Shyatt rips MWC, receives public reprimand
Coaches left out of loop on tournament
Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt knew what was coming.
That’s why the 64-year-old, yellow sweater wearing “Papa Shy” decided he should be the one to speak out — quite harshly — against what he called an “embarrassing” process of the Mountain West Conference’s presidents voting to cut league tournaments down to the top eight teams without allowing the league’s coaches or student athletes to have a say in the matter.
The decision, which starts in 2017, will eliminate 27.3 percent of basketball athletes from the chance to play in the league tournament each March in Las Vegas, Nev., where the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament is up for grabs.
“In an age of mass communication it’s embarrassing that perhaps the most intelligent group of men and women at our institutions (university presidents) would choose to eliminate, strip and remove from (six) teams the opportunity they have always worked two semesters for without any discussion or opportunity to speak to not one single coach or student-athlete involved,” said Shyatt, the one time UNM assistant under Gary Colson.
The league responded with a public reprimand of Shyatt for his comments, adding “It is expected Coach Shyatt will address any future concerns he may have via the appropriate internal conference channels.”
During a conference call with league basketball media, Shyatt said as the chairman of the league’s men’s basketball coaches, he wanted to make the comments instead of having younger coaches — of either men’s or women’s teams — having to put their jobs at risk for speaking out against the league’s decision makers.
Two weeks ago, the MWC announced the decision at the bottom of a press release regarding the tournament staying at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center for three more seasons. The MWC said the decision would strengthen the importance of the regular season. Shyatt said he was told it was for two reasons: cost and because other sports do it.
Shyatt also was concerned how fans and families of players could be expected to plan trips to when the seeding and field may not be finalized until the Saturday night before the tournament starts days later.
Last March, UNM went into the final Saturday night of the season not yet knowing if they would fall to the No. 9 seed, which could have eliminated them from the new format, and likely discouraged the event’s largest fan base from attending.
Ultimately, though, Shyatt seem most disturbed by the league’s presidents knowingly bypassing, for the first time, coaches, players and many at the MWC from the process.
“In situations where there is such a surprise with no notice, no inclusion and no communication, not one word uttered to an assistant commissioner, there seems to be a degree of behind-the-scenes plotting by someone or someones as to not let the cat out of the bag,” Shyatt said.
He added the decision smacks of a low-budget thinking, noting three of 32 leagues in the country currently eliminate more than 25 percent of its members from league tournaments: the Ohio Valley, Southland and Sun Belt. All were one-bid leagues last year. The MWC has averaged 3.4 bids the past five years.
The MWC has no plans to revisit the issue.
PLAYER OF WEEK: Utah State senior guard Chris Smith was named on Monday the MWC Player of the Week, his first such career honor
Smith was named the Global Sports Hoops Showcase (a Utah State-hosted tournament) MVP last week after averaging 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game in an undefeated 3-0 week for the Aggies.
In seven weeks of the award, only one frontcourt player has won the honor in the- guarddominated league.
POLL POSITION: Once again, no Mountain West teams were included in either of Monday’s major Top 25 men’s basketball polls.
AROUND THE MOUNTAIN: Each week during the conference portion of the season, beat writers covering each of the league’s 11 teams will submit a team notebook updating readers on the entire league. The notebook is compiled by Robert Gagliardi, Senior Weditor of WyoSports.net.
The first edition of this season’s notebook can be read online at ABQJournal.com/ sports.