‘Improvement’ buzzword around Wyoming in 2001

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

Facts and figures about the Wyoming Cowboys:

Head coach: Vic Koenning (1-10, 2nd season)

2000 record: 1-10 (0-7, 8th place in Mountain West Conference)

Returning starters: 16

Player to watch: WR Ryan McGuffey

Guy they'll miss: QB Jay Stoner

Key game: Sept. 29 vs. Colorado State

Sun projection: 8th place

Wyoming head coach Vic Koenning is wearing a wrist band these days with the initials "MIT" on it.

No, Koenning isn't some math whiz who graduated from the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And no, the Cowboys don't open their 2001 season against that noted learning center, although they probably wish that they could.

MIT stands for "Most Improved Team" in Laramie these days.

Following last year's season-ending 37-13 loss at Colorado State, Koenning gathered his troops to talk about the future. Considering the Pokes had just finished the worst season (1-10) in school history, it seemed like a much better alternative than looking behind.

"We decided we would be the most improved team in the country (this season)," Koenning said.

Whether the Cowboys, who return 16 starters from the first squad in the school's 108-year history to lose 10 games in a season, can even make a 100 percent improvement to two wins remains to be seen.

Star quarterback Jay Stoner has graduated and will be replaced by sophomore Casey Bramlet or injury-plagued fifth-year senior Matt Swanson. The Cowboy defense, which yielded a pathetic 35.7 points per game, including 29 rushing touchdowns, lost arguably its two best players in nose guard Jeff Boyle and linebacker Patrick Chukwurah. One national recruiting analyst called Wyoming's 2001 recruiting class "a joke."

The good news is that Wyoming opens the season Saturday with a winnable game at home against Furman. Five days later, Texas A&M, which ran up the score en route to a 51-3 win last year in College Station, visits Laramie in a big revenge game for the Cowboys.

The rest of Wyoming's schedule is just as tough with "Border War" rival Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV and BYU all visiting Laramie.

But Koenning prefers to see the glass half-empty instead of half-full.

"I think what happened last year has helped us develop an esprit de corps, a camaraderie," he said. "There was no question that one of the biggest positives coming out of the spring was the team attitude. The team did a 180 in terms of attitude. We have a ways to go, but we are in a much better situation than we were a year ago."

The good news is that other than quarterback, the offense has some experience and some talented players in running back Nate Scott, sophomore split end Ryan McGuffey (63 catches for 693 yards) and offensive tackle Adam Goldberg.

The defense has six starters back, including all-conference safety candidate Al Rich, who missed most of last season after undergoing wrist surgery, and linebacker Leo Caires, who broke his leg in last year's massacre at A&M. Both were granted medical hardship years by the NCAA.

"Last year was disappointing because I saw a team that didn't think it could win," Rich said. "The teams I played on thought anything was possible. I've always been more of a leader by example, but that's going to change a little bit. But maybe I won't have to. Off last season, I think we've built a lot of character within ourselves. I'll be surprised if we don't win a lot of games."

This is the last in a series of stories previewing the 2001 MWC football teams.