Dec. 14, 1999

Dec. 13 - Another year, another offense.

Any continuity would rank as a bigger upset than if the wind stopped howling in Laramie.

Wyoming quarterback Jay Stoner, a Colorado Springs Mitchell product with 6,122 career yards and 27 touchdown passes, has come to expect change. He will be a fifth-year senior next season, with his third head coach and most likely fifth offensive scheme.

He wishes that just for once, he wouldn't be the last to know.

Stoner heard from the player grapevine Sunday that third-year coach Dana Dimel was heading for Houston. "Herman White (a Wyoming linebacker) called and said, 'What's the deal?' I said, 'What deal?' He told me all the coaches were leaving."

Stoner's roommate, Brian Johnson, confirmed it with a call to a position coach.

The quarterback first learned the pass-happy, one-back scheme used by ex-Cowboys coach Joe Tiller in 1996. Dimel revised the system in each of his first two years. The staff put in an entirely different run-and-shoot offense this season. It took nearly half a year to click, but Stoner helped the Cowboys contend for the Mountain West Conference title and won back-to-back offensive player of the week honors.

"I don't like (changing) again. I'd love to stay in this offense and run it my last year and get some consistency," he said.

Now all he can think of is his redshirt freshman year, when Dimel came in and the seniors had trouble adjusting.

"They were really bitter. Joe was the guy they played under and had a lot of success with him. The system changed completely their senior year," Stoner said.

Now he doesn't know if he'll get a chance to even say goodbye to Dimel, reportedly scheduled to return Tuesday from his introduction today in Houston.

"This is finals week," Stoner said. "You can't get everyone together for a meeting when people are going to take their exams."