Bill Snyder is a legend at K-State. He turned around a football program that once had K-State labeled as “Futility U” by Sports Illustrated.
He did the impossible. Yet many K-State fans seem hesitant to welcome back the 69-year-old retired coach.
Many feel he has lost his touch. They hearken back to his final two seasons at K-State, in which Snyder went 9-13 after winning the Big 12 Conference Championship in 2003.
A lot of fans compare his last two years to Ron Prince’s three years at K-State. They say Snyder left the cupboard bare. But he truly didn’t.
Consider that in Prince’s first year he won with many of Snyder’s players. He had two NFL receivers in Jordy Nelson and Yamon Figurs and a NFL linebacker in Zac Diles.
A K-State alumnus made a great point the other day: Bill Snyder rarely got embarrassed on the scoreboard in those last two years. He kept the team competitive in almost every game.
In 2005, a year in which Snyder went 5-6, he was seven points away from being 8-3. Seven points separated that team from going to the Holiday or Cotton Bowl in all likelihood.
His low point was a 59-20 loss at Texas Tech in those final years. In Prince’s last 14 games, he has been beaten by more than 30 points three different times while allowing opposing offenses to put up gaudy numbers.
Snyder has been away from the sidelines for only three years. So I must ask, why are K-State fans so afraid to welcome Snyder back to the sidelines?
He hasn’t lost his touch. He is still as smart as he once was. Former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer said Snyder was the coach of the century.
He is respected everywhere; Snyder is a prominent figure.
The only problem Snyder had was he was too loyal in his final years. He always had a bond with his assistant coaches. He asked them to work harder than most other assistants in the country. He understood that was what it would take to get this program on track.
His best assistants left to become head coaches at many other programs. He struggled to replace them with adequate candidates at the rapid rate he was losing them.
If Snyder were to return to K-State, one of his main struggles would be to find a good mix of both experienced assistants to go along with some younger ones who have solid ties to fertile recruiting areas.
However, he knows what the personnel situation looks like. He has been at all the football games this year. He has been taking notes on the team from his seat in the press box.
No one knows how to turn around a downward-spiraling football program more than Snyder.
He has proven it once. Let him prove it again.