The Wyoming basketball program began in 1904 when a group known as the "Laramie Town Team" challenged a team from the university to a basketball game; Wyoming won that game by a score of 17–5. The team became a powerhouse in the 1930s under coach
Willard "Dutch" Witte, who led the 1934 Cowboy team to a 26–3 record. Wyoming was retroactively named the 1934 national champion by the
Helms Foundation. Witte coached a total of nine seasons in Laramie and compiled a 134–51 record. After Witte stepped down in 1939,
Everett Shelton took over the team and went on to become the winningest coach in Wyoming history in his 19 years in Laramie. Although Shelton went just 6–10 in his first season, his teams would win 20 or more games seven times during his career. In 1943, the Cowboys went 31–2 and won the
NCAA tournament. That team was led by
Ken Sailors, who scored 16 points in the championship game victory over
Georgetown on his way to being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. In addition, Sailors was named college basketball's Player of the Year in 1943 and again in 1946 after returning from fighting in
World War II. In all, the Cowboys made eight NCAA tournament appearances under Shelton, though they only won one game aside from the three-game run in 1943. After Shelton retired in 1959, Wyoming basketball lay dormant for some time. Including Shelton's last four campaigns as head coach, the Cowboys endured nine consecutive losing seasons from 1956 to 1964. Coach
Bill Strannigan, who succeeded Shelton, had just six winning seasons in 14 years as head coach and made one NCAA Tournament appearance in
1967 in which the Cowboys were handed a lopsided loss at the hands of eventual national champion UCLA and its All-American center Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Again from 1971 through 1978, the Cowboys had one winning season, a 17–10 campaign under
Don DeVoe in 1976–77. In 1978,
Jim Brandenburg became the Cowboys' head coach and the program experienced a resurgence. In his nine seasons, Wyoming did not have a single losing season and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1981, the Cowboys were 24–6 and reached the second round of the
NCAA tournament. In addition to being the Cowboys' first tournament appearance since 1967, it was their first 20-win season since 1952–53 and first NCAA tournament victory since 1952. After guiding the Cowboys to the Sweet 16 in
1987, however, Brandenburg left the Cowboys to become the coach at conference rival
San Diego State. He was replaced by
Benny Dees, who went 26–6 in his first year with the Cowboys and returned them to the NCAA tournament in
1988 where they lost in the first round to
Loyola Marymount.
Larry Shyatt went 19–9 in 1997–98, his only season in Laramie before becoming the head coach at
Clemson University. After his departure,
Steve McClain took over the head coaching job and had three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2001 to 2003, including conference titles in 2001 and 2002 and an NCAA tournament appearance in
2002. On March 22, 2007, Wyoming hired former
Portland State head coach
Heath Schroyer to become its next head coach. Shyatt was hired yet again as Wyoming's head coach after the 2010–11 season ended due to the firing of Heath Schroyer. The 2010–11 team's top two scorers left the program afterwards, with Desmar Jackson and Amath M'Baye transferring to
Southern Illinois University and the
University of Oklahoma, respectively. The Cowboys went 21–12 in Shyatt's first season, for their first 20–win season in 9 years. They made the
College Basketball Invitational each of the next three seasons, making the quarterfinals in 2012 and 2013. In the 2014–15 season, the Cowboys finished with a record of 25–10, won the
Mountain West Conference tournament over
San Diego State 45–43, and earned an automatic bid to the
NCAA tournament.
Larry Nance Jr. was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 27th pick in the
2015 NBA draft, becoming Wyoming's first player selected in the draft since
Theo Ratliff in 1995. On March 21, 2016, Shyatt announced his resignation from the head coaching job, and
Allen Edwards was announced as the 21st head coach in program history. In Edwards' first season, the Cowboys went 23–15 and won the
CBI tournament, defeating
Coastal Carolina in the championship. Edwards again won 20 games in his second season. In 2019,
Justin James was drafted 40th overall by the
Sacramento Kings, becoming the second Cowboy in the decade to be taken in the
NBA draft. On December 9, 2019, the program retired
Fennis Dembo's no. 34 jersey. Following two disappointing campaigns where the Cowboys failed to win 10 games each year, Edwards was let go as head coach.
Jeff Linder was hired as the 22nd head coach in program history on March 17, 2020.{{cite news |last1=Seeman |first1=Nick |title=Jeff Linder Named Head Coach of Cowboy Basketball Program In Linder's first season with the Cowboys, he led the team to a 14–11 year despite inheriting a team with only 6 conference wins the two seasons prior. This included a 6–1 non-conference record highlighted by a road win against eventual
Elite Eight participant
Oregon State. The team's season ended in the
Mountain West tournament quarterfinals 69–66 to eventual champion
San Diego State. ==Head coaching records==