Bill Snyder Announces Retirement

December 2, 2018December 5, 2018 K-StateFans.com Staff 0 Comments

November 30th, 1988 was a fateful day in Kansas State history. The program was as terrible as it had ever been; certainly the worst in all of football. We hired a little known coordinator from the University of Iowa by the name of Bill Snyder. He declared that “the opportunity exists here for the greatest turnaround in college football history.”

He was right.

It’s a testament to his success that for a program who had previously only been to a single bowl game in its history, the season that prompted fans to call for his retirement was one in which the team was a fourth quarter away from making a bowl game.

In the 77 years before Bill Snyder, the program won 256 games. Since his hire, the program has won 232 (Snyder accounting for 215 of those). Put another way, Snyder is responsible for nearly HALF of the programs wins.

In the 77 years before Bill Snyder, the program made one bowl game. In the 30 years since, Kansas State has made 20 bowls (19 for Snyder).

In the 77 years before Bill Snyder, the program never had a double digit win season. In the 30 years since, we’ve had nine. Furthermore, every single nine win season in Kansas State history belongs to Bill Snyder.

We’ve won two conference titles, five division titles, been ranked #1 in two different seasons, and were a mainstay in the top ten for years.

Snyder has coached two Heisman finalists, seven national award winners, 37 All-Americans, 47 NFL draft picks, including an active streak of having a player drafted every year for 25 straight seasons.

Suffice to say, November 30th, 1988 was a fateful day indeed.

Today, Bill is stepping down, and someone new will be taking the reins. We’ll get to those possibilities later. For now, K-StateFans.com says, “thank you coach. It’s been a hell of a ride.”