Jay Sawvel Receives Death Threat After Wyoming’s Opening Loss

LARAMIE -- Jay Sawvel Monday again took full responsibility and apologized for his team's lackluster performance in a 48-7 loss at Arizona State.

He had the same message for the locals late last Saturday night in Tempe.

"Everybody around here owns it and acknowledges the fact that we do have a lot of work to do," Wyoming rookie head coach added. "We got to get that done, starting this week."

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What did he learn during his first game?

"Don't read your emails," he mentioned with a grin.

Then, it got a tad more serious.

"I had one email that said that they hope that I got shot," the 53-year-old said. "OK, so, when you get to that point and you look at it, you just tell people, like, 'Hey, just ignore this part.' I grabbed one of our players today, you know, and said, 'look, don't read the stuff.'

"... I think the truth of it is, between myself, Jay Johnson and Evan Svoboda, we're the three hottest lightning rods in the program."

Wyoming's offense, led by Svoboda, amassed zero points and just 56 yards of total offense through three quarters last Saturday night. Johnson, the team's offensive coordinator, was also coaching his first game with his new program after spending the previous four seasons at Michigan State. That unit ran a grand total of 52 snaps, averaging 2.3 yards per play.

Sawvel was named the 33rd head coach in Wyoming history last December when Craig Bohl decided to retire after 10 seasons in Laramie.

Sawvel repeated again that this type of vitriol comes with the territory.

A source familiar with the situation said the email has been turned over to the school's compliance department.

"You just, you have to," Johnson said Monday when asked about blocking out the noise, mainly death threats. "I'm locked in with our guys and our staff and our coaches. You know, shoot, man, that's what's important. Those guys are here every day and taking on and really challenging themselves. So, yeah, it's a part of the process. It is what it is, but I'm so excited we get another opportunity to come back today and get better."

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Svoboda played Saturday night just a handful of miles down the road from his hometown of Mesa, Ariz. He capped his night as the Cowboys starting quarterback, connecting on just 6-of-15 throws for 42 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage.

"You can't, you know, really focus on stuff like that," Svoboda said, referring to remarks made on social media and elsewhere. "You know, it's crazy that people say crazy stuff like that, but you just kind of block it out and focus on you."

This isn't the first instance of threats being made to Wyoming coaches and student-athletes.

Sundance Wicks received physical hate mail at his home in Laramie back in 2023 after accepting a head-coaching position at the University of Green Bay-Wisconsin.

The Gillette product, who was hired to the same position at UW last spring, shared the note on Twitter, adding "In this profession there is REAL LOVE and there is REAL HATE -- it’s reality and I accept that. When that HATE becomes a federal offense by putting mail in my family’s mailbox & harassing my wife & kids = we got a problem."

Former Wyoming forward and Pine Bluffs native Hunter Thompson admitted he was on the receiving end of personal online attacks.

Former quarterback Tyler Vander Waal said he received death threats during his time at Wyoming. So did fellow signal caller Levi Williams. Both instances came via social media.

Bohl shared his thoughts on the situation back in 2021 when he heard about the words his players were receiving in their inbox.

"I'd like to say, hey, if you want to come after somebody, come after me," a visibly upset Bohl said. "I just, I'm so discouraged. That is ... that is so disappointing. I know, we have a great number of fans out there. But you know, sometimes these guys forget that this is a college game.

"You know what? Go get after Josh Allen. See how far you go. Josh wasn't perfect when he was here. And so that's where I think we've really got to be cautious ... So, that's disappointing. These guys come to this program and they're doing everything they can. It's not like Levi's out there trying to screw up. So, I was not aware of it. I'm not a social-media guy. But that really, really disappoints me. Really, just, it's discouraging."

Bohl circled back to the matter later in that press conference.

"What our players don't deserve is some of that jack--- who makes those kinds of comments about Levi Williams," a frustrated Bohl said. "... I go knocking on that guy's door and whip his butt, right now.

"That is a bunch of baloney. That just pisses me off when I heard that."

Sawvel said Monday his plan is a simple one -- get back to work. Idaho will pay a visit to the high plains for Saturday's home opener. Game time is slated for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on TruTV.

"To all of our players, I think the biggest thing that we say, from a mental-health standpoint, it's about the fact that, do the people who are around you every day still believe in you? OK, if the people who are around you every day still believe in you, then you're going to be just fine," he said. "Because what happens is, if all of a sudden we are 3-1 after our non-conference schedule, everybody will be really happy regardless of what happened in the one. We can't control any of it."

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players