The University of Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman announced on Tuesday that the school has extended the contract of head basketball coach Larry Shyatt through the 2019 season.
"I believe Coach (Larry) Shyatt has done an outstanding job of building our program for the future," said Burman. "On the court, our team is now competitive with the top teams in our conference and nationally. I believe Coach Shyatt has our program headed in a very positive direction, and I wanted to assure that we could maintain that positive momentum. The best way to accomplish that was to show our commitment to Larry through an extension of his contract." (Source: GoWyo.com)
Shyatt, who is on his second stint with the Cowboys, returned to Laramie after serving as head coach at Clemson and, most recently, an assistant coach under Billy Donovan at Florida. Since coming back to Wyoming, Shyatt has led the Cowboys to an average of 19.6 wins per season and a post season appearance in each of his three years.
Shyatt stands to earn just over $700,000 next season to guide the Pokes.
The Cowboys were on track for at least an NIT bid last season until star player Larry Nance Jr. tore his ACL in mid February against Fresno State. Shyatt rallied his troops enough to accept a College Basketball Invitational appearance bid. Wyoming played in its first game but lost to Texas A&M.
The CBI appearance is not what Cowboy fans aspire their team to, but given the recent lack of success under coaches Steve McClain and Heath Schroyer (McClain led them to a NCAA Tournament appearance in 2002), they will take what they can get, for now.
"We are pleased that we have been able to instill a winning culture, both in the way our team members perform academically and on the court," Shyatt said in a press conference earlier this week. "We are certainly not satisfied with where our program is at, and our goal is to move our program into the upper echelon of the Mountain West. For us, it is about building a successful program, not simply building a winning team."
The University of a Wyoming is the only major four-year school in the state, and Cowboy State residents look to their Pokes as a source of pride and identity. The extension granted to Shyatt has done much to rally the Cowboy faithful as they look to have success not only in the Mountain West Conference, but on a national stage as well.
This past season, Wyoming played a close game with Ohio State in Columbus before bowing out late. The Pokes also upset NCAA Tournament team San Diego State and narrowly lost two games to New Mexico, both in overtime. Without Nance in the line-up, the Cowboys lost six of their last seven games.
The challenge for Wyoming is and always will be recruiting top notch talent to live and play in the altitude of Laramie. The elevation at UW is over 7000 feet, and the weather is often treacherous, even into the spring and summer months.
Given that set of circumstances, Shyatt has been able to grab players from the likes of California, Ohio, and Florida to join the Pokes, while relying mostly on talent from nearby Colorado. With Shyatt at the helm for at least five more years, Wyoming fans are looking for their beloved Cowboys to continue to make hay in the Mountain West Conference.