UW Hires New Coach for Livestock Judging Team

The University of Wyoming’s new livestock judging coach won’t start until November, but the team’s excellence has Curtis Doubet pumped.

Doubet will finish this fall as coach at Northeastern Junior College (NJC) in Sterling, Colo., then join the Department of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He will replace Caleb Boardman as livestock judging coach.

“A big reason I wanted to come to Wyoming is because of what this fall, arguably, will be the deepest class of livestock judges I’ve ever seen,” says Doubet, who was a student member of the NJC team and then Colorado State University (CSU), later becoming its coach before moving to the current NJC coaching position.

“I’m pumped up about coming,” he says. “Caleb has built the program into a legitimate contender every year. The current team is one of the best in the country.”

Boardman has accepted the livestock judging team coach position at Texas A&M University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness and a master’s degree in animal science, and was a graduate assistant. He joined UW in 2015.

The UW position includes teaching responsibilities.

Doubet grew up near Parker, Colo. He was an All-American in 4-H, at NJC and at CSU, where he was high individual at the American Royal competition. Doubet says he will come to UW as the best coach he’s ever been and credits starting The Judging Experience, which puts on judging clinics across the country.

He had gone to work on the family’s ranch near Lodge Grass, Mont., and kept getting calls asking for coaching help.

“I give credit to my wife, Cate, to starting The Judging Experience,” he says. “She said, ‘Why not go to the places other people want to learn and put on clinics?’”

He’s held two-day clinics designed for 4-H and FFA members across several states.

“I don’t know of anything that did more for my coaching than putting on those coaching clinics,” Doubet says. “All everyone is thinking about is winning contests. You get caught up in that, and what gets lost is what you are actually trying to do.”

Teach.

He describes an 8-year-old who attended one of his camps who was going to judge goats. The youth had shown only rabbits -- had never been around goats -- but his mother thought judging livestock would boost his public speaking skills.

“I had a blast working with that young man,” Doubet says. “I got a thank-you note from him saying he was fortunate enough to win a judging contest and attributed that to someone more interested in teaching than winning.”

Not that Doubet hasn’t already set a high goal for UW. He says if Boardman’s team doesn’t win the national championship this fall, he aims to next year.

Doubet compliments his NJC team members and adds some are interested in coming to UW. He says he’s also been recruiting since he accepted the UW position. In the last five years, 26 students have transferred to UW from Wyoming community colleges and 12 from community colleges outside Wyoming to be on the team.

Doubet also compliments UW.

“I’ve been around academia for a long time, and I have never seen the excitement and support for livestock judging like Wyoming has,” he says. “I’m extremely impressed with the university. It says a lot about the school.”