Kansas State's Bill Snyder talks life and football with Gentry Thomas

BACKSTAGE PASS

Nowadays you can find former Head Coach Bill Snyder trying to keep up with his ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren. The legendary college football Hall of Famer joined Gentry to discuss his new book called My Football Life and The Rest of The Story. When Coach Snyder took over at Kansas State, not one of the kids on the team had ever won a college football game. What makes this story so special is the perseverance of the team along with Snyder’s dedication to the program taking a team with no hope and no wins to just one win in his first season. Which in everyone’s mind was a huge victory. After that season the Wildcats went on to win 4 games, then the following year it was 5, then 7, then 9, then 10, Wow! Then 11. Coach stated “this was the basis of our program, it wasn’t about anything other than us becoming a little bit better every single day.” The life lesson’s of persistence and patience is something that he talks about in his new book. At 82 years young Coach Snyder reflects about his upbringing and credits his single mother for setting the standard for his life. In his new book he talks about his family and the one thing that really still bothers him which was the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game in which his Wildcats lost a triple overtime thriller on a last second play losing to Texas A&M. Coach Snyder commented on the departure of Brian Kelly from Notre Dame to LSU before the Irish play in the Fiesta Bowl this year vs Oklahoma State. During his coaching career Coach Bill Snyder always stayed true to his morals, that if a team wanted to talk about hiring him for a coaching position they would have to wait until the end of the season. “Leaving my team before a bowl game is not something I would entertain.” coach told us. He really tells a fascinating story in his new book and on the podcast Backstage Stage with Gentry Thomas. Listen to the entire interview and subscribe to our podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.