Point/counterpoint: Can Bill Snyder direct another turnaround in his second stint at K-State?

Comments 1
Published: October 31, 2009

→John Rohde: Barry Switzer considers Bill Snyder to be the "coach of the century" in college football and that is high praise indeed, but I don’t think even Snyder is good enough to return the Wildcats to their thrilling days of yesteryear under his reign.

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→David Ubben: If Kansas State played in the Big 12 South, I’d agree. But they don’t. And the conditions are ripe for a team to take control of the weaker side of the conference within the next few years. Why can’t it be K-State?

→Rohde: Playing in the North no doubt helps, and under Snyder the Wildcats could consistently have a Top-20 ranking, perhaps as high as Top 10, but no higher than that. The players are gone and other Big 12 schools have excelled with their facilities in the last five years. Times have changed.

→Ubben: Times have changed, but look at what Snyder is building from this time. He won’t be there in 15 years, but Kansas State is far from hopeless. Time will tell how well he can still recruit, but Kansas State was far from perennially contending for a national title. Considering what Wildcat fans endured under the Prince era, I think they’d be fine with a consistently ranked team, which is essentially what Snyder established the first time around.

→Rohde: Also gone is former KSU president Jon Wefald, one of the greatest college football supporters in history. There’s nothing quite like having a president who backs you. Ask Bob Stoops. Look, I’m probably making a mistake doubting Snyder. I did it in the early 1990s and swore I would never do it again. He’s 70 going on 40, but the program just doesn’t have the legs it once had.

→Ubben: Not yet, but Snyder’s heard that before. In college football, it doesn’t get much worse than giving up 60-plus points in a loss. Snyder’s team has seen both sides of that this season. If his program keeps moving in the right direction, they could see the fun side of those type of games more often.