the season, Athletic Director Tom Burman said he expected the Cowboys to be in a bowl game, especially with seven home games. Wyoming has proceeded to go 1-6 in conference play and could finish 5-7 at best, which would mark back-to-back seasons with that record. I’m not here to tell you how you should feel one way or the other; instead I’ll lay out the situation and you make your own call.

When Joe arrived in Laramie, he was handed a team with some talent but no confidence after a dismal era under current Clemson defensive coordinator, Vic Koening. In his first season, he was able to knock off Wyoming’s two biggest rivals: Colorado State University and Brigham Young University, in front of the Wyoming faithful. Although he finished the season 4-8, there was reason to be optimistic. In 2004, the Cowboys finished the season 7-5 with a shocking victory over California-Los Angeles in the Las Vegas Bowl. Media pundits all across the nation, and fans alike, shared the belief that Wyoming was back on the map. The new question became how long would coach Glenn stick around at Wyoming?

In the off-season that followed, Glenn traveled the state like a rock star, receiving cheers and appreciation for giving the program hope. For a program that hadn’t seen success since 1996, this was huge. A few months later, Glenn was featured on the cover of “Sporting News,” which proclaimed him to be the next hot coach that could fix one of America’s top programs. By the time the 2005 season rolled around, Wyoming was being ranked in the top 25 by outlets like “Sports Illustrated,” and was led by an electrifying superstar in Jovon Bouknight. The season got off to a promising 4-1 start but came crashing down on Oct. 8, 2005 with a loss at home to Texas Christian University.

Wyoming lost their remaining six games putting an end to Joe Glenn’s welcome parade.

The following season, the Cowboys started 1-4 and finished 6-6, and in 2007 they lost their last four games to finish 5-7.

Now we sit here one day away from the game, which could be Glenn’s last. No one since Paul Roach has come into Wyoming and touched the fans and the state the way Glenn has. He had the personality and coaching style that Pokes fans adored and were looking for. The big wins against BCS opponents like Virginia, Ole Miss, UCLA and Tennessee were excellent, but the struggle against conference foes was repulsive.

You have to raise the question, would Glenn have lasted this long if it weren’t for his personality? Some may even question if he and his staff would have lasted without Bouknight on the roster early in their tenure. The playmaker scored the majority of the points in 2003-04, and kept them in almost every game. Was it the coaching style or lack of recruiting? No one even noticed Glenn never put on a head set until this year.

During Tuesday’s practice, I looked at Joe as he chatted with a Cowboy fan from the sideline. He would pause in his conversations to yell across the field, “Good play!” or “Atta Boy!” to one of his players during practice. Although he’s mentioned the hot seat doesn’t affect him, you could tell it does. For the first time on Thursday, I heard him end an interview without a “Powder River Let ‘er Buck!”

He and his staff have given Wyoming every ounce of everything they had and it still may not have been good enough. In an era of college football where everything is big business and measured by wins and losses, the outstanding personality and early success mean as much as a politician’s word. With a situation chalked full of questions, the only one that matters is: What will be said between Glenn and Burman Sunday?

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