Bill Snyder: Old Man or Offensive Innovator?
It seems most posters here are like me and don't know much at all about KSU or Bill Snyder, other than the fact he's been around a long time and he seems every year to win more games than most expect him to. I came across this great article about Snyder, the influence he has had on the game and his coaching tree. It's really quite impressive. Now, perhaps this article gives him more credit than he is due, but it certainly goes a long way to showing why year after year the old guy puts quality teams out on the playing field.
Something I hadn't realized is that he and Rich Rod both developed very similar spread concepts at about the same time, independent of each other.
There's also a link to an SI article with this interesting tidbit (with added bonus of discussion about Jermy Gallon and his High School coach if you click on the SI link) :
While Meyer and Rodriguez would eventually become confidants, Meyer's most direct inspiration for his ground game came from Kansas State, where coach Bill Snyder had made a direct-snap running back out of quarterback Michael Bishop and contended for the 1998 national title. "I went out to visit Kansas State and saw what they were doing with the quarterback, and I came away from there amazed," says Meyer. "That stuff really impacted me."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1149161/1/index.htm
December 9th, 2013 at 8:41 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^
He is both, of course. I went through several possiblities for titles, all of which seemed crappier even with what I came up with.
December 9th, 2013 at 9:17 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
he has come a very long way in evolving his system from pro-style to spread. He brought K-State from the scrap heap and mentored a ton of future coaches along the way. The guy is really incredible.
December 9th, 2013 at 8:42 AM ^
Bill Snyder: Old man or luxury sailboat?
December 9th, 2013 at 9:21 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 9:29 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 8:46 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 8:58 AM ^
Smart Football had a piece last year - which I found again - that gives some anecdotes and background on Bill Snyder as well. It isn't very long, but it does give you some additional insight perhaps on how dedicated he is to football and even the lenghts to which he has gone to maximize his own time on daily basis. One of the better quotes, which tries to illustrates the level of detail in his thinking, is from former fellow Iowa assistant Barry Alvarez:
“Bill would’ve described a play for about two minutes, and he wouldn’t even have reached the point where the quarterback releases the ball,”
December 9th, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^
All I know is that we're really going to have to establish the run game, because everyone knows when you play Bill Snyder YOU SHALL NOT PASS.
December 9th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
Baylor moved the ball pretty well in the air against KSU.
December 9th, 2013 at 9:20 AM ^
Potential new OC?
December 9th, 2013 at 9:23 AM ^
MSU just proved the spread doesn't work in the Big Ten.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:57 AM ^
MSU proved to me that the best teams play elite level defense.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
MSU just proved the spread doesn't work in the Big Ten
I feel like people are getting this meme wrong. When RR came here, most people weren't that skeptical of his offense; Northwestern and Purdue had recently won Big Ten titles with spread attacks (and moreover, Appalachian State and Oregon had just burned us with them as well). It was the 3-3-5 that people really thought wouldn't work in the Big Ten.
December 9th, 2013 at 9:52 AM ^
KSU was terrible before he got there. There aren't a lot of coaches who could do what he did, though my impression as a former Kansas resident is that KSU doesn't let academics get in the way of fielding its best possible football team.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^
Guys that were transferring into k-state from around the state and region were typically not academic all-Americans. Some of the high school athletes they recruited had questionable reps as well.
According to the local fans that has kind of been Snyder's approach to recruiting since the beginning. Rarely do they have a chance at the regions elite talent so try are forced to take chances with some of the guys who are great athletes, but have not always necessarily cut it in the classroom.
Everyone I spoke with kind of had this same sentiment. However, everyone would insist that by the time these guys were done playing for Snyder they were much better individuals then when they arrived.
I have a ton of respect for the program because everything seemed very clean, despite nearly always getting the scraps left over from Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and even Iowa.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
Gene Wojciechowski did a pretty good piece on Snyder, and his impact on K-State. I can't get the embed to work, so here is the link.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
funny to me is the fact that he was run out of town and then they wen't back like 2 years after and begged him to come back. Kind of like when all of Michigan wanted Lloyd Carr gone in 2007 and then would have gladly taken the 9-3 or 10-2 team that he routinely rolled out and ran in 2009. The grass is not always greener, just ask Michiga.....err....Kansas State fans.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:14 AM ^
Without watching any KSU games, I have a feeling that they're similar to Northwestern only they win more.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:24 AM ^
He's a very good coach, their fans are insane, it's a good program...I like the matchup.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
the Bowl, I like the location, I like the date, I like the time. I just don't like the opponent. If we went to Tempe, I was really hoping for Texas. It would have been one of the most anticipated non-BCS games based on reputation and history alone, and I personally always kind of like watching Texas. Given the K-State matchup, I would have much preferred the Gator against Georgia. Michigan v. K-State just doesn't have it.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^
From KSU's perspective it will "have it".
Maybe as the game gets closer it will become more interesting to Michigan fans. They are a very popular team in this part of the country.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:10 AM ^
does surprise me. Kansas State games put me to sleep faster than a modern heavyweight boxing match.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
http://goemaw.com/forum/index.php?topic=30299.0
Would love your input! Looking forward to the matchup but probably not as much as you guys are
December 9th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^
If that K-State OSU game had gone one more minute in at the end k-state would have won- they were on fire in that last quarter. The only reason they lost was because of such a bad first quarter. Their QB started the game distracted by allegations of rape (sound familiar?) and threw a quick pick six in the 1st 10 minutes. I respect what Snyder can do- they should be treated very seriously.
December 9th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
Bill Snyder is like the Joe Pa of Kansas. The guy can do no wrong and holds the reigns of the program until he retires.
K-state reminds me a ton of MSU when it comes to recruiting. Within the date try are known for taking a ton of three star athletes. They also take some questionable characters and personalities that they seemingly always get to produce in the long run (kind of like the patriots of the nfl) JUCO transfers also make up a healthy portion of their roster.
Overall, solid well coached team that stops the pass and to me at least, seems very vanilla. They an run and they will likely use two qbs.
We should be fine if we can establish the run early on. In the limited time I had to watch them this season they do tend to get beat on play action. Just my two cents.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
I think Bill Snyder is probably the most underrated football coach in college football history. Before Snyder got there, K-State was a dumpster fire within a train wreck topped off with stacks of flaming tires. They were literally the losingest football program in America before he showed up. He didn't just turn Kansas State around, he resurrected them.
December 9th, 2013 at 3:22 PM ^
The basketball team had Rolando Blackmon, though.
December 9th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^
Notwithstanding any eye rolling a year later...
Based on results, it's hard to argue that Bill Snyder doesn't know offense. If memory serves, K-State has put up numbers on the better Ds in the Big XII consistently until this year. What is more remarkable to me is that he stepped aside for a few years and came back after Ron Prince didn't work out and got the machine back up and humming again.
(I'm not going to touch the rumors/opinions that K-State is a dirty program or that its success is fueled by JUCO recruiting, except to say I am not a K-State or Big XII fan and don't really follow the conference or its teams)
December 9th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
How does Coach Snyder find the time to do those Toyota commercials as his alter ego Coach T?
December 9th, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^
Linked below are a bunch of breakdowns I've written about the K-State offense the last couple seasons.
K-State's offense is basically a mix of option, power and drop back passing game using a bunch of different formations/personnel groups.
December 9th, 2013 at 3:34 PM ^
Fan- Do you have anything a little less advanced for these canadians? Most of them still speak french in Detroit so maybe put more X's and O's and less words?
December 9th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
I've never seen the "you're a CANADIAN" troll before, but why not...
December 9th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^
As you're new, ben ji, I'll just let it go at a polite warning - these sorts of trolling / insulting posts are basically the quickest way to making you an ex-user here. If you are a KSU fan, that's great and welcome to MGoBlog, but don't start off like this. It doesn't add to the discourse and it only makes you look as if you don't wish to thoughtfully contribute.
December 9th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
I recently moved to Manhattan, KS for work (Fort Riley) and I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Snyder a couple of times since I've been here. Both times involved childrens events where I was taking my 3 year old daughter. Snyder is their Bo.......just a genuine guy who cares about the community and the program. With the fans in Manhattan its more of a cult like following.....they take their football very seriously, and they should have a strong showing in Tempe.
I think its going to be a great game.......I understand some of the negative comments about the match up, but what in the hell were you looking for? This is a solid program and it should make for a entertaining couple of hours.
December 15th, 2013 at 9:41 PM ^
I also work here (Fort Riley). Snyder is definitely their Bo. He just wins, baby. He's a rockstar here. I've been here for 3 years and this town is nuts for KSU. I've been to 5 of their games over those 3 years because I simply love to watch college football. Those players play hard all the time and execute his system pretty flawlessly. I'd be lying if I said I thought we were favorites against them. Snyder is an innovator and a fantastic coach. I'm typing this about 5 miles from Bill Syder family stadium, so I guess I'm pretty much an expert...
December 15th, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
Snyder is a very, very good coach but his one weakness has been bowl games. So take that for what is worth. As far as butthurt about playing K-State, this team is more explosive than last year. We got a bit of a bum rap last year as we were definitely a run first, run second, run third offense, but our points per play was pretty high, we just always had a huge advantage in time of posession and tended to run the play clock down which people equated with boring.
ksu_FAN is really good at breaking down film. Hopefully some of you that are interested take the time to read his write ups. I can't do them justice, but just to give you a tl;dr version:
Offense:
QB- We have had a QB controversey all year with Jake Waters from an Iowa JUCO getting most of the snaps while Daniel Sams has come in off the bench mostly as a change of pace. Daniel Sams got Big 12 Honorable Mention while Waters was not mentioned at all. Many KSU fans would prefer Sams. Sams is more efficient, a better runner, while Waters has shown an ability to throw some bombs to Lockett and twice Lockett has had over 200 yards in games with Waters throwing.
RB- Hubert was All-Big 12 last year with Klein. This year he has been less effective with Waters in. When Sams is in he becomes more of a threat. We also have the youngest Gronkowski brother as a FB, he mostly catches and blocks.
WR- We have two really talented and explosive receivers in Tyler Lockett and Tremaine Thompson. They are not the enormous NFL prototypical receivers that you are used to seeing in the Big Ten, but they run very good routes, are very fast and tend to get separation and catch the ball consistently. Lockett, as previously mentioned, has had an amazing season and went for 278 yards breaking the KSU single game record in our loss to OU.
TE- These guys drop the ball alot and suck at blocking.
OL- Have had a pretty good year blocking. Waters can hold the ball at times and takes a few sacks and if you have DE that know it is passing situation, this will be a problem for us. Texas absolutely tee'd off early in the year once they took a lead. Hopefully we won't repeat many of the mistakes from that game, but a pass rush could be effective. With Sams in the game, our run blocking is very effective and he is a patient and tough runner, but not as explosive since he injured himself.
Defense:
A concern.
December 15th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
One of the areas that concerns me is that the KSU seniors, because they have never won a bowl game, seem super motivated to go out on a winning note. I'm not saying Michigan won't be motivated also, and obviously motivation can only carry a team so far, but I expect KSU to definitely bring their A game.