Thanks, Bill Snyder
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder singled me out Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days. In a good way.
The K-State coach legend – legend might be the wrong word; mythic or messiah might be more fitting — has returned to the job after three years retired. It was good to see him back. He’s not the most interesting coach around or the most quotable or the gregarious. But he has accomplished the most.
Anyway, back in 2001, The Oklahoman produced a project in which we debated the greatest college coaches of all time. Several staff members made their case for a candidate. I made the case for Snyder, and we played it up big. I think it was a Mount Rushmore look, with Snyder’s face front and center.
Anyway, I called him the greatest coach of all time, and in January 2003 — about 16 months later — I helped introduce him at OKC’s Thorpe Award banquet, after Kansas State’s Terence Newman won the trophy. Snyder took the podium and, before presenting Newman, said I was his favorite sportswriter of all time, that he had seen the story and couldn’t believe an Oklahoman would give him that kind of honor and credit.
Anyway, he was back Wednesday, and I asked him a question from the floor along the lines of how he might do in a second go-round, considering most coaches who had tried such a plan had generally failed.
Snyder started to answer, then said, “Berry, by the way, I don’t know if I ever told you face to face. You wrote one of my most famous articles ever that I really appreciate. It’s the only one I’ve ever given to my children. I appreciate that a great deal. A long time ago.”
I appreciated Snyder saying so, and what makes it even more flabbergasting is how rare is such a public statement. When you think about it, most of the stuff written about coaches and athletes is positive. Overwhelmingly positive. Most of it flattering, some of it glorification and occasionally very well done.
And we never hear about it. We hear the complaints and the bitching and we don’t even think twice about it. That’s just the way it goes.
When someone thanks you for what you’ve produced, it’s totally disarming. Now I understand why curveballs still freeze major-league hitters. If you don’t expect it, you can’t react.
Anyway, here’s the web address for what I wrote back in 2001:
http://www.newsok.com/the-bill-snyder-lovefest-resumes/article/2756662?custom_click=lead_story_title
Soar or crash in this K-State revival, I won’t change my mind about Bill Snyder. What he accomplished at Kansas State, the Manhattan Miracle, is the greatest college football story ever told.
I would have been pulling for him anyway. Even without the curveball.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Comebacks rarely turn out good. As I was living in K-State country around that time, I can be a witness to what he did. He turned a state upside down, all the sudden it wasn’t, “just wait till KU basketball”, it was people getting fired up about K-State football. Which had never happened before. It made me sick to watch them beat OU in the Big 12 Championship, the purple came pouring out, but it was to a deserving coach and team. I hope he can bring something back but it’s betting against the odds.
How do you know his time has passed? How can we possibly overlook this guy after what he’s accomplished? I think it’ll be interesting to watch. The Big XII North needs more solid teams.
Snyder is one of the greatest. Of his time. Which has passed. I hope his comeback doesn’t take away from what he and the Wildcats accomplished.