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 in Sterling, Colo., then join the Department of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. He replaces Caleb Boardman as livestock judging coach.

NEW BOSS: Curtis Doubet brings his livestock judging experience to Wyoming from Sterling, Colo. He’s excited to build on the team’s deep class of judges. (Courtesy of UW)

“A big reason I wanted to come to Wyoming is because this fall arguably will be the deepest class of livestock judges I’ve ever seen,” Doubet says.

The new coach started as a student member of the NJC team and then went to Colorado State University. He later became CSU’s coach before moving to the current NJC coaching position.

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

Boardman moves on

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

One change for Doubet is that the UW position includes teaching responsibilities.

Doubet grew up near Parker, Colo. He was an All-American in 4-H and in junior and senior college, 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. He credits this to his launching The Judging Experience livestock judging camp, which puts on judging clinics for youth.

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.

Coaching in action

He tells the story of an 8-year-old who attended one of his camps who was going to judge goats. The youth had shown only rabbits and 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 for it to do so next year.

Doubet compliments his NJC team members, adding that 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, as well as 12 from community colleges outside Wyoming, to be on the team.

Doubet complimented 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.”

Miller writes for University of Wyoming Extension.

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