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Bill Snyder retires


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Love him or hate him, there's no denying what he did for K-State. In case anyone doesn't know just how bad the Wildcats were when Snyder was hired, here's a little refresher. Just before Snyder started his first season, Sports Illustrated ran an article on K-State football titled Futility U, which called the Wildcats "America's Most Hapless Team." After 93 years of playing football, K-State had fewer than 300 all-time wins, dead last in Div I-A. Post-World War II their most successful decade was 1968-77; their record during that time was 38-70. Between WWII and 1988, K-State ranked last in the country in both scoring offense and scoring defense, and they'd had only four winning seasons in that period.

 

In Snyder's first season, they won exactly one game. That was a big deal, because they hadn't won any at all in the previous two seasons. In his second season, they went 5–6 - a win count K-State had only reached only twice in the previous 17 years. By 1993, they made their second bowl game ever, resulting in their first bowl victory. That became the first of 11 straight bowl appearances - one of only seven teams to reach that mark in that period. 1995 was their first 10-win season, and first top ten finish ever (#6 AP, #7 Coaches). 1998 saw their first #1 ranking. In 2003, they won the Big 12 Championship, their second ever and first since 1934 (a record for longest gap between conference titles). 

 

https://www.kstatesports.com/news/2018/12/2/football-bill-snyder-announces-retirement-from-kansas-state.aspx

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Much respect for the architect of one of the greatest turn-arounds in sports history. It's truly amazing what he did at K-State.

 

It's too bad we won't get to play him again.  We'll just have to remember our last game in the Big XII, from 2010.  Played on Bill Snyder's birthday.

 

 

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7 hours ago, Notre Dame Joe said:

Did he ever beat a good NU team?

 

The 2000 NU team was pretty good. But I tend to think that loss was more about Solich's second half playcalling in the snow as opposed to anything special that KSU did.

 

Edit: just looked up the game - we gifted a field goal to KSU after Alexander fumbled an option pitch in the 3rd quarter, and Josh Brown also missed a short field goal in the 2nd quarter. Either of those plays would have made the difference in the game. I remember blaming Solich for calling option pitches in a blizzard, but otherwise it was a good game and Alexander ran really well for the most part.

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