Tom Burman Position: Director of Athletics

Tom Burman became the first native son to be hired as the University of Wyoming Athletics Director when President Tom Buchanan announced Burman's hiring on Oct. 9, 2006. He is the eighth athletics director in UW history.

"I am a Wyoming guy," Burman said upon his hiring. "I grew up in Wyoming, got my undergraduate degree at UW, spent five years in the UW Athletics Department in development and fundraising and returned to Wyoming in 2006 to raise funds for the University through the UW Foundation. I care deeply about this University, the success of UW Athletics and the well-being of our student-athletes.

"We will build a program that wins conference 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, Burman has overseen the completion of a $32 million athletics facility campaign. Projects included in that campaign were: the $11 million Indoor Practice Facility, the $1 million Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex for track and field and soccer, extensive renovations to the UniWyo Sports Complex for volleyball and wrestling, a $1 million artificial turf surface in War Memorial Stadium and renovations to the upper concourses in War Memorial.

Beginning in the spring of 2009, the final phase of Wyoming Athletics most recent facility campaign began as ground was broken on the Wildcatter Stadium Club & Suites at War Memorial Stadium. A total of 12 individual suites along with a stadium-club area, containing 250 indoor seats, will be added to the upper east side of War Memorial Stadium and will be named after the many successful "Wildcatters" of Wyoming. A Wildcatter is a person who displays the strength and courage to risk drilling oil or gas wells in areas where there is no guarantee that oil or gas will be found. The improvements to War Memorial Stadium will also include renovation of all of the fan areas on the east side of the stadium, and is scheduled to be completed for the start of the 2010 football season. The project is being funded with private donations and matching funds appropriated by the Wyoming State Legislature.

The University of Wyoming will host its greatest home football schedule in school history in 2009 when the Texas Longhorns make their first-ever appearance in War Memorial Stadium. In addition to Texas, Burman has also negotiated football contracts with Nebraska, Missouri, Oregon and Boise State that will bring each of those teams to Laramie in future seasons.

In the 2008-09 academic year, UW Athletics saw men's basketball return to prominence, posting a record of 19-14 and earning a berth in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournament. It was Wyoming's first postseason appearance since the 2002-03 season, and came in only the second season under the direction of head coach Heath Schroyer. Other programs that excelled in 2008-09 were the swimming and diving program and the wrestling program. Men's swimming and diving placed third out of six teams at the Mountain West Conference Championship meet, and the women swimmers and divers placed third out of nine schools at the conference championship. Wyoming Wrestling placed second out of six programs at the NCAA West Regional under the direction of first-year head coach Mark Branch. The Cowboys nearly captured the team title before falling just one and one-half points shy of the West Regional Championship. Branch was named the National Rookie Coach of the Year by Amateur Wrestling News at the conclusion of the season.

Also during the 08-09 year, Burman hired one of the most respected offensive minds in college football in new head coach Dave Christensen. As offensive coordinator at Missouri since 2001, Christensen implemented one of the most exciting and productive no-huddle, spread offenses in the country. Missouri won back-to-back Big 12 North titles and earned a No. 4 national ranking at the conclusion of the 2007 season -- the highest final ranking in Missouri school history.

The 2007-08 academic year was highlighted by head coach Joe Legerski and his Wyoming Cowgirl Basketball team earning their first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they played Pittsburgh in the first round in Albuquerque, N.M. The Cowgirls, seeded No. 11 in the West Region, nearly pulled off the upset of No. 6 seeded Pitt before falling by five points, 58-63. Some exciting additions were made to UW Athletics coaching staffs in 2007-08. Two proven head coaches -- Danny Sanchez in women's soccer and Carrie Yerty in women's volleyball -- should make for bright futures for Wyoming Athletics in each of those sports. Sanchez compiled a 128-11-7 (.901) record in six seasons as the head women's coach at Metro State College in Denver, Colo. He led the Roadrunners to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2004 and 2006. Yerty is the winningest volleyball coach in University of Memphis history, building a 232-174 (.572) record in 13 seasons.

An impressive number of University of Wyoming student-athletes not only enjoyed success on the field of competition in the spring semester of 2008, but they also excelled at a high level in their academic fields. A total of 177 out of 364 UW student-athletes achieved a semester grade-point average of 3.00 or higher during the 2008 spring semester. That equates to 49 percent of the student-athlete population at UW. In addition to the 177 individuals who achieved a semester GPA of 3.00, 156 individuals maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher, which is 43 percent of the student-athlete population. A total of 91 Cowgirl and Cowboy student-athletes were named to either the President's List, Vice President's List, Dean's List or Freshman Dean's List.

During the winter of 2007, one of the most remarkable and thrilling seasons in University of Wyoming Athletics history took place when the Cowgirl Basketball team posted a school best 27-9 record on its way to capturing the 2007 Women's National Invitation Tournament Championship. Along the way, Cowgirl Basketball shattered all previous school attendance records, averaging 4,686 fans. The Cowgirls also drew the second largest crowd in the history of Wyoming's Arena-Auditorium -- for either a men's or women's basketball game -- when 15,462 fans turned out to cheer the Cowgirls to victory over Wisconsin in the WNIT Championship game.

Following the 2006-07 Cowboy Basketball season, Burman hired former Cowboy assistant coach and former Portland State head coach Schroyer to take over the Wyoming men's program. Schroyer has been instrumental in helping turn around programs at Portland State, as a head coach, and at BYU and Fresno State, as an assistant. Schroyer was an assistant on the Wyoming coaching staff the last time the Cowboys appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2002.

An area that Burman focused on his first year back in Laramie was the Cowboy Joe Club. As a former Executive Director of Cowboy Joe from 1995-97, Burman had guided the fundraising arm of the UW Athletics Department through one of its most successful periods. Upon his return as athletics director, he is utilizing that past experience to push the organization to new heights.

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 served as 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 43 years old, born Jan. 4, 1966. He and his wife, Kathy, have two sons, Drew and Nathan.