Bruce Carriker
19th November 2005, 11:15 PM (23:15)
...Bill Snyder coached his last game at Kansas State University, a 36-28 victory over the University of Missouri. The author of the greatest turnaround in the history of college football, Snyder announced his retirement earlier this week. He currently ranks 7th among active coaches in career winning percentage and 12th among active coaches in career wins. His teams went to 11 straight bowl games, beat Oklahoma for the Big 12 championship in 2003, completed the 1998 regular season undefeated, and were ranked #1 in the nation for 2 weeks in 1998. All this was accomplished at a school that had gone without a win for the better part of 3 seasons before Snyder came to Manhattan.
Snyder finishes with 136 wins. In the FIFTY seasons before Snyder arrived, K-State won a total of 134 games. In the two seasons before Snyder arrived, the team was 0-21-1. In the summer of 1989 they were highlighted in a Sport Illustrated article on the worst programs in the history of NCAA football. They were rated the worst ever. What he accomplished is a modern college athletics miracle. But this quiet, unassumng man, this great coach, just quietly slipped away today, amid all the hoopla of Michigan-OSU, Alabama-Auburn, and Penn State's return to glory for JoePa.
Somehow, I suspect that's exactly how Bill Snyder wanted it.
Thanks, Coach Snyder. Go 'Cats!
Snyder finishes with 136 wins. In the FIFTY seasons before Snyder arrived, K-State won a total of 134 games. In the two seasons before Snyder arrived, the team was 0-21-1. In the summer of 1989 they were highlighted in a Sport Illustrated article on the worst programs in the history of NCAA football. They were rated the worst ever. What he accomplished is a modern college athletics miracle. But this quiet, unassumng man, this great coach, just quietly slipped away today, amid all the hoopla of Michigan-OSU, Alabama-Auburn, and Penn State's return to glory for JoePa.
Somehow, I suspect that's exactly how Bill Snyder wanted it.
Thanks, Coach Snyder. Go 'Cats!