AUSTIN WARD Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Saturday, October 11, 2008 12:00 am
As the seconds ticked mercifully off the clock in the fourth quarter at New Mexico, Tom Burman sat in front of a television in the press box.
Head in his hands at one point, the Wyoming athletic director couldn't even see the field from his seat - and the view wasn't any better on the small screen.
The dreary shutout loss marked the midway point of a season that hardly could have opened worse for the Cowboys, and with No. 14 Utah opening the second half today in Laramie, it only hinted at the difficulty that could be facing Burman after six more games.
Whether or not the action on the field improves enough to watch it all live, one thing seems certain: Burman plans to keep coach Joe Glenn on the sideline until the end of the year.
"We are obviously very unhappy, as the coaches and the players are," Burman said. "But at this point, Coach Glenn is the head coach and I don't foresee any changes in that situation.
"We're hoping that we can turn this sucker around."
Knocking off the unbeaten Utes would be a great place to start, particularly after the embarrassment they caused Glenn and the Cowboys last year in Salt Lake City.
Clearly Utah coach Kyle Whittingham deserves to share in the blame after attempting an onside kick with a 43-point lead, but the pregame guarantee and an in-game gesture by Glenn hogged the spotlight in the fallout.
The Cowboys have had two more scoreless efforts in the conference since then, but the 50-0 drilling by the Utes was a turning point for UW, specifically Glenn.
That loss - both the game and composure - turned up the thermostat in his office and at least planted some seeds of doubt with a fan base that generally hadn't questioned him.
Glenn's undoubtedly a great guy, has done wonders with the donors and has embraced the tradition at UW, but three points in three conference games and the rain in New Mexico have only allowed those concerns to grow.
"Our program, obviously we're not in a position we want to be," Burman said. "But the job as head coach, the way Coach Glenn is treating the kids, the way the program is moving forward, in that respect, is not in shambles. We're just not getting the production on the field the way we'd like it to be done.
"There's really no benefit that I can see in making a change mid-year. If it happens (at the end of the year), it would be very difficult. Joe has done a lot of very good things for the university, but we understand this is a production business, and if the time comes, we will make those decisions and move forward."
At this point, that's all Glenn can do as well.
His relentless optimism has seemed to disappear at times this season, and Glenn has publicly acknowledged the outside pressure he's feeling to win-or-else.
But more frequently he's focused on the pressure within the program and inside himself to succeed, and there's still time for the Cowboys to do it.
"You get laid into a corner, we've all been there in life in some way or another," Glenn said. "These are all things that we'll grow from on this season. But we need to learn how to fight with our back to the wall and see how we fight off the ropes."
The Cowboys are actually trying to pick themselves off the canvas, and there isn't an easy round left with six more to go.
Burman left little doubt about his expectations for the program before the season, adding a seventh home game and publicly setting the bar for wins at seven.
Glenn didn't necessarily need that many to keep his job, but there's little doubt he needs a much better second half - starting this afternoon.
"I only know who I am and how I am," Glenn said. "I can't go put a bunch of pressure on our coaches or our kids or scream and holler and yell. We're going to take a positive approach like we always have and treat the kids like men.
"I always think you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. You know, I just know how I felt when a coach motivated me out of positives and got to my self-esteem in that regard as opposed to screaming and hollering and yelling and that kind of thing. We're not going to do that, that's not who we are. We'll keep working hard. We've got fighters, and at this point that's what you need to see."
Obviously that's not the only thing.
But if it leads to a better product, it might end up getting people away from the press box television.
Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.