It’s a question that’s been asked repeatedly as the college athletics landscape has continued to evolve and change with time: Will Wyoming be able to compete with bigger schools during the NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) era of college athletics?
I think so. Not every recruit in the college athletics landscape is naming a price before they sign the dotted line–and Wyoming has historically been known to find those hidden gems in the recruiting landscape.
Now the issue is maintaining those gems and keeping them within the program. Look no further than the Cowgirl basketball program, a perfect example of what people love about college sports and a team with a bond that can’t be beaten with a NIL package. A group of six seniors–most of which had played alongside each other for four years–produced one of the most successful Cowgirl basketball seasons in recent history.
Cowboy basketball, however, is the antithesis of this. In the past two straight years, the program has been unable to retain more than three players year over year, an issue plaguing much of men’s collegiate basketball as high-end recruits and transfers drive hard bargains as high as millions of dollars to have them in a team’s jersey.
Regardless of either situation, a precedent had seemingly been set–loyalty comes at a price in college athletics. I’d argue, however, that this precedent only applies to the school willing to pay that price. While NIL isn’t nonexistent in Wyoming, it isn’t nearly in the same place that some Power Four schools are.
However, recruits come to Wyoming to write their own underdog story. That’s a big part of the pitch–that, and, you’ll be a part of something bigger than themselves. They’ll be a part of the entire state of Wyoming, competing for the only show in the state. That, right there, is the biggest selling point to don the Brown and Gold.
And that hasn’t been totally lost in this new emerging era.
“It’s special here, and I couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” said fifth-year senior Jack Walsh.
After a 3-9 campaign a season ago, nobody would have blamed anyone on the team if they went looking for greener pastures. Despite the record, there was a lot of talent on that roster–talent that, if they wanted to, could have shipped off with a shiny price tag attached to their name. Some did–but for the most part, much of the roster was ready to shake off the dust and run it back.
That should mean something to the fans.
“I’m very happy and proud of all the guys that decide to stay here, especially the guys going in their fifth year at one place,” Walsh said.
“Everything was being thrown at a lot of us, including me, and that was a time to really reflect and think about what each of us wanted. For guys like myself and the guys that stayed, I don’t think it was really a tough decision,” senior John Michael Gyllenborg added.
If you ask me, Wyoming has a leg-up in the NIL era of college athletics that other programs don’t have– at least in some sense. There’s no doubt that any other school has the same sense of pride that Wyoming has, and that’s undoubtedly an advantage.
