Larry Shyatt is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Wyoming, Again

University of Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman announced Thursday that Larry Shyatt has been hired as the new head basketball coach of the Wyoming Cowboys. Shyatt, currently the associate head coach of the University of Florida Gators, was formerly the head coach at Wyoming in 1997-98. He has agreed to terms on a five-year contract to lead Wyoming Basketball according to a release from the University.

Shyatt returns to Wyoming after being a part of the University of Florida coaching staff for the past seven seasons, joining the Gator staff on May 10, 2004. During his time at Florida, the Gators won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA National Championships, won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) tournament championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and won SEC regular-season titles in 2007 and 2011.  This past season, the Gators advanced to the "Elite Eight" of the NCAA Tournament.

In his one season guiding the Wyoming basketball program in 1997-98, Shyatt took over a team that was 12-16 the year prior to his arrival and guided the Cowboys to a 19-9 record and an appearance in the 1998 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The average attendance during Shyatt's short time at Wyoming was 7,084 fans to home games with two crowds over 10,000 --11,014 versus Colorado State and 12,201 against BYU.

"We are thrilled to bring Larry (Shyatt) back to the University of Wyoming. He did a great job in his one season at UW, taking us to the NIT, and the players he recruited to Wyoming paid dividends for our program throughout their careers. Over the past seven seasons, he has had the opportunity to sit next to and coach with one of the premier coaches in America in Billy Donovan." -Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman

During his 35 years as a college coach, Shyatt has been a part of 22 teams that earned postseason bids.

Associate Athletics Director Kevin McKinney said he was impressed by how much Shyatt wanted to come back to Wyoming to make things right.

"I've spent seven great years at the University of Florida helping to build a championship-caliber program, and this is one of the only places I would have considered leaving for." -Larry Shyatt

Wyoming released the terms of Shyatt's five-year contract. The base salary is $190,000 per year with incentives that could earn Shyatt as much as $645,000 per year.