Athletes - Bill Snyder

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	Athletes - Bill Snyder

Bill Snyder (born October 7, 1939 in Saint Joseph, Missouri) was the head football coach for Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005.

Coaching Career

From 1976 to 1978 Snyder was an assistant coach at North Texas State under Hayden Fry. After another ten years under Fry as the offensive coordinator at the University of Iowa, Snyder was hired as head coach of the Kansas State University Wildcats in 1988.

In 17 years at K-State, Snyder became the school's all-time winningest football coach (136 wins) and led Kansas State to eleven consecutive bowl games (1993-2003), including six wins. Snyder's legacy at K-State also includes winning the Big 12 championship in 2003 and sharing four Big 12 North titles since conference play began in 1996. During the 1998 season, Kansas State posted an undefeated 11-0 regular season and earned its first ever Number 1 ranking in the national polls.

Following the successful 1998 campaign, Snyder's mentor Hayden Fry retired from the University of Iowa. Many considered Snyder the frontrunner to return to Iowa and take over the prestigious Big Ten program that he was a part of for so many years. Instead Snyder chose to remain at Kansas State.

Snyder retired at Kansas State on November 15, 2005, capping the end of one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history. The day after Snyder announced his retirement, K-State renamed its football stadium Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in his honor. Ron Prince, formerly an assistant coach and offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia, was named Bill Snyder's replacement on December 5, 2005.

Awards

In 1998 Snyder was recognized as the National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Football Foundation, and was awarded the Bear Bryant Award and the Bobby Dodd Foundation Award. Of lesser note, ESPN selected Snyder as its national coach of the year in 1991 and CNN selected him as its national coach of the year in 1995.

Coach Snyder was also selected Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year by the Associated Press three times (1990, 1991 and 1993), joining Bob Devaney as the only two men in Big Eight history to be named Coach of the Year three times in a four-year period. Snyder was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year twice, in 1998 (Associated Press, coaches) and 2002 (coaches). In 2003, Snyder was named to the Board of Trustees of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).

Following retirement, Snyder was named to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Coaching record

^The Big Eight became the Big 12 in 1996

Player accomplishments

In the Snyder era, Kansas State players won the following national awards:

Lou Groza Award (Outstanding kicker) - Martín Gramática
, 1997
Davey O'Brien Award (Nation's top quarterback) - Michael Bishop, 1998
Jim Thorpe Award (Outstanding defensive back) - Terence Newman
, 2002

Personal life

Snyder is a 1963 graduate of William Jewell College, where he played defensive back (3 letters) from 1959 to 1962. Snyder also received an M.A. at Eastern New Mexico University in 1965.

In addition to his work as the football coach, Snyder was active in raising funds for the library at Kansas State University. Snyder also currently serves as chairman of the Building Campaign, honorary chairman of the Changing Lives Campaign, and is past president of the Friends of the Libraries organization at K-State.

Snyder and his wife Sharon have five children.

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