Okay, here's a trivia quiz for you.

Don't worry, you should be alright good, it's Wyoming athletics trivia.

Can you name the four head coaches in UW history with the longest tenures?

I think you might be able to get two of the four, or maybe three.  But I'm not sure you can correctly identify all four.

If your answers include Everett Lantz, Everett Shelton or Bud Daniel, you have an excellent knowledge of Wyoming history.  Lantz has the longevity record with 25 years as Cowboy wrestling coach.  Daniel is tied for second with 21 seasons as Cowboy baseball coach. Shelton is third having coached the Cowboy basketball program for 19 seasons.

So who's the mystery coach?  Who is tied for number two on the all-time list?

I will keep you in suspense no longer.

Tying for the second-longest head-coaching tenure in Wyoming history is Joe Jensen, Wyoming's outstanding golf coach and Director of UW's Men's and Women's Golf.

Back in the days of Lantz, Shelton and Daniel, coaches who were successful usually stayed around. They didn't jump from job to job very often.

But in today's transitory world of coaching, Joe Jensen is the exception.

At Wyoming, like institutions around the country, coaches come and go.

Not Joe.

I was visiting with Tim Harkins from media relations the other day, and we were talking about the Mountain West Golf Championship (which begins Friday at Bremerton, Wash.) and he mentioned that it was hard to believe, but Joe has been on the job for 21 years.  I honestly did not realize that. He is finishing up number 21 this spring, and will be all alone in second place when the new season begins in the fall.

Lantz directed the Cowboy wrestling program from 1936 until 1943, then returned after World War II to coach from 1946 and coached through 1965. Daniel was hired as Cowboy baseball coach in 1950 and coached through 1971.  Shelton was Wyoming's basketball coach from 1940 until 1959.  Joe was hired as the Cowboy head coach on Dec. 7, 2001, and was named Director of Golf on Aug. 18, 2005. 

Any way you look at it, what a remarkable run for these four men.

But Joe might have more brown and gold running through his veins than any of the other three.

He's a Wyoming native, born and raised in Lander.  He was a member of the UW golf team while earning his bachelor's degree and his MBA from UW.  He turned professional in 1993, and became an assistant golf pro at Jacoby Golf Course prior to being named head coach.  

As head coach, Joe has directed the Cowboy golf program during one of its most competitive eras in UW's 70-plus years of men's golf.   Under Jensen's direction the Cowboys have set school records for low individual round and event score, as well as low team round and event score.

But what his teams have done away from the golf course is even more impressive.  For the past 12 years, UW men's golf has been named Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-Academic for earning a team GPA of 3.00 or higher.

Last season the Cowboys received one of the most prestigious academic awards in collegiate golf.  The GCAA awarded Wyoming the Presidents Special Recognition honor. In order to be recognized, the team must achieve a team grade-point average of at least 3.50 or higher.  The Pokes produced a team GPA of 3.62, which was a golf-team all-time high!  A total of 41 collegiate programs earned that honor, and the Pokes were just one of two (New Mexico was the other) Mountain West teams to be recognized.

Of all that his team has accomplished over the years, I believe Joe was most proud of that away.  "This is an award that we've been striving to achieve for several years," he says.  "It is also important for our supporters and donors to see our young men receive this high academic honor.  While we've been recognized as an Al-Academic Team, the President's Award is very special."

Spend some time with the Cowboys and you understand how this is accomplished.  They are tremendous representatives of their families, but their university as well.  They are proud to wear the brown and gold. You would be proud knowing they are wearing the colors.

Highly respected among his peers, Jensen continues to promote and enrich golf not only for his program, but on the national level as well.  In just his second season as head coach, he initiated the UW/Cleveland Golf Cowboy Classic Collegiate tournament.  The immensely popular event is scheduled each spring in Arizona and hosts many of the top collegiate golf programs in the country.

In addition to that tournament and a similar event for the Cowgirls in Arizona, the Cowboys began hosting the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate tournament in 2008, at Palm Desert, Calif.  It has also become a nationally-recognized event.

Joe is a tremendous ambassador himself.  He is an outstanding fundraiser and is highly respected among UW's donner base.

The crown jewel of the Wyoming golf program is the golf practice facility located at Jacoby Golf Course. Joe was the catalyst for that building which has been a tremendous boost to the Cowboy and Cowgirl programs.  The Ron R. Richardson Golf Performance Center was opened in the summer of 2014.  Joe was involved in raising the $1.3 million necessary to build the center, all of which was privately donated. The facility has been vital to the maturation of the Cowboy and Cowgirl programs.

Joe is a fixture and rightly so.  He, and his lovely wife, Lacey, have two children, a son, Samuel and a daughter, Sydney. I have a feeling the Jensen family will remain part of Wyoming golf for many years to come.  Who knows, he may be coaching Samuel and Sydney for the brown and gold one day.