Sawvel on NIL: “If We Get to $2.5 Million, We’ll Win a Whole Bunch of Games”
- Jeff Bugher
- Nov 25
- 2 min read
LARAMIE, Wyo. - During Monday’s press conference, The Talk Shop’s Eric Henderson asked Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel what the Cowboys need in the NIL landscape to consistently contend for championships. Sawvel answered it with honesty, context, and even a little humor.
“What do the Wyoming Cowboys need to have an NIL range coach to prevail for a championship in your eyes?” Henderson asked.
Sawvel cracked a grin and opened with a line that got the room laughing.
“That's a great question. I'm going to start playing like Powerball in the offseason. if I hit one of those really big ones, we're going to be rolling with guys like Oregon for a couple of years.”
The humor faded quickly as he shifted into the reality of Wyoming’s competitive needs.
$2.5 million was the answer.
“But the reality is, I think if we were, I'll just say it, if we get up to around two and a half million, we'll win a whole bunch of games… We're not there.”
“…There's some things that need to happen.”
Is Wyoming even in the ballpark of that number? No. Sawvel shifted the conversation toward accountability.
“I'm not going to say that where we're at right now is the reason why. I'm not going to say that either.”
He pointed to the Cowboys’ own missed opportunities.
“We've had two games where the ball's been inside the three-yard line that we’ve got to win those two games, and we'd be a bowl team right now. So let's just start with that.”
Sawvel emphasized repeatedly that while NIL matters, it won’t be used as a crutch.
“So that's not going to be the first thing about it is the fact that we're just going to say, it's all a money thing or it's all that.”
Wyoming, like many Group of Five programs, faces the challenge of retaining players in an era where roster stability increasingly ties into NIL structure. Sawvel said they can keep players but reminded the room about the level the Cowboys are competing against.
“We'll keep players around here, and we'll be able to do that. When I know that Boise is north of four, then there's things to it.”
Sawvel continued…
“Sean Lewis didn't exactly tell me what his was, but based on what he was hinting at when he was talking to me about certain guys, it wasn't like nickels and dimes.”
Despite that, Sawvel said he isn’t focused on comparing numbers across the Mountain West.
“So, I don't know what everybody has, nor am I going to ask. I know what we have. I know what we need to do.”
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