LARAMIE – There is no substitute for victory.
 
Shane Reeves borrowed a famous line from General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's 1951 farewell address to Congress when asked about the Border War.
 
Is the new President of the University of Wyoming looking forward to participating in the Bronze Boot tradition and the Cowboys' season opener at Colorado State Sept. 5 in Fort Collins?
 
"Is that a serious question? Is that a legitimate question? Of course I'm looking forward to participating in this great rivalry," Reeves said. "It's the oldest rivalry in Wyoming football history. … I will use an Army quote; there's no substitute for victory here. I fully expect to go down there and come out of CSU with a victory."
 
Reeves, a Rock Springs native who retired from the Army as a Brigadier General, has high expectations for the university and the Cowboys, which are not mutually exclusive.
 
A successful football program elevates the entire campus.
 
"Athletics is critical to the university. They are the front porch to the university to both the state and the nation," Reeves said. "So much of the pride of the state of Wyoming runs through Wyoming Athletics. It's not lost on me on a Saturday, say for example in football, roughly 5 percent of the state is sitting here in person watching, and the other 95 percent are listening or watching at home.
 
"Sports are how we get into people's living rooms, it's how we recruit, and it's also so much about pride."
 
Alignment at the top is crucial for collegiate athletics. UW has that cohesion with Reeves, Athletics Director Tom Burman and head football coach Jay Sawvel.
All three were on the field during the Pokes' fall camp practice Tuesday in War Memorial Stadium.
 
"That's huge," said Sawvel, who spoke with Reeves on the sideline at the start of the session. "You can't quantify it enough when your president will have football-related conversations with you, and then finish that football-related conversation with, 'Do you need anything?'
 
"Today, the answer was, no, I'm good. And then he repeated the question again, 'You sure you don't need anything?' I guess I could have just made up something."
 
UW's roster was reshaped in December and January. The process of installing new offensive coordinator Christian Taylor's scheme and reloading defensive coordinator Aaron Bohl's unit began during spring practice.
 
Now the Cowboys are competing for starting spots, developing depth and sharpening the edges before kicking off Sawvel's third season as head coach against the Rams.
 
Reeves addressed Sawvel's squad Saturday in the High Altitude Performance Center. The speech, which included references to MacArthur and The Punic Wars, was well received by players.
 
"This guy seems like he really cares about football," senior wide receiver Charlie Coenen said. "A guy like that coming in here talking to us the way he talked to us, I feel like really resonated with the guys a lot more. He kept his speech short and sweet, but the things that he told us were very impactful and very meaningful."
 
The central message Reeves wanted to get across was that great organizations and teams are not just run by those in positions of authority.
 
"Every single one of you has to be a leader," Reeves told the Cowboys.
 
That means players holding each other accountable when the coaches aren't looking and having the courage to communicate with a teammate not living up to the standards.
 
"The best teams have a culture where everyone is a leader, where teammates get to take care of one another, and where they play for something bigger than themselves," Reeves said. "They play for the entire state of Wyoming."
 
Caleb Robinson has experienced the highs of a nine-win season and bowl wins, along with the lows of losing seasons during his time at UW. The senior defensive tackle knows what a winning culture feels like, and Reeves noted that he can identify if a team has a strong or weak culture just by walking through a locker room.
 
"I really like that because you don't really hear that too much," Robinson said. "He talked about being a leader and that it's not necessarily being the most vocal guy but holding people accountable, making sure not only you're right, but everybody else is right around you and conducting yourself in a way that you'd want to see out of other people.
 
"I really appreciated him saying that because it helped resonate everything more."
 
There will be times when Sawvel has needs for the program that Reeves can help with in the era of the transfer portal and revenue sharing.
 
Right now, there is no substitute for victory as the Pokes prepare for the Border War.
 
"There's a lot of things that are going to change for the better in this program, in this situation," Sawvel said.
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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