JOE GLENN

Age: 59

School:  Wyoming

Alma Mater:  South Dakota, 1971

Conference:  Mountain West

Salary:  $550,000

Official Bio:   www.wyomingathletics.com

Years Coaching:  23

Career Record:  185 - 91 - 1   .668

Years at School:  5

Record at Wyoming:  26 - 33  .441

2007 Record:  5 - 7   .417 

2007 Cost per Win:  $110,200

Attorney/Agent:   

Contract: 

December 2008 Buyout:  $500,000

Coaches Hot Seat Analysis

When Joe Glenn arrived in Laramie to take the head coaching job at Wyoming in 2003 he had won 110 football games in the previous 10 years at Northern Colorado and Montana, including three national championships during that time.  After all that winning it must have been quite a shock for Glenn to see the challenges that he faced at Wyoming, because he had to not only coach and recruit to a tough place, but he had to play and compete against other I-A football teams.  There is not that big of a difference between the University of Montana and the University of Wyoming, with both having approximately 13,000 students, and Wyoming would no doubt be a perennial power if they played in division I-AA and in the Big Sky Conference, but the Mountain West Conference is most certainly not the Big Sky.  Glenn got off to a decent start at Wyoming, including a bowl trip in 2004 to Las Vegas and a win over UCLA in that bowl game, but the last three seasons have been a struggle, and in 2007 the Wyoming football program was on the brink for much of the year.  Anytime you are talking about Wyoming football, the difficulty to recruit quality players to Laramie has to be discussed, and Glenn has had some difficulty keeping up with the quality of recruits that are now going to other Mountain West Conference schools.  The top teams in the Mountain West Conference are on the verge of becoming competitive with all but the best of BCS schools, and Wyoming is now in a spot where it could be left behind if Air Force, Utah, Brigham Young, New Mexico, and TCU continue to make strides forward.  No doubt, Joe Glenn and his staff know what they are doing football wise, but becoming a 2nd tier MWC football team is probably not in the plans or acceptable to the people that run the University of Wyoming.  If Wyoming is not able to recruit at the same level as the top teams in the MWC, then that only makes coaching all that more important, and Glenn will certainly have an opportunity to prove his worth in 2008 with the very tough schedule that is facing the Cowboys.

Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line

We predict that Joe Glenn and Wyoming will have a 6-6 record in 2008.   In 2008 Wyoming opened the season with a big win over Virginia, and the Cowboys have another good non-conference foe to start the '08 season with a visit by Frank Solich and Ohio.  Ohio is playing some very good football under Solich and although this game should be close into the 2nd half, we see Wyoming getting the win in the end.  After one game, Wyoming is 1-0.  In week 2 a young Air Force team visits Laramie, but these Falcons are just a different team with Troy Calhoun at the helm, and we see the Falcons getting the win in a close one.  After two games, Wyoming is 1-1.  Week 3 brings I-AA North Dakota State to Laramie, and Wyoming should be able to get a win in this game, which raises the Cowboys' record to 2-1.  Wyoming travels to play BYU in week 4 and the Cougars look to be loaded for bear in '08, and they should be able to handle the Cowboys in this game.  After four games, Wyoming is 2-2.  MAC conference team Bowling Green arrives in Laramie in week 5 and the Wyoming landscape will certainly be a shock to the boys from the Midwest, but that want stop them from playing a very good game against the Cowboys.  In a close game, Wyoming gets the win over Bowling Green, which raises their record to 3-2.  Wyoming travels to play New Mexico in week 6 and this should be a good MWC game with two pretty evenly matched teams, but we give the home-field advantage to the Lobos in this game.  After six games, Wyoming is 3-3.  Utah visits Laramie in week 7 and as we all saw in '07, the Utes just have a much more talented team than Wyoming, and Utah will get a win in this game this year as well.  After seven games, Wyoming is 3-4.  Wyoming goes to Ft. Worth in week 8 to play TCU and the Horn Frogs are one of the teams in the MWC that are both recruiting well and playing at a very high level, and TCU will have too much for Wyoming in this game.  After eight games, Wyoming is 3-5.  San Diego State travels to Wyoming to play the Cowboys in week 9, and talk about a fish out of water, the Aztecs will quickly find that they are not in Southern California anymore when they play this game.  Wyoming should be able to get a pretty convincing win against the Aztecs, and that raises the Cowboys' record to 4-5.  Talk about contrasts, Wyoming goes across the country to play the Tennessee Vols in week 10, and playing front of 100,000 plus at Neyland Stadium will surely be quite a shock to the Cowboys.  Tennessee should handle Wyoming in this game, which drops the Cowboys' record to 4-6.  One of the biggest games of the year for Joe Glenn's career rolls around in week 11, as Wyoming travels to Las Vegas to play UNLV.  This will be a must win game for Glenn and the Cowboys if they want to have a chance to get to a .500 record, and in a very close MWC game, we see Wyoming coming out with a win over UNLV.  After eleven games, Wyoming is 5-6.  To finish the '08 season Colorado State visits Laramie, and this will be another must win game for Glenn and Wyoming, and with a first year head coach in Steve Fairchild at the helm for the Rams, the Cowboys should be able to get a win in this game.  With a win over CSU, Wyoming finishes the 2008 season with a 6-6 record.

2008 Coaches Hot Seat Prediction:    6-6

Will Joe Glenn be back for the 2009 season?      YES*

*If Wyoming can get to a 6-6 record in 2008, then Joe Glenn's job is probably safe, unless he has been told that a bowl game trip is necessary to show that progress is being made in the Cowboys' football program.  A losing record on the other hand will probably bring an end to the Glenn era at Wyoming.  A 6-6 record in '08 would raise Glenn's overall record at Wyoming to 32-39 (.451), which has to be below what Glenn expected of himself, and what Wyoming anticipated when they hired him from Montana.  There is only one way for Glenn to dramatically improve the Wyoming football program, and that is to find a way recruit better athletes to Laramie, and we have to believe that there is no way for Wyoming to do anything but tread water or go backwards with the current state of Wyoming's recruiting (Team Recruiting Rankings according to Rivals.com:  2008 - T 96, 2007 - T 89, 2006 - T 102, 2005 - T 77, 2004 - T 87, 2003 - T 111.).  Those kind of recruiting numbers are just not sustainable if Glenn and Wyoming hope to build a long-term winning football program in Laramie.