Tell it like it is time…
A certain KC Confidential sports sage liked to remind readers that Kansas State football was little more than “a nice little team.”
A football program being piloted by a soon-to-be octogenarian named Bill Snyder.
Which was more than enough for a small town Kansas burg nobody much else in the country gave a rats you-know-what about.
As opposed to being the “national power” Star sports scribe Sam Mellinger referred to Sunday.
I digress.
Because other than kicking lowly KU‘s butt year in and year out and rising from the dead in 1989 what have Snyder’s K-State teams really achieved aside from winning two conference titles of the team’s six overall.
Putting that in perspective, KU has 8 conference titles and Missouri 15.
Meanwhile things are looking worse with this year’s 2-3 record and zero Big 12 wins.
And the fingers are being pointed at Snyder who appears well past his prime.
“He’s trying to prove that he’s still playing chess while everybody else is playing checkers,” says K-State supporter Craig Woodbury. “I think it’s stupid.”
And let us remember Snyder’s trip from worst to first was forged by padding K-State’s schedule with a parade of patsies.
Which didn’t take long to set farmy Manhattan ablaze…
Brent Venables
K-State football’s ascension from national joke to winner transformed the ag school’s moribund image into a point of pride. Not only the school, but the entire town appeared to blossom on the back of Snyder’s winning Wildcats.
Monetarily K-State went from 15.000 to 25,000 fans per game to 50,000.
K-State’s fans and alums wearing purple went from hayseeds to Powercats.
Until Snyder’s winning Midas touch went south in 2004 and 2005, the last two years before his first retirement.
And while K-Staters love to bag on his successor, Ron Prince, Princebrought the team back to a winning record in 2006 followed by a pair of 5-7 seasons – which might not look too shabby the way things are going this year.
The $64 million question: was K-State ever really a national power?
Maybe in 1998 and 2013 but that’s pretty much it.
At this stage of the game Snyder’s hanging merely on to pave the way for his son to succeed him.
Which is, you know, somewhat controversial.
“Can the purple kingdom be trusted to his son, who has never called an offensive or defensive play?” CBS Sports Dennis Dodd asks.
“It’s hard to recall a more vulnerable major-college program that has hinged on such a contentious line of succession. (Snyder) is the oldest coach in the FBS. His son is dad’s hand-picked successor…Lines have been drawn within Kansas State ranks: Some stand in support of the Sean Plan, others against it…
“At stake could be the program itself. For all the glory Snyder brought to Manhattan, it’s still a middle-of-nowhere spot that makes for difficult recruiting. It will take someone beyond special to replace Snyder, winner of 202 games and two Big 12 titles.”
Herein lies the rub…
“There are definitely more qualified candidates than Sean Snyder out there,” Dodd continues. “Former Wildcats assistant Jim Leavitt, who is now the defensive coordinator at Oregon, has a clause in his current contract that would allow him to take the K-State job without a buyout.
“Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables — another former Snyder assistant — is close to being the most valued assistant in the country. At age 45, it’s curious why Venables has never been a head coach. Is he respectfully holding out for the day Snyder steps down?”
The not far between-the-lines on Snyder’s wanting to shoehorn his son into the driver’s seat:
“Others have advised against it, apparently at their peril,” Dodd writes. “There is a battle inside the walls of the K-State administrative and football offices that has raged for years, according to several sources. More than one person familiar with the situation termed the climate inside those walls as ‘toxic.’ ”
Perfect!
An over-the-hill coach whose players either can’t relate to or don’t want to risk the uncertainty of how long he will continue to coach, throwing the entire K-State football program under the bus for the sake of nepotism.
What a country…
Jim Leavitt is getting fairly long in the tooth himself. At 61, he’s most likely past his prime and his unseemly exit from South Florida is a blight on his resume.
Brent Venables seems content at being one of the highest paid coordinators in the nation. He’s got a national championship ring, and his team is in contention every year now for the national championship. At KSU, he’d NEVER have that. There’s always been rumors of some of his activities while he was at KSU, being less than desirable. I’ve never heard exactly what they were.
KSU fans (and Nebraska fans too) have to realize that the ground has shifted under their feet, the glory days are over and aren’t coming back.
Think you’re onto something, Guy…
Kind of a shame in a way for K-State and Manhattan. Working out of Topeka the past couple of years – not to mention watching things from the cheap seats here in KC – I’ve seen first hand how purple pride came out of virtually nowhere and grew into something of substance. To me it electrified an entire city, the school and its alums and instilled in them a feeling of empowerment – dignity even – that I never before observed prior to the Snyder era.
OK, to an extent with K-State basketball in the good, old days (but not now).
That entire town in the middle of nowhere with its cheesy “Aggieville” party zone has blossomed into something approaching Lawrence in terms of hipness and sophistication.
Am I exaggerating? Probably.
And the Army base nearby has contributed to its bottom line wealth as well.
But in the wide world of “location, location, location” being out there in the middle of nowhere is still a huge challenge and one that will be all but impossible to reduplicate.
Yeah, 61 is old, but not like 79. The Clemson deal seems like a pretty fair hill to climb, but who knows?
I sure wouldn’t want to take a successful career and relocate it in the middle of nowhere just to see what happens.
“A certain KC Confidential sports sage liked to remind readers that Kansas State football was little more than “a nice little team.”
– he did, but made up for it (annually) by assuring the local unwashed ‘this is our year!’ nod the swiss chiefs; CG died waiting for it… so will everyone else now drawing breath.
“A football program being piloted by a soon-to-be octogenarian named Bill Snyder.”
– child’s play: Bill’s still just a pup compared John Gagliardi. John’s too long stay at the fair ended at age 86, aft the 2012 college football season’s end (his 489 wins are more than twice Bill’s 212.
Another difference is, Gagliardi’s the winningest college football coach ever. John was so old he was inducted into the College Hall of Fame – six years before he retired (well, they wanted to make sure he could attend.)
“a small town Kansas burg nobody much else in the country gave a rats you-know-what about.”
– though sometimes mistaken for ‘the City’ aka Manhattan, New York (’cause it’s hard to tell the difference between 1.6 + million people and 50,000 + (nod any area ‘crowd sizing’ claims), starting in 1948 ‘The Little Apple was briefly home to the one who got away: Ingrid Stensland – better known Inger Stevens. Inger tossed better curves than Danny Duffy: like him, she came from somewhere else and arrived Kansas City, went on to the silver screen as well the small and into Not Jack Kerouac’s heart, departing all this mortal coil in 1970 (like the Chiefs ne’er to be seen again), if ne’er mine heart.
“As opposed to being the “national power” Star sports scribe Sam Mellinger referred to Sunday.”
– someone spiked Mellinger’s red kool-aid with Purple Stuff Soda (moral: don’t keyboard and imbibe… you just end up with several Boom Boom-esque lines.)
Somewhere, the memory of Vince Gibson/Kansas State 1969’s wins over Oklahoma, Nebraska & three-point loss to that season’s uncrowned ‘National Champions’ Penn State linger: still the best team and coach and QB ( Lynn Dickey) K-State’s ever had.
_______________
Speaking of the latest swiss chiefs version, KCinderella lives… again… just like 2003… and 2013… and 2018 (more on that later, when/if HC decides he needs a dose reality KCC in lieu the local ‘parti pris’ sporting party line.
Note – congratulations KC’s fraudroyals, who by virtue playing century 21’s fake stats as news era, managed not eclipse the 2005 version theirs same loss number, proving conclusively they were inferior to the 1964 Athletics who lost but 104 compared 106, yet did so playing vs the likes Mickey Mantle his World Series bound Yankees as well Killebrew, Kaline & Oliva et al – legit ‘Hall of Famers’ all in lieu today’s ‘everybody’s a star’manufactured system doctored baseballs and PED powered stats, bitter more so than sweet.
😎
The impending Snyder fiasco goes even deeper. He’s now resorted to backdooring his own assistants/players. Witness his handling of his quarterbacks this past Saturday, as reported by Kellis Robinette:
Bill Snyder asserts his power over K-State assistant coaches with QB switch to Delton.
Manhattan, KS
When Kansas State quarterback Alex Delton took over for Skylar Thompson late in the third quarter of a 35-6 loss to West Virginia on Saturday, his presence in the huddle came as a shock to all but two people in attendance.
No one informed Thompson he was getting benched. K-State offensive coordinator Andre Coleman and quarterbacks coach Collin Klein were also in the dark. As far as they knew, the plan was to keep plugging away at a comeback attempt with the quarterback who had started all four of the Wildcats’ games and had seemingly proven himself as the best passer on the roster.
But Bill Snyder was ready to make a change. So much so that the K-State head coach bypassed his coaching staff and informed Delton directly that he would finish out the game following an interception by Wildcats defensive back Johnathan Durham.
This information was confirmed by two sources with knowledge of the personnel change.
It also lines up with what Delton and Thompson said immediately afterward. Delton told reporters that Snyder “came over to me right before the drive and told me I was going in.” Thompson, with disgust in his voice, said he was blindsided.
Bill Snyder asserts his power over K-State assistant coaches with QB switch to Alex Delton https://t.co/20fRjMeLfl
— Kellis Robinett (@KellisRobinett) September 25, 2018
This is going to be hilarious to watch. Like most old bastards who don’t know when to just let go, it’s going to end very ugly with some sort of crash and burn scenario.
What then will remain of his legacy?
I suppose the winning record will outweigh the bitter end. Guess we’ll see. Too bad
Bitter ends is how all these old former successful college coach stories play out. This is reminding me of Bobby Bowden’s ending.