Wyoming Coach Calls Syracuse Classless

Drama!

You may not know it given Syracuse University's performance on the gridiron the last two seasons, but the Orange have bigger fish to fry than the Wyoming Cowboys.

As Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard reports, Syracuse backed out of its 2009 trip to Laramie, Wyoming. The contest constituted the final leg of a home-and-home series which began last season in the Carrier Dome.

Joe Glenn, head coach of the Cowboys, is not particularly pleased with the $200,000 check that Syracuse mailed to Laramie:

"It's just horrible, and it shows no class (by Syracuse)," Glenn told the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle of Cheyenne. "We signed the contract, and we went out there last year to play them. It doesn't show much character on their part."

Glenn, however, did not stop there. Instead of simply realizing that a home game featuring Syracuse is only marginally more exciting than a colonoscopy, Glenn has begun channeling the spirit of Pedro Cerrano:

"I've got a new favorite team this season," Glenn quipped. "Anybody who beats Syracuse."

"They leave a hole in our 2009 schedule, so if you want to wish bad luck on somebody this year, wish bad luck on Syracuse," Glenn said. "They signed a contract to come to Laramie and play, and they didn't honor it so I'm putting all kinds of voodoo on them."

Methinks that Glenn is going to have to buy a lot of hats and t-shirts this season in order to support his new love of everything that manages to topple the mighty Orange.

Outside of Glenn moving into Randle Patrick McMurphy territory, the real issue here lies with the poor construction of the arrangement. The buy-out clause governing the agreement only required either side to pay a fee of $200,000. Poison pill provisions are designed to make contracting parties adhere to the duration of the contract; in effect, such provisions are to provide strong incentive to maintain the status quo rather than upset it.

Why, then, did Wyoming not increase the poison pill clause to an amount that would remove alternatives to completing the series? The Cowboys obviously wanted Syracuse to visit Laramie. To not ensure -- through contract -- such circumstances occur puts the onus on Wyoming for not carrying out its responsibilities. Fingering Syracuse as the villain merely obfuscates the fact that Wyoming shoveled just as much dirt out of the grave as the Orange did.

To assume otherwise is to absolve Wyoming of its responsibility to protect its interests.