Bill Snyder to Return to Kansas State

No doubt you've heard that former Kansas State University head football coach Bill Snyder has agreed to effectively removed the word "former" from that title.  He will replace Ron Prince, who succeeded Snyder three years ago as the coach at KSU (see here).

My main question is "why?"  Snyder engineered the "Miracle in Manhattan", taking a morbid football program and turning it into a national power during the 1990's.  His players dot the NFL landscape and his coaches have found success as head coaches in college football.  He was an excellent coach.  But what does he bring to the program after three years in retirement?

Some quick thoughts.

First what he won't bring.  Snyder is 69 years old and his last two seasons at the helm the first time around were dropoffs from where he had taken the Wildcats.  His age will be an issue with recruits, and competing recruiters will play that up for every thing it's worth.  My guess is that his age was a reason why the talent level dropped off in the Little Apple during his final two years.  I can't imagine, all else equal, that he'll be able to entice the kinds of players he got in the 90's to come to KSU now.

What he will bring:  this has to excite the fan base, much as the hiring of Tom Osborne as AD at Nebraska excited that fanbase.  A couple more years of Ron Prince and KSU's budget would have taken a big hit.

As noted above, he has an eye for coaching talent.  He dropped off the Hayden Fry tree (no slouch in identifying coaching talent either), and Snyder's disciples include folks like Bob Stoops at OU, Mike Stoops at Arizona, Jim Leavitt and South Florida, and Mark Mangino at Kansas.  One of his main jobs might be to assemble a staff that will succeed him when he eventually leaves in a few years.

Comments

[glendale carpet cleaning]

I hope Snyder does well. I grew up around that area and know alot of grads. They love their Wildcats.