Stability and winning not likely in Wyoming
It’s only Thursday, and it already has been a wacky week in Mountain West Conference basketball.
On Tuesday, UNLV and Air Force knocked the peach baskets off the wall at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Rebels won, 49-42. This is exactly what Dr. James Naismith had in mind when he invented the game in 1891.
Wyoming’s Heath Schroyer was fired last week in midstream. San Diego State coach Steve Fisher didn’t get around to blasting this transaction until Monday — on the weekly conference call of MWC coaches and media.
One has to hand it to Fisher. He knows how to pick his spots.
Later Monday, the MWC put a letter of reprimand in Fisher’s file. Do not pass “Go,” do not collect $200,000, do not ruffle feathers when the media is writing stuff down.
Andy Katz of ESPN got involved, defending Fisher and Schroyer. Then this one website referred to Wyoming as “the worst job in college basketball,” obviously overlooking the guy in St. Louis who dry cleans Rick Majerus’ sweaters.
Usually the only way the Wyoming basketball team can get in the news is to play Jimmer Fredette when it is 23 degrees below zero outside. It’s amazing how quickly people forget the Cowboys’ 1943 NCAA championship team.
I don’t have a horse in this race, other than like most in my profession, I’ve taken the odd potshot at Laramie. For this reason, if Wyoming ever considered leaving the MWC for a browner pasture, all of us would take back everything we’ve said about Laramie. And then we’d probably say it all over again.
But there’s Laramie, and then there are the fans who live there. Wyoming fans are more loyal than an old hound, or Valerie Bertinelli. They’re also the most fun. And they’re the thirstiest, which might be why they’re the most fun.
Remember in “Stripes” when Bill Murray tells platoon mate Lee Harvey “I want to party with you, cowboy?” It is a known fact that Lee Harvey was a Wyoming season-ticket holder.
No, I don’t have a horse in this race. But if one thinks a 49-42 basketball game warrants 700 additional words, one is sadly mistaken. Or delusional.
Heath Schroyer was 49-68 in three-plus seasons as Wyoming’s coach. He appeared to have a short fuse. Understandable. Sometimes coaches who go 49-68 lose the length on their fuses. And on their contracts.
He is widely credited with “bringing stability” to the Wyoming program, which I think is what you get when guys who can’t shoot or defend go to class.
This is where I join the horse race.
Do you want stability, however you define it? Or do you want to win?
It’s easy to have both in the Big Cheese conferences. In the Small Fry leagues, one must often choose between being stable and being competitive. It’s not always possible to have this and that in the Small Fry leagues.
The Rebels sort of have this and that under Lon Kruger (although some natives are getting restless with UNLV’s inability to knock down a 3, and 49-42 games).
Jerry and Elaine tried to have this and that on “Seinfeld.” It worked for a little while.
Another Jerry we know never got the kind of players Mike Krzyzewski had at Duke, the kind of players Dean Smith had at North Carolina, and only some of the players Eddie Sutton had at Kentucky. So sometimes Jerry Tarkanian had to take a chance on players they didn’t want, for whatever reason.
The Rebels weren’t always stable under Tark’s watch. They were always competitive. In 1990, they totally kicked Bobby Hurley’s behind. And most of those guys that Coach K and Dean Smith didn’t want? Well, they went to class and turned out all right.
A few years ago Wyoming had a bug-eyed coach from the junior college ranks named Steve McClain who recruited big, strong guys from Africa and tough, little guys from Chicago, who in nine seasons in Laramie won 157 games and lost 115, who in 2002 upset Gonzaga and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2006, the Cowboys finished 17-14. McClain was fired. The program, said the boosters, had become unstable.
Today, somebody on one of the Wyoming fan boards referred to McClain’s nine years as the “glory days” of the program.
McClain is an assistant at Indiana now. Wyoming fans want a stable coach who can win lots of basketball games. They want this and that.
Me? I just want to party with Lee Harvey.
Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.
