I’ve learned today that Heath Schroyer has been fired as head basketball coach at the University of Wyoming. The coach, who told his players of his ouster this afternoon in a team meeting, will be replaced for the balance of the season by associate head coach Fred Langley. Schroyer had three years on his contract remaining at a Mountain West-low $160,000 per season - all of which will be bought out by the school’s boosters.
(Wyoming: No Low Budget, High Expectations)
Schroyer departs after only 3 1/2 seasons and a 49-68 overall record at Wyoming. The coach was brought in by Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman primarily to clean up off-court and academic issues while keeping the underfunded Cowboys basketball program competitive in the Mountain West.
Schroyer achieved the former, upgrading the academic performance of Cowboy players significantly during his tenure while eliminating off-court behavior issues. But injuries to key players, including former MWC freshman of the year Afam Muojeke and highly-touted junior college prospect Luke Martinez, and a 2010-11 roster featuring only one senior has wreaked disaster on Wyoming’s record this season. (8-15, 1-8 in the Mountain West.)
Of Schroyer’s ouster, a current Mountain West basketball coach told me today that he thought Wyoming AD Tom Burman made the decision in order to distract angry fans from the underperforming Cowboys football program. In recent years, Burman has raised millions for Wyoming football in upgrading the team’s facilities, while failing to provide the hoops program so much as a practice facility.
With that in mind, it appears Burman’s decision to fire Schroyer was premature. At the very least, as Schroyer’s cleaned up the off-court reputation of the Wyoming hoops program, he should’ve been allowed to finish the season.
I don’t think Schroyer will be unemployed for long.
As for Schroyer’s permanent replacement, I’ve been told that Wyoming is eyeing BYU associate head coach Dave Rice and South Florida assistant coach Jeremy Cox as two possible candidates for the job.
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6:14 pm on February 7th, 2011
You hit the nail on the head Brooks. Heath did the best he could under the circumstances and the administration never gave him the support he needed. If I were Heath, I would be happy to be relieved of my duties. Adios Laramie. He will find another D1 job soon. Good coach. Bad situation. Terrible place to live.
6:22 pm on February 7th, 2011
Schroyer might not be unemployed for too long as an assistant coach, but he probably won’t be a head coach ever! Look at who we played this year and we lost to them at home!! Laramie used to be a place that was as difficult to play as the Pit. We’ve probably had the easiest schedule ever this year and we still couldn’t get any W’s. What are these off-court behavior issues and reputation you speak of? Yeah, he improved the academic performance which is great, but he inherited a decent team and ran it into the crapper.
The fans aren’t angry about an underperforming football team. They are angry about one of the worst BB teams! Laramie is not the worst job in america, people have proven they can win there!
6:28 pm on February 7th, 2011
Lucky for Schroyer. He still gets paid, and get’s to see the dump of a city, Laramie, in the rear view mirror. There is not a worse place on earth than Laramie. Nice little mountain town… lol. Wyoming is a horrible, boring place. Your future is looking up Heath!
6:42 pm on February 7th, 2011
Hey Zach,,, you dont have a clue what you are talking about? Schroyer had all the support he needed, and handled his own schedule. Which included DIII, DII and NAIA teams the last three years. His style of “coaching” is long gone. Screaming, ranting an acting a fool doesnt work. His excuses were beyond belief! He will not be missed. He is NOT a DI coach, couldnt coach his way out of a paperback. GOOD RIDDANCE
6:42 pm on February 7th, 2011
Worst job in America? You have go to be kidding me.
14 tournament appearances
9 wins in the ncaa tournament
1 final four
1 national championship
a 16,000 seat arena
a nice little mountain town with fans that will pack the house for a good product.
easil the worst job in America. durp.
6:44 pm on February 7th, 2011
correction. got to be kidding me. whoops. my cow stepped on my computer. his bad.
6:57 pm on February 7th, 2011
As a WYO alum and former athletics department employee. Im glad there was a change at HC for the team. Its a great facility, program but tough place to keep and retain coaches (much less players). We haven’t made the tourney since the glory days (nearly a decade ago) of the Bailey, Davis, Uche, Straight and Richardson. And 14 years the previous tourney trip. We have passionate fans but unfortunately due to population centers, weather and size of our state its a tough place to fill. I’ve been to 2 of the 3 sellouts and in the AA’s 30 year history has only had 10,000+ 71 times. I give props to those that have been successful here and want nothing more than for that to happen. If any WYO fans don’t know there is a Facebook group pushing for Marcus Bailey as the next WYO coach, aptly called “Marcus Bailey for Coach” This group started last week, coincidence? at the end of the day GO POKES
7:37 pm on February 7th, 2011
Heath was simply a terrible coach that was overpaid. He was a terrible recruiter and got a chance to coach at a great small school in the west. The fans of Wyomings have averaged 12k attendance for winning programs and Heath ran it into the ground. Zach and Andy, you not of what you speak. Good luck Heath, I hope you learn how to coach someday.
7:46 pm on February 7th, 2011
Hating on Laramie and Wyoming? Have you ever actually spent any time in this state? Yes, winters are rough, but you can’t beat the summers in this wonderful little community, regardless of the success of the sports teams.
Here’s to better days ahead.
7:55 pm on February 7th, 2011
Good decision, I do wish him the best, but we needed to move on. As far as Laramie being “the worst place on earth”, you are SO mistaken. I have lived all over the US and travelled all over the world and I guess it comes down to what you think is important. I shopping malls and uppity appletini bars are your scene, yes Laramie is not for you. Yes the weather is tough, for the weak, but you have beautiful mountains, rivers, fly fishing skiing, snowmobiling and peace and quiet all within a few miles. Ft. Collins and Denver are close enough for the lines, crowds and malls. I live in a bigger city now and believe it or not, miss Wyoming and the PEOPLE. Knock the program if you wish, but stop the anti- Wyo comments..
9:20 pm on February 7th, 2011
Schroyer’s predecessor, Steve McClain, was paid substantially more than Schroyer was. Wyoming got what it paid for: An under-performing team that looked like it couldn’t care less, one of the worst nonconference schedules in the country that he was solely responsible for setting and attendance so poor it would make a small high school blush.
The MWC coach who suggested Schroyer was canned to distract from anger over the football team’s performance couldn’t be further off base. Yes, fans are very unhappy with the way the football team played this fall, but the jury is still out on Dave Christensen, while Schroyer’s body of work on the court speaks for itself.
The complaint about Burman raising millions for football while the Arena-Auditorium is in need of modernization and such sounds like it came from Schroyer himself since he privately voiced that complaint a number of times.
7:50 am on February 8th, 2011
Schroyer did a great job in Provo as an Assistant Coach. I thought the Cowboys played the Cougars extremely well last week. I hate to see Schroyer go, and I wish him well.
The Cowboys have always been a tough road trip for BYU and I hate to see the relationship end. Success to the Cowboys in the years ahead.
Fennis Dembo was one of my favorite Cowboy players of all time! That man was a load!
Best to the Cowboys and to Schroyer. Sorry that he did not work out in Laramie!
1:12 pm on February 8th, 2011
If UW doesn’t give support to the basketball program then why are the Cowgirls ranked in the top 30 for attendance in the nation? I don’t see any problems with the Cowgirls program. Stop with the excuses Heath was not a good head coach. Unless you have lived in Laramie you don’t know what a good town and how much support there is for athletics.
5:44 pm on February 8th, 2011
Attendance says it all. See Schroyer , don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.
5:51 pm on February 8th, 2011
Go WYO.
12:10 pm on February 9th, 2011
Nothin for nothin…but have you paid attention to the records of Steve Fisher, Mike K, Tom Izzo etc in the first 3 years of their current schools???? The bottom line is this, the A.D. has no guts. He made the hire, he lost faith in his head coach because boosters became too much to handle. It’s been well documented that UW has had an ABSURD amount of injuries in his tenure (to key players). SO, what makes this the worst job in Mid-Majors is because the “support” you talk about is fair-weather bottom to top…no one should be happy without wins, but if you are running an athletic department, you shouldn’t be held hostage by boosters and fans who don’t know any better…Oh and one more thing…the only way they got players before Heath, was to take rebels, and pay for them…that’s what he was brought in to correct…and he did…don’t know HS from Adam, but by all accounts UW dropped the ball on this…
7:06 pm on February 9th, 2011
Poor Wyoming Pokes will never again be a winning program. Should someone ask Wyoming AD Tom Burman to move the program down to D-II level, maybe give the kids a chance to win a couple games, again maybe that division would be a struggle for them also! Maybe D-III might be a thought!! Reading the article on top suggesting BYU’s Dave Rice take over the head coach duty?!? Didn’t they just fire a BYU genius in Heath??
7:08 pm on February 9th, 2011
Jomnzz would make a good fit for the pokes, Jomnz has paper and good credentials. Make Pannies the Assistant.
11:10 pm on February 9th, 2011
Don’t know Schroyer from Adam, huh? That’s funny because your drivel sounds exactly like it came from someone close to Schroyer.
1:09 am on February 12th, 2011
When people say he was plagued by injury I have to laugh. Heath played all those players when he knew they were hurt and made everything worse. Afam was playing on an injury that should have kept him out a year at least within 7 months of being hurt. Adam has played with a VERY noticeable limp and then Heath wondered why he got hurt worse. How many kids have left the program because of the horrible way in which they were treated by the head coach? 9? 10? i sit way up over a portal and I could hear the profanity laced rants he had to his players clear as day. And the man never took any responsibility for anything. For 4 years he has blamed all his problems on Coach McClain. What a joke. Anyone who calls Wyoming fans fair weather fans is a joke as well. Most of us bleed Brown and Gold. After my family having been season ticket holders damn near since the AA opened its doors it felt wrong to not have tickets to the games this year. I still went to a couple games and was treated to a coach blasting his kids for everything good or bad while they lost to inferior teams. I cant wait to get our season tickets back next year and see how much better a program can be with a coach who actually knows what he is doing.
10:43 pm on February 14th, 2011
Bring back Fennis Dembo
5:59 am on February 23rd, 2011
Sean what’s with this “we crap?” If you’re not a player or a coach you’re not a “we.” Quit being an ignorant homer. I too am a grad of U.W. both bachelors and masters and I’ve always supported my team, supported THEM. Please, don’t show your ignorance with the “we me stuff.” Hopefully THEY will find a capable coach and recruiter so once again THEY can and make all of US proud!
6:21 am on February 23rd, 2011
Andy, you hit the nail on the head with the hammer! It’s a new century, the Bobby Knights version of coaching are not the way to go. I’m not saying give the boyz much needed hugs like Brett Farve desperately needed from the media, but it’s time to man up and act like a gentleman, not some raving ranting lunatic! Schroyer never had that ability, it wasn’t in his genes for sure.
6:31 am on February 23rd, 2011
Randy I agree 100%! Wyoming fans have proven over the years, if you put an exciting competitive product on the court, mens or womens, the fans will be there giving them their all. Just look back to the Fenbo/Lechner era or what Joe has done with the girls the last few years. Wyoming can put winners on the court it’s been proven. Bottom line, you need a coach who can not only coach but recruit as well. If you build it, Wyoming fans will come!