Nov. 15, 2005
Bill Snyder, architect of the Miracle in Manhattan and the greatest turnaround in the history of college football, announced his retirement on November 15 as the head football coach at Kansas State.
The winningest coach in the history of K-State football, Snyder will coach his final game with the Wildcats on Saturday, November 22 versus Missouri at home in the stadium that will be renamed Bill Snyder Family Stadium in his honor.
Named the 32nd head coach football coach at Kansas State on Nov. 30, 1988, Snyder has totaled 135 victories during his 17 years with the Wildcats, more than triple the man in second place on K-State's all-time coaching victories list. In fact, it took Kansas State 52 seasons (1937-1988) to total just 134 wins, while the 12 head coaches prior to Snyder's arrival combined to win 116 games from 1945-1988.
His tenure at Kansas State has been so remarkable that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil has called Snyder "the best coach in the country", while legendary Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer termed him "the coach of the century".
But perhaps ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso put it best when he said "Bill Snyder has done the single greatest job of turning a football program around."
He will leave Kansas State ranked No. 7 among active coaches in winning percentage, having won over 65 percent of his games with the Wildcats, and No. 12 in total victories with at least 135.
"I join the thousands of K-State fans who thank Coach Snyder for everything he has done, not only to build a great football program, but in helping build a great University," said Tim Weiser, director of athletics. "Pending approval of the Kansas Board of Regents, KSU Stadium will be renamed Bill Snyder Family Stadium as a completely appropriate recognition of his accomplishments here at Kansas State."
Snyder's impact at Kansas State reached far beyond the football field. In addition to rekindling an overwhelming sense of pride in K-State alumni and supporters from coast to coast, the winning culture he ushered in helped spark a University-wide renaissance as K-State's enrollment blossomed from 18,120 when he was hired to its current record of nearly 24,000 today.
"One of the greatest decisions that I have made in my years as President was to hire Coach Bill Snyder from the University of Iowa in 1989," said K-State President Jon Wefald. "We knew good things would happen sooner rather than later. We wanted Coach Snyder to make K-State football competitive in the Big Eight and across the country.
"The truth is, Coach Snyder exceeded all expectations," Wefald said. "Indeed, Coach Snyder and his staff made K-State into a national football power. There is no question in my mind that Coach Snyder orchestrated and engineered the single greatest turnaround in American Division I collegiate football history. Bill Snyder's legacy is secure here at Kansas State University. He will always be remembered as K-State's greatest football coach and arguably one of the nation's greatest football coaches over the past generation."
Snyder, who Weiser said will remain active in the position of head coach until his replacement is named, did not indicate what his immediate plans for the future would hold, but did say his plans included remaining in Manhattan. Weiser said Snyder would remain employed by the athletics department as a special assistant to the athletics director.
When Snyder was named the Wildcats' head football coach, he inherited a team that had just suffered through its second consecutive winless season. It was a program that had been through 14 different head coaches and won just 24 percent of its games - going 137-455-18 - between Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf's 1934 Big Six championship team and his hiring.
But it did not take long for Snyder to change the entire culture of the program. In just his third year, he guided the 1991 Wildcats to a 7-4 record to give K-State just its second winning season since 1970. For his efforts, Snyder was named ESPN's National Coach of the Year.
Just two seasons later, Snyder would guide Kansas State to a 9-2-1 record and a berth in the 1993 Copper Bowl, marking just the second bowl appearance ever by the Wildcats.
The trip to Tucson was the first of 11-straight postseason appearances for Snyder's Wildcats, who quickly became a fixture on the Big 8/12 bowl circuit.
Along the way, Kansas State would become just the second team in the history of college football to win 11 games in six of seven seasons from 1997 and 2003.
The final 11-win campaign brought more firsts for Kansas State as Snyder guided the Wildcats to an unforgettable upset of No. 1 Oklahoma in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game that not only gave the Wildcats their first Big 12 title and BCS bowl berth, but captivated the imagination of the nation's college football fans.
In total, Snyder guided the Kansas State to 11 winning seasons, four Big 12 North Division titles and three Big 12 Championship games as the Wildcats recorded the eighth-most wins in Division I-A from 1993-2004.
In addition to the team accomplishments, Snyder's players were also some of the most decorated in the country. In his first 16 years, he produced three national award winners, 45 All-America selections and 68 first team all-conference honorees.
Snyder also mentored 42 NFL draft picks during his career, including nine first- and second-round picks. His players also recorded 56 of 68 individual single-season school records and 60 of 68 individual career records during his tenure at K-State.
The rebuilding effort and subsequent success engineered at Kansas State by Snyder clearly stands as one of the most amazing in all of college football. As a result, he has been recognized seven times as a conference Coach of the Year and three times as a National Coach of the Year. He was also named a finalist for ESPN's College Coach of the Decade for the 1990s.
Weiser said Tuesday that a national search for Snyder's replacement would begin immediately following Saturday's game, but he would not comment on the search process until the season is complete.
"This week is about Bill Snyder, our senior football players and the recognition and attention which should be afforded them," Weiser said. "There will be a time and a place later to discuss the future of K-State football, but I want to assure all K-State fans that this program will remain strong and committed to competing for conference championships just like we have for the past 17 years."