When you think about K-State football, the first thing that will come to your mind is the coach, Bill Snyder.
Without Snyder, K-State was nothing. The Wildcats were the laughing stock of college football. K-State was on a 27-game losing streak when Snyder took over as head coach. With Snyder at the helm for the Wildcats, they have 187 wins. He has won eight National Coach of the Year Awards, four Big 12 North titles and two Big 12 championships in 2003 and 2012.
Snyder has been more than just a football coach to K-State; he has been a mentor to young men and has developed them into becoming the best people they can be, on and off the field.
Snyder is the best coach of all time.
One thing that shows the type of guy Snyder truly is, is that players from opposing teams have received letters from Snyder complimenting their performance on the field. How many coaches can you say do that on a regular basis?
If you take a look at how Snyder handles his program then you can really tell the kind of coach he is. Snyder always seems to get the best out of players that are not highly recruited. When you take that into perspective it shows how good of a coach Snyder is because the players want to win for him so badly, and they give it everything they have for the guy.
He might not have the national championships to prove it like coaches like Bear Bryant or Bobby Bowden, but there is more to a football coach than national titles.
Bear Bryant was at Alabama, and everyone knows that the top players want to play at Alabama because of the tradition; a lot of that was thanks to Bear Bryant.
Bobby Bowden turned the Seminole program around, just like Snyder did in Manhattan. With all the athletes in Florida, once a program turns around you’re going to start getting some talented athletes from all over the U.S. to come play for you.
Snyder doesn’t get the big-time recruits that these coaches have the luxury of getting because of K-State’s location and because Snyder likes to recruit guys that will be in the program for four years, will be a Snyder-type player and will believe in the 16 goals that he preaches.
Barry Switzer, former Oklahoma coach during the Big Eight era, said of Snyder, “He’s not the coach of the year. He’s not the coach of the decade. He’s the coach of the century”.
This shows the respect that Snyder has gotten from other coaches in the game. The respect he has earned from other coaches and players from other teams is what puts him over the top as best coach ever.
Earlier this year, the College Football Hall of Fame agreed, inducting him as a member of the newest class. Snyder is the fourth coach to be elected while still actively coaching.
Twenty years from now people will look back and think about how good of a coach Snyder was. They will remember how well he ran his program and think about Snyder was the best to ever do it, not just because of his on the field ways, but also because of the impact he has made off the field.
