Tom Burman was named Athletics Director at the University of Wyoming on Oct. 9, 2006, when President Tom Buchanan announced Burman's hiring. He is the eighth athletics director in UW history. Burman was previously an Associate Athletics Director at UW from 1995-2000, before becoming Athletics Director at Portland State University from September 2000 through March 2006.
"I care deeply about this University, the success of UW Athletics and the well-being of our student-athletes," Burman said upon his hiring. "We will build a program that wins championships, is a source of great pride to our alumni and generates enthusiasm across the state. The future starts now."
It has been an exciting time for Burman as Athletics Director at his alma mater. During his time back at the University of Wyoming, Wyoming Athletics has enjoyed numerous successes on the field and in the classroom and has seen an unprecedented growth in fundraising and development of new athletics facilities.
Student Services
•Resources dedicated toward academic success and student-athlete welfare since 2006 have increased nearly 100 percent.
•At the conclusion of the 2009-10 academic year, a total of 124 UW student-athletes had earned Academic All-Mountain West Conference honors for the year. In the fall of `09, Wyoming had 41 student-athletes in five fall sports earn the award, with an average cumulative gpa of 3.37. The spring semester saw 83 UW student-athletes in eight winter and spring sports achieve the honor with an average cumulative gpa of 3.41.
•University of Wyoming student-athletes achieved a milestone in 2008-09 by posting a combined semester grade-point average above 3.00.
Revenue Generation/Facilities
•Cowboy Joe Club revenue has grown from $2.1 million in 2006 to $3.4 million in 2010.
•Ticket revenue grew from $2.6 million in 2006-07 to $3.4 million in 2008-09.
•The overall UW Athletics Department budget has grown from $21 million to over $26 million for the 2010-11 budget year.
•In the spring of 2010, UW Athletics completed a $38 million athletics facility campaign under Burman's direction as athletics director.
•Spearheaded over $50 million in facilities projects in four years, including: construction of a new $11 million Indoor Practice Facility; construction of the Wildcatter Stadium Club & Suites addition to War Memorial Stadium; extensive renovations to War Memorial Stadium; significant upgrades to the UniWyo Sports Complex for volleyball and wrestling; and development of a new Indoor Tennis Facility.
•The Indoor Practice Facility contains over 80,000 square feet, including a full-size, 100-yard by 50-yard football field.
•The Wildcatter Stadium Club & Suites will open for the start of the 2010 football season, and will feature 12 luxury suites and 256 club seats. The suites were sold out months before the opening, and it is expected that 90 percent of the club seats will be sold by the time the 2010 season kicks off.
•Renovations to War Memorial Stadium have focused on modernizing areas of the stadium that benefit fans, specifically new and improved concession areas, bathrooms and seating.
•Wyoming's volleyball and wrestling programs have benefitted from new and improved seating, lighting and competition surfaces in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
•In the June of 2010, ground was broken on a new Indoor Tennis Facility for the Cowgirl Tennis program.
Competitive Excellence
•Burman hired head coach Dave Christensen prior to the 2009 season. Christensen led Wyoming to the 2009 New Mexico Bowl Championship with a thrilling 35-28, double-overtime victory over Fresno State. Christensen became only the second Wyoming coach to lead his team to a bowl game in his first season -- the other being Paul Roach in 1987 -- and Christensen became the first Cowboy head coach to win a bowl game in his first season.
•Cowgirl Basketball has achieved unprecedented success over the past four years. Wyoming won the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) National Championship in the 2006-07 season, defeating Wisconsin, 72-56, in the championship game in Laramie. The next season, 2007-08, the Cowgirls earned the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. In 2009-10, Wyoming again received a bid to the WNIT where it advanced to the third round.
•Mark Branch was hired as Wyoming's new wrestling coach prior to the 2008-09 season. The former two-time national champion at Oklahoma State University, Branch led Wyoming to a share of the Western Wrestling Conference (WWC) dual title in his first season at Wyoming and a second-place finish in the NCAA West Regional. Branch was selected WWC Coach of the Year. He also earned West Region Coach of the Year honors from D1CollegeWrestling.net and was named the Top Rookie Coach in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News. In Branch's second season, he led the Cowboys to the outright WWC dual title and Wyoming captured its first-ever NCAA West Regional title.
Personnel
•In addition to his very successful hirings of head football coach Dave Christensen and head wrestling coach Mark Branch, Burman hired men's basketball coach Heath Schroyer, who took the Cowboys to a 19-14 record in his second season of 2008-09. Schroyer returned Wyoming to postseason play in `09, marking UW's first appearance in the postseason since the 2002-03 campaign. Schroyer was an assistant on the Wyoming coaching staff the last time the Cowboys appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2002.
•Burman attracted head soccer coach Danny Sanchez to UW in the summer of 2008. Sanchez came to Wyoming from Metro State College in Denver, Colo., where he led the Roadrunners to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2004 and 2006. He was named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year following the 2004 season.
•Carrie Yerty was also hired in the summer of `08 as head women's volleyball coach at UW. Yerty came to Wyoming after becoming the winningest volleyball coach in University of Memphis history, building a 232-174 (.572) record in 13 seasons with the Tigers.
•The other young, successful coach hired by Burman is head tennis coach Kati Gyulai. In only her second season after returning to her alma mater, Gyulai led the Cowgirls to unprecedented success at UW. Her 2009-10 squad posted the best overall record (14-8), best conference record (5-3) and best conference finish (third place) in school history, and concluded the season ranked No. 73 in the nation out of 323 NCAA Division I women's tennis programs.
Scheduling
•The University of Wyoming hosted its greatest home football schedule in school history in 2009 when the then No. 2 ranked Texas Longhorns made their first-ever appearance in War Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns went on to play for the 2009 National Championship. In addition to Texas, Burman has also negotiated future football contracts with Nebraska (2011, 2013 and 2016), Missouri (2017 and 2018), Oregon (2014 and 2015) and Boise State (2010 and 2011) that will bring each of those teams to Laramie at least once in future seasons.
Before being hired as Wyoming's Director of Athletics, Burman had returned to Wyoming in March 2006 as the Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement with the UW Foundation. Prior to that, he served as Director of Athletics at Portland State University from September 2000 through March 2006. From 1997-2000, Burman was Wyoming's Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. During that time period, he was instrumental in raising funds for the Rochelle Athletics Center. His first position at his alma mater was as Associate Athletics Director for Development, serving as Executive Director of the Cowboy Joe Club from 1995-97. He began his intercollegiate athletics career as Director of Marketing and Promotions (1993-95) at the University of Idaho in Moscow. From 1990-92, Burman worked as a project manager for the sports management company DeWilber & Associates in McLean, Va.
Burman earned a bachelor of science degree from UW in 1988 and an M.B.A. from Robert Morris University in Coraopolis, Pa., in 1991.
Burman is 44 years old, born Jan. 4, 1966. He and his wife, Kathy, have two sons, Drew and Nathan.
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