There is a new era of Wyoming Cowboys basketball with Larry Shyatt stepping down and the team promoting from withing in making Allen Edwards the new head coach.
Edwards was one of three people interviewed for the opening which also included associate head coach Scott Duncan and Jeremy Shyatt, who is Larry's son, and there were no outside interviews conducted.
So, who is Allen Edwards?
Edwards has been with the Wyoming program since 2011 as an assistant coach and other prior stops included Western Kentucky, Towson, VCU and Moorehead State. Coaching the Cowboys will be his first head coaching job.
As a player, Edwards went to Kentucky between 1994-98 and spent four years in various minor leagues playing professional basketball.
As a new head coach his salary is comparable with that and he signed a five-year contract with a total annual salary of $490,004 plus the possibility of more with incentives. there is a buyout which is just under half of his base salary per year at $200,004.
Edwards does inherit a job with success and the cupboard is not empty for the first time head coach.
"I see this as a tremendous opportunity to build something special," Edwards said. "Coach Shyatt did his part for as long as he was here. I think the next step is taking it to the next level."
Shyatt won the Mountain West tournament in 2015 and had a player drafted in Larry Nance, Jr., who is with the Lakers.
Edwards met with the team about the announcement of him being named the new head coach, but he will have a longer meeting to chat with the team and knows he must re-recruit the current players to stay with this program. Plus, he has to keep the recruiting class together for the 2016-17 class, but with this being a promotion from within that should not be terrible difficult to keep them together.