Perspectives from a Bison fan in Wyoming....

[WYOBISONMAN]

What a night! There surely have been a lot of rational and irrational thought flying around this board. Obviously I am a little shook about this whole thing too. Instead of my usual morning coffee, I have a single malt scotch and water in front of me.

Why Wyoming?
Bohl took the Wyoming job because it truly is a step up from FCS. As much as fans like to thump their chest and howl "Bring on Bama", the program at NDSU is FCS and not likely to move up in the near future (or long term either). NDSU would face many hurdles in such a move.

Money.....
The biggest is money. UW is competing with no other school for the higher ed dollars in WYO. NDSU and UND are constantly locked in funding battles and political battles. North Dakota also has several other state 4 yr. schools that compete for money.

Facilities....
While the Fargodome is a great FCS venue, it would be a horribly sub-par FBS venue. Compared to War Memorial in Laramie (which is on the small side of FBS stadiums) the Fargodome is tiny and cannot be expanded. Also, the football practice facilities are far better in Laramie as well as basketball, etc. NDSU does have the edge on a great baseball facility and WYO does not even sponsor baseball. Here is a link to the WYO facilities....http://www.gowyo.com/facilities/wyo-facilities.html

Conference.....
The Mountain West is arguably the top non-BCS conference in the country. Boise State is an outstanding program and the conference is extremely tough in Basketball. The MVFC/Summit is a good distance behind the MWC.

Stepping stone.....
Clearly Bohl is driven by cash and moving up. WYO offers a very visible place to continue the move up. If Bohl and Company can rehab this mess of a program at WYO, he will be a much hotter commodity that he was at NDSU. And, WYO has everything needed to compete (lots of money) and just needs a decent coach and staff. I think there is no question that this was a driver for Bohl in the decision process.


Coaches and Cash
I have read for some time the plethora of post from fans about Bohl and loyalty to NDSU. I have always said that the money is the driver. I probably was jaded in my perspective as I attended NDSU in the 80's and watched the coaches roll in and out of NDSU as they moved to bigger and better positions. Each time NDSU did pretty well plugging the holes and keeping the winning tradition going. I think the only coach that is truly a Bison is Rocky Hagar. Rocky was indeed loyal to NDSU.

The terms of Bohl's contract with WYO will likely be out today and I suspect when all is considered he will make 5-8 time more at WYO that NDSU and who could blame him for jumping ship. I suspect almost all of us would in the same situation, despite all the wailing and cries of otherwise. That being said, how this entire thing has come down is utterly classless. I have lost a lot of respect for Bohl and his handling of this situation. He really did leave the players hanging out to dry. And, if he wins at WYO, he will probably act the same when leaving. If he is not winning at WYO in 5 years he will be out like shit through a goose. And so it goes with coaches.

The bottom line is that in the statistic that counts......CASH......Wyoming beats NDSU every time. That being said, WYO will probably not get anymore of my cash as this has left a foul taste in my mouth. I think I will not be renewing my Cowboy Joe Club membership next year.....

[bisoningrandforks]

thanks wyo....Im in shock this morning sitting at my desk at work....the timing is awful!....unfortunate MONEY makes people do things they normally wouldn't do!...Bohl is in my dog house now!

[gizmo]

I'm sure WYO speaks a lot of truth. I hope CB has a good one-way flight. ....and by the way, CB, enjoy watching the Bison on tv when somebody else coaches THE BISON to a national championship.

[MarkyMark]

How many Head Coaches has Wyoming fired in the last 20 years? Have any WY coaches been able to get a better Head Coaching position somewhere else?

I understand the money aspect and I do believe Bohl now feels he has to take a job like this to get Big10 or Big12 job, however this move seems like a bad career choice.

[BisonCardinal]

Wyo, can you remember how Solomonson left? I could swear I found out while in the stands at a playoff game. The guy standing next to me was explaining that Montana State was "big time". I think Earle finished the season though. We seemed to do alright with the next guy.

[bisoningrandforks]

not sure how many they have fired....Wyoming was stepping stone for Joe Tiller, who went to Purdue and way back Dennis Ericksen moved up and ended up in Miami.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Wyo, can you remember how the Solomonson left? I could swear I found out while in the stands at a playoff game. The guy standing next to me was explaining that Montana State was "big time". We seemed to do alright with the next guy.

I remember he left abruptly, won at NDSU with Don Morton's recruits. Then failed so bad at Montana State it set that program back years. He was probably the worst coach in MSU history.

[BisoninNWMN]

How many Head Coaches has Wyoming fired in the last 20 years? Have any WY coaches been able to get a better Head Coaching position somewhere else?

I understand the money aspect and I do believe Bohl now feels he has to take a job like this to get Big10 or Big12 job, however this move seems like a bad career choice.

Agree to some degree.

Wyoming is a mediocre FBS program and will always be unless Bohl and completely turn that program around.

$$ is the factor and I cannot blame him for leaving. Timing is horrible but was there any way better?

[79FCourt]

Wyo, you make some good points and I'm also an NDSU grad and huge bison fan. I also live in Wyo an am a Cowboy Joe Member and season ticket holder. In my opinion this is only about money. Wyoming doesn't have the funding to compete consistently for MW championships. Although they have more resources than NDSU, they are middle of the pack at best compared to their peers. Recruiting to Laramie is a bitch. And what if you do have a good season and finish top two or three in the conference? You get invited to the New Mexico bowl or something like that. Big F'ing deal. Playoffs > New Mexico bowl. Wyo isn't going to the Big 12. War Memorial is too small and they can't fill it anyway. Wyo brings no TV revenue to the game. There is nothing about this that makes sense other than the paycheck. I'm sure I would do the same thing in CB's position, but lets not sell this as anything but a pay increase. NDSU has better fans, better support, better booster club, better tradition, etc, etc, etc.

[Rynomite]

Very interesting points. Unfortunately I agree with all of them, damnit. We all knew in our heart that a buy out of his contract would come this year. I mean why wait till he is 6 and 5 next year? His value goes down with each loss. A lot of people are calling this a "lateral" move, but the points you make are quite true. Because I love the guy, I am assuming the flight out of Fargo this AM is for him to make media appearances as WYO makes the announcement. I just hope he comes back to win that championship in January. I mean he gets a pretty nice bonus for those things. And it is on his shoulders to restore the team moral that must be devastated right now. But.. I also hope he doesn't try and pull our staff to join him. If he isn't there on Saturday, Vigen will be. For now...