Richard Anderson photos
Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn shakes hands after Saturday's game with Colorado State. Wyoming athletics director Tom Burman and president Tom Buchanan will meet soon to discus Glenn's future with the program.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
Joe Glenn wants to return as Wyoming head football coach next season and his players spoke out in his behalf Saturday after the Cowboys fell to Colorado State 31-20 at War Memorial Stadium.
There has been an abundant of speculation that Saturday was Glenn’s final game as Wyoming head coach. The loss on Saturday put the Cowboys at 4-8 on the season and 1-7 in Mountain West Conference play.
In Glenn’s six years at the helm, he has guided Wyoming to one bowl game victory (2004 over UCLA) and has had some big wins over power programs such as Tennessee, Ole Miss and Virginia.
But he has had just one season of .500 or better in the MWC and his overall record at Wyoming is just 30-41.
Does Glenn believe he deserves a chance to return? In some ways, he said yes.
“I know you have that damn thing at the end of the field with lights on it called a scoreboard,” Glenn said. “But there are things that we have done that you can’t measure on the scoreboard. We have a wonderful coaching staff and a great bunch of guys who have been loyal. That is something they really haven’t had here before. There were times in our careers here where we had opportunities to do something different, and really felt like after the Las Vegas Bowl, ‘let’s dig in and get what Wyoming hasn’t had for quite a while.’ We did, but we didn’t get over the hump.”
When asked his thoughts of Glenn possibly not being retained, redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Stutzriem not only supported his coach, but got angry at the thought that he might not return.
“Joe Glenn is my head coach or I don’t wear these colors,” Stutzriem said. “We’re standing up for him, so take it as you want. We can win with him.”
Stutzriem said that Glenn and his staff have brought several outstanding players to Wyoming who might not otherwise have had a chance to play Division I football.
“John Fletcher was a walk on. He came here. Mitch Unrien and Devin Moore,” Stutzriem said. “Those players don’t come to these places unless they only have one opportunity. These coaches brought them here. We’re going to have players like that in the future.”
When asked if he would transfer if Glenn was let go, Stutzriem’s patience began to grow thin again.
“I want Tom Burman, Matt Whisenant or whoever, to come over and be a man about it if they are going to do this,” Stutzriem said. “My coach is Joe Glenn right now. That’s all I am going to say about it.”
Yet, Stutzriem had more to say.
“He’s my head coach and I would never go behind his back and want him out of here,” he added. “Why would I want to go with another offensive staff? That would be three in three years. It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, we got a new head coach, let’s go win the Rose Bowl.’ That is not what is going to happen. I understand it, we’re not doing it. But we started out rough this year and we’ll get that fixed. Blame that on me, take my scholarship away. I cost us the UNLV game … isn’t that right? Take my scholarship. Joe Glenn is my head coach.”
Several other Cowboys also voiced their allegiance to Glenn.
“From all of the talk that we have heard, he is probably gone,” Fletcher said. “I hope not, I love the guy. He’s a great coach and it is hard to let anybody go when you have been around them for four years. Then you have to look at the business aspect of the college and they want to win. We haven’t done that in the last couple of years. I don’t know what they are going to do; something has to change for us to start winning and have a winning season.”
“I know we have some stuff going on with the coaching staff, but I couldn’t ask for a better guy to play under. I’d do it all again, that’s for sure,” added senior linebacker Ward Dobbs. “One this is for sure, and I have been telling people this, playing for Coach Glenn and my position coach (Marty) English, I have all the respect in the world for those guys and the whole coaching staff. I’m a better man today, for sure, to be able to play for them.”
Some players just wanted to stay out of the talk.
“There are rumors, but I am not getting into that,” sophomore safety Chris Prosinski said. “I know that we are all behind Coach Glenn and I hope that he is back.”
When told that some of his players were backing him up, as well as some interviewed fans in the stands, Glenn just smiled and said, “Let’s have a vote.”
Glenn didn’t really wants to get into specifics, but he did say after Saturday’s game that at some point, he will meet Burman.
“He said we would sit down and talk about it when the season is over,” Glenn said. “I really don’t have any answers for you because I don’t know where I am going.”
Glenn actually already met with Burman on Thursday for a short time to go over where the program was headed and what they are doing.
“I think he wanted to evaluate a little bit this final game and then evaluate the season and evaluate where we are at as a group,” Glenn said. “I’m sure they will take everything into consideration and make the right decision for the University of Wyoming, the state and the football program. I’ll live with whatever they come up with.”
It has been reported that Burman and Wyoming president Tom Buchanan would soon, if not already, meet and discuss Glenn’s fate.
“We’ll see what they say. We’re all three good friends and they will make a decision to what is best for Wyoming … I know they will,” Glenn said.
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