Bill Snyder: My Football Life and the Rest of the Story

by Bill Snyder, D. Scott Fritchen

Overview

"The opportunity for the greatest turnaround in college football exists here today, and it’s not one to be taken lightly.” —Bill Snyder

When Kansas State hired Bill Snyder as its head football coach in 1988, the Wildcats had one of the worst programs in college football and hadn't won a conference title since 1934. Little could anybody predict that Snyder would soon engineer a total transformation in Manhattan, Kansas. From his humble beginnings in St. Joseph, Missouri, Snyder rose to greatness, bringing K-State up from the ashes to a No. 1 ranking, six 11-win seasons in a span of seven years, and one Big 12 Championship. He still wasn’t finished. After a three-year retirement, Snyder returned to lead the Wildcats to another Big 12 title. In 2015, he became just the fourth person in college football history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. In this new memoir, Snyder reflects on a successful yet complicated life, detailing the grueling 80-hour work weeks, his visionary Wildcat Goals for Success, and the virtues he doubled down on during his final years as head coach, all the while battling throat cancer.

Readers will discover a multi-faceted portrait of one of college football's greatest leaders, his triumphs and defeats, his greatness and his flaws, and his passion and drive to, not once, but twice, lead a championship team while developing young men.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637270936
Publisher:	Triumph Books
Publication date:	12/29/2021
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	373,326
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Bill Snyder earned National Coach of the Year honors 14 times and was named Big 8/Big 12 Coach of the Year eight times over his 27-year career as Kansas State head football coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015. A member of nine different Halls of Fame, Snyder lives with his wife, Sharon, in Manhattan, Kansas, and has five children (Sean, Shannon, Meredith, Ross, and Whitney); 10 grandchildren (Tate, Katherine, Matthew, Sydney, Gavin, Kadin, Tylin, Alexis, Lou Ann, and Dean); and five great-grandchildren (Pearce, D.J., DeClan, Murphy, and Sawyer).

D. Scott Fritchen is an award-winning sportswriter. Fritchen covered Kansas State from 1993 to 2019 and wrote the book Expect to Win: Stories about Kansas State Football Coach Bill Snyder, His Program and His Players. Fritchen’s work has appeared in Powercat.com, the Associated Press, Athlon Sports, The Kansas City Star, The Dallas Morning News, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, KentuckyDerby.com, Rivals.com, and 247Sports.com.

Table of Contents

1 Growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri 1

2 Special Years with Hayden Fry 18

3 Coming to Manhattan 29

4 Building the Foundation 36

5 The First Step 48

6 Early Climb 64

7 First Ever Bowl Victory 82

8 16 Wildcat Goals for Success 93

9 The Next Step 105

10 Pinocchio 128

11 Michael Bishop and the Dual-Threat Quarterbacks 133

12 First 11-Win Season 145

13 1998 161

14 Continuing to Climb 184

15 Building a Champion Step by Step 205

16 Handwritten Notes with Meaning 226

17 Stepping Down 231

18 Importance of Mentorship 246

19 The Return 253

20 Building Another Champion 271

21 The Close of Another Chapter 288

22 Coaching Philosophies 306

23 College Football Hall of Fame 318

24 Beating Cancer 329

25 Final Stepdown 344

26 The Snyder Family 353

Appendix: Career and Personal Achievements 365

Acknowledgments 369