Dimel hopes colleague can kick-start Cowboys' offense

Wyoming

Head coach: Dana Dimel (16-8, 3rd year)

1998 record: 8-3 (2nd, WAC Mountain)

Returning starters: 15

Guy they'll miss: Running back Marques Brigham

Player to watch: Quarterback Jay Stoner

Key game: Sept. 25, at Air Force

Projection: 6th (MWC coaches' poll)

After watching his team manage just a field goal in its final 10 quarters in 1998, Wyoming head coach Dana Dimel decided to fire his offensive coordinator.

His name was Dana Dimel.

Dimel was forced to take over the dual roles when Cowboys' offensive coordinator Todd Whitten quit shortly before the season started. And for nine games Dimel did a nice job as the Cowboys came out of the chute with an 8-1 record, losing only between the hedges at Georgia, 16-9.

But Wyoming's offense was virtually non-existent in its final two games, including a 10-3 loss at Air Force that decided the WAC's Mountain Division title. The following week, with a Las Vegas Bowl berth possibly riding on the outcome, the Cowboys shot more blanks in a lackluster 35-0 loss at Tulsa.

So in January he turned to old Kansas State coaching colleague Manny Matsakis, who had drawn raves for his innovative triple-shoot offense at Division II Emporia (Kan.) State.

During his four seasons as head coach at Emporia, Matsakis' teams set 22 NCAA offensive records and 65 school marks. His 1997 squad led Division II with a 42.2 points per game average. San Francisco 49ers GM Bill Walsh went so far as to call Emporia's offense "the best in the nation, regardless of division."

"At first I didn't want to leave," Matsakis said. "But Dana gave me time to think."

Matsakis cautioned that people shouldn't expect that Wyoming's offense, which returns five starters, including quarterback Jay Stoner (2,373 yards, 14 TDs) and senior wide receiver Wendell Montgomery (115 receptions the past two seasons), will mimic Emporia State's this year.

"In time it will," he said. "Our personnel was not recruited to run what Emporia State did and it took time to build that program to where it was when I left."

Still, expect Wyoming's offense to be much more unpredictable and entertaining than in past years.

"Sometimes we'll line up with no backs, sometimes one back, sometimes three backs," Matsakis said. "It has a very multiple approach to it. It's a wide-open attack. We want to run and pass equally well."

The defense returns eight starters, including all-WAC free safety Al Rich and talented defensive tackle Jeff Boyle, from a unit that ranked third in the WAC in fewest points allowed (19.5).

Dimel, who has won eight games in each of his first two seasons at Laramie, believes this squad may be even better.

"This is the best team I've put on the field since I've been here," he said. "But then, this also is the toughest schedule we've faced."

The Cowboys open at defending national champion Tennessee on Sept. 4. However, the other three non-conference games -- Weber State, Idaho and at Northeast Louisiana -- are very winnable.

UNLV visits Laramie on Oct. 9.

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