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Bill Snyder
William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is an American retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the position from 2006 to 2008 before being rehired. Snyder retired for the second time on December 2, 2018, and is serving as a special ambassador for the athletics department.
Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015 and won several conference and national coach of the year awards. He was the head coach at Kansas State for the program's 300th, 400th, and 500th all-time wins. In recognition of his contributions to the program, Kansas State has named its home field the Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium.
Snyder was born October 7, 1939, in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Tom, a traveling salesman, and Marionetta Snyder. His parents divorced when he was six; Snyder and his mother moved from Salina, Kansas to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they lived in a one-room, second-floor apartment, and Marionetta worked as a sales clerk in a department store while Bill's father lived in Omaha, Nebraska. Snyder attended Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, graduating in 1957.
Snyder attended the University of Missouri for one year before enrolling at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where he earned three letters in football for the Cardinals as a defensive back and halfback. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Jewell in 1963. He earned his Master of Arts degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 1965.
Snyder had his first collegiate coaching experience in 1966, serving as a graduate assistant coach for the USC Trojans. He next worked as a head coach for several years in the California high school ranks. He then served as an assistant football coach, and also coached swimming, at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, from 1974 to 1975. From 1976 to 1978, Snyder worked as an assistant coach at North Texas State, under Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry.
Snyder and Fry moved together to the University of Iowa in 1979, with Snyder serving as Fry's offensive coordinator for the next 10 years. He helped Fry build Iowa from a program that had not had a winning season since 1961 into a two-time Big Ten champion. Snyder was hired as the 32nd head coach of the Kansas State University Wildcats following the 1988 season.
When Snyder was hired at K-State for the first time on November 24, 1988, he inherited a situation that was several times worse than the one he'd found when he arrived in Iowa with Fry. Kansas State had a cumulative record of 299–510 (.370) in 93 years of play, which was easily the most losses of any team in Division I-A at the time. The school had been to only one bowl game (the 1982 Independence Bowl), had not won a conference title since 1934 and had enjoyed four winning seasons in the previous 54 years (including two in the previous 34 years). The program also had not won a game since October 26, 1986, going 0–26–1 in that time.
Prior to Snyder's first season in 1989, Sports Illustrated published an article about Kansas State football entitled "Futility U," which labeled the school "America's most hapless team." In hopes of distancing K-State from its losing history, Snyder had art professor Tom Bookwalter create a new logo for the team's helmets, a stylized wildcat's head known as the "Powercat."
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Bill Snyder
William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is an American retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the position from 2006 to 2008 before being rehired. Snyder retired for the second time on December 2, 2018, and is serving as a special ambassador for the athletics department.
Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015 and won several conference and national coach of the year awards. He was the head coach at Kansas State for the program's 300th, 400th, and 500th all-time wins. In recognition of his contributions to the program, Kansas State has named its home field the Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium.
Snyder was born October 7, 1939, in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Tom, a traveling salesman, and Marionetta Snyder. His parents divorced when he was six; Snyder and his mother moved from Salina, Kansas to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they lived in a one-room, second-floor apartment, and Marionetta worked as a sales clerk in a department store while Bill's father lived in Omaha, Nebraska. Snyder attended Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, graduating in 1957.
Snyder attended the University of Missouri for one year before enrolling at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where he earned three letters in football for the Cardinals as a defensive back and halfback. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Jewell in 1963. He earned his Master of Arts degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 1965.
Snyder had his first collegiate coaching experience in 1966, serving as a graduate assistant coach for the USC Trojans. He next worked as a head coach for several years in the California high school ranks. He then served as an assistant football coach, and also coached swimming, at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, from 1974 to 1975. From 1976 to 1978, Snyder worked as an assistant coach at North Texas State, under Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry.
Snyder and Fry moved together to the University of Iowa in 1979, with Snyder serving as Fry's offensive coordinator for the next 10 years. He helped Fry build Iowa from a program that had not had a winning season since 1961 into a two-time Big Ten champion. Snyder was hired as the 32nd head coach of the Kansas State University Wildcats following the 1988 season.
When Snyder was hired at K-State for the first time on November 24, 1988, he inherited a situation that was several times worse than the one he'd found when he arrived in Iowa with Fry. Kansas State had a cumulative record of 299–510 (.370) in 93 years of play, which was easily the most losses of any team in Division I-A at the time. The school had been to only one bowl game (the 1982 Independence Bowl), had not won a conference title since 1934 and had enjoyed four winning seasons in the previous 54 years (including two in the previous 34 years). The program also had not won a game since October 26, 1986, going 0–26–1 in that time.
Prior to Snyder's first season in 1989, Sports Illustrated published an article about Kansas State football entitled "Futility U," which labeled the school "America's most hapless team." In hopes of distancing K-State from its losing history, Snyder had art professor Tom Bookwalter create a new logo for the team's helmets, a stylized wildcat's head known as the "Powercat."