KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
Predicted 2013 Conference Finish 6th
WILDCATS @ A GLANCE:
HEAD COACH: Bill Snyder (Entering 22nd Seasons / 178-85-1)
STADIUM: Bill Snyder Family Stadium (50,000) / Manhattan, KS
2012 RECORD 11-2 (8-1)
HOME 7-0
AWAY 4-1
BOWL GAME: Yes, BCS Fiesta Bowl / Lost to Oregon 35-17
BOWL GAME: Yes, BCS Fiesta Bowl / Lost to Oregon 35-17
RETURNING STARTERS 10
OFFENSE 8
DEFENSE 2
WILDCAT WANTS: Settle of new QB, replace most of defense
KEY GAMES: Everyone will find out about the Wildcats early as they start conference with games: @ Texas, @ OSU and home against Baylor.
2013 vs. OU: The Sooners travel to Manhattan to play KSU on Saturday, November 23rd.
Good question. Picked to finish no better than 6th in most 2012 pre-season polls, the Kansas State Wildcats went on to finished 8-1 last year and capture the Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth...
But I look for the Wildcats to be more in the middle of the pack this year with a new QB and having to replace 9 of 11 starters on defense. They have solid o-line and RB's, so QB won't be asked to be hero, but I see a step back this year. That being said, with no team in the conference having a returning star QB, makes this years Big 12 race a wide open one that anyone, including K-State could win.
In his first stint as the head football coach at Kansas State University, (1988-2005) Bill Snyder did the impossible...he turned K-State into a winner. What Snyder accomplished was the equivalent of transforming Rosie O'Donnell into a super-model...like making Warren Beatty humble or Salt Lake City a party town. How bad was it before he got there you didn't ask?
B.S. (before Snyder) the Wildcats went 137-445-18 (.301 winning percentage) from 1935-1988, with only 5 winning seasons during that 54 years span...which is to say they won about as often as I eat tofu. Want some real perspective on how bad the program was? The five winning seasons they had over that 54 year span was three less than the eight winless seasons they had over the same. Wow.
Enter Bill Snyder. Snyder found a way to recruit good athletes to a school that was literally out in the middle of nowhere...the closest major airport a 130 miles away. He also sold kids on coming to a school that had no tradition at all, unless you count being the worst college football program in the nation as a tradition. But the key thing Snyder did was bring in the kids that nobody else was recruiting and coach them up. A look at the Bill Snyder coaching tree shows that his philosophy must have had some merit: 8 former assistant coaches have gone on to coach at major universities, including both Stoops brothers, Mark Mangino (KU), Jim Leavitt (South Florida), Dana Dimell @ Wyoming and Bret Bielema who was at Wisconsin and now @ Arkansas.
Snyder stepped down in 2005, following two seasons in which the Wildcats had gone 9-15. The resignation was thought to be the best thing for all parties involves, with many questioning Snyder's ability to coach at a high level anymore.
The school hired Ron Prince. It is said you never want to follow a coaching legend, a credo that OU's Gary Gibbs might agree with...but Ron now has the dubious distinction of both following and preceding a legend...amazingly, the same legend. After 3 controversial years and a declining win-loss record under Prince, K-State made a change. Bill Snyder, the same man many in Manhattan had decided couldn't coach anymore, was hired to clean up the mess that was K-State football....again.
As the title of Shania Twain's 1998 hit single would suggest...Bill Snyder is "Still The One" in Manhattan, KS. From the looks of it, they better start building something else they can name after him, because it doesn't look like Bill Snyder has run out of miracles just quiet yet.
Just the opinion of one mildly interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
WILDCAT WANTS: Settle of new QB, replace most of defense
KEY GAMES: Everyone will find out about the Wildcats early as they start conference with games: @ Texas, @ OSU and home against Baylor.
2013 vs. OU: The Sooners travel to Manhattan to play KSU on Saturday, November 23rd.
DID YOU KNOW?
That K-State is 316-530-1 without Bill Snyder...170-85-1 with the purple windbreaker on the sideline. |
| Kansas State Head Football Coach and Miracle Worker - Bill Snyder The real Wizard of Oz? |
WHY 6TH PLACE?
Good question. Picked to finish no better than 6th in most 2012 pre-season polls, the Kansas State Wildcats went on to finished 8-1 last year and capture the Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth...
But I look for the Wildcats to be more in the middle of the pack this year with a new QB and having to replace 9 of 11 starters on defense. They have solid o-line and RB's, so QB won't be asked to be hero, but I see a step back this year. That being said, with no team in the conference having a returning star QB, makes this years Big 12 race a wide open one that anyone, including K-State could win.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
No, I can assure you that Bill Clinton isn't still in the Oval Office, doing whatever he claims he didn't. The movie Titanic isn't up for best picture last year, which is fitting, since this story involves a ship that has been righted, not one that sinks. You might still be using Windows 98, but it is hardly brand new to the market place. I can also promise you that sadly, Frank Sinatra and Roy Rogers are still gone and that unfortunately, Sonny Bono isn't out of the woods. But if watching the Kansas State Wildcats last season took you on a journey back in time to say 1998, well, that is certainly understandable; because just like back in 1998 the 2012 Wildcats were certainly...'Gettin' Jiggy with it." Damn, that white haired old man in the purple jacket can coach....still.
BILLVILLE
It is not by coincidence, that in order to get to Manhattan, Kansas you have to turn off I-70 and take the Bill Snyder highway into the city limits. The only reason that the football stadium at Kansas State says Bill Snyder Family Stadium is that it's namesake insisted on adding Family to the name. There is also a Bill Snyder Street, a Bill Snyder Center and even future plans to rename Manhattan: Snyder, Kansas. OK, OK, I was making that last part up, but I don't think many people in Manhattan would mind if they did. Yes, K-State head football coach Bill Snyder is that popular...but then, miracle workers usually are.In his first stint as the head football coach at Kansas State University, (1988-2005) Bill Snyder did the impossible...he turned K-State into a winner. What Snyder accomplished was the equivalent of transforming Rosie O'Donnell into a super-model...like making Warren Beatty humble or Salt Lake City a party town. How bad was it before he got there you didn't ask?
B.S. (before Snyder) the Wildcats went 137-445-18 (.301 winning percentage) from 1935-1988, with only 5 winning seasons during that 54 years span...which is to say they won about as often as I eat tofu. Want some real perspective on how bad the program was? The five winning seasons they had over that 54 year span was three less than the eight winless seasons they had over the same. Wow.
Enter Bill Snyder. Snyder found a way to recruit good athletes to a school that was literally out in the middle of nowhere...the closest major airport a 130 miles away. He also sold kids on coming to a school that had no tradition at all, unless you count being the worst college football program in the nation as a tradition. But the key thing Snyder did was bring in the kids that nobody else was recruiting and coach them up. A look at the Bill Snyder coaching tree shows that his philosophy must have had some merit: 8 former assistant coaches have gone on to coach at major universities, including both Stoops brothers, Mark Mangino (KU), Jim Leavitt (South Florida), Dana Dimell @ Wyoming and Bret Bielema who was at Wisconsin and now @ Arkansas.
Snyder stepped down in 2005, following two seasons in which the Wildcats had gone 9-15. The resignation was thought to be the best thing for all parties involves, with many questioning Snyder's ability to coach at a high level anymore.
The school hired Ron Prince. It is said you never want to follow a coaching legend, a credo that OU's Gary Gibbs might agree with...but Ron now has the dubious distinction of both following and preceding a legend...amazingly, the same legend. After 3 controversial years and a declining win-loss record under Prince, K-State made a change. Bill Snyder, the same man many in Manhattan had decided couldn't coach anymore, was hired to clean up the mess that was K-State football....again.
As the title of Shania Twain's 1998 hit single would suggest...Bill Snyder is "Still The One" in Manhattan, KS. From the looks of it, they better start building something else they can name after him, because it doesn't look like Bill Snyder has run out of miracles just quiet yet.
Just the opinion of one mildly interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
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