Bill Snyder Retires As K-State Head Football Coach

Bill Snyder, architect of perhaps the greatest turnaround in the history of college football and arguably one of the best college football coaches of all time, announced his retirement yesterday as the head football coach at Kansas State.

The winningest coach in the history of K-State football with a 215-117-1 record, Snyder will transition to a special ambassador role for the University as stated in his current employment agreement.

He will leave as the 20th winningest coach in FBS history and currently ranks second among active FBS coaches in wins. Under Snyder, K-State is the third-winningest program in the Big 12 with 104 total league wins since the league was formed in 1996.

In all, Snyder led K-State to 19 of the school’s 21 all-time bowl appearances, won two conference titles, achieved two No. 1 national rankings, coached players who received a total of 214 All-America honors, 13 Academic All-Americans, was a five-time national coach of the year and seven-time conference coach of the year and also became just the fourth active coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (2015).

Snyder’s impact at K-State reached far beyond the football field. In addition to rekindling an overwhelming sense of pride in K-State alumni and supporters from coast to coast, the winning culture he ushered in helped spark a University and community-wide revitalization as K-State’s enrollment blossomed from 18,120 when he was hired to a record of more than 24,000.

Following a three-year retirement from 2006-2008, Snyder returned to the sidelines in 2009 with hopes of revitalizing a program that he once built, piece by piece, into a national force. And, after nine seasons back in charge, he did just that – and then some.

Over the past 10 years under Snyder, K-State has totaled 79 victories, advanced to eight bowl games, won a conference championship in 2012 and finished third or better in the ultra-competitive Big 12 Conference in four of the last seven seasons.

Act Two of his renowned career started in 2009 when the Wildcats played for a berth in the Big 12 Championship on the last week of the season and went 6-6 prior to a 7-5 campaign in 2010 and a berth in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl.

K-State’s climb back into the national picture continued in 2011 as the Cats went 10-3, finished No. 8 in the BCS standings and earned their first Cotton Bowl invitation in 10 years.

The bar was raised again in 2012 as Snyder led the Cats to their third conference championship in school history and first since 2003. Kansas State, which won its first 10 games of the season and finished the regular season at 11-1 with an 8-1 mark in Big 12 play, tied the school record for overall wins and conference victories while also ascending to No. 1 in the BCS rankings following its 10-0 start.

Snyder went on to win the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award as well as top Big 12 coach honors for the second straight season following the Cats’ memorable 2012 season that culminated with a berth in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and quarterback Collin Klein being named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

From 2013-2018, K-State won an average of almost eight games a year and included a 2014 season that saw the Cats ranked once again in the Top 10 and compete for a Big 12 Championship in the final week of the season.