For those of you that minimize the importance of coaching vs talent (from reddit) :
35 years ago today, Nov. 30, 1988, Bill Snyder was named head football coach at Kansas State University. Snyder at his news conference said that "the opportunity for the greatest turnaround for college football exists here today."
The Wildcats of K-State were in dire straits before the University of Iowa Offensive Coordinator was brought on as HC. Looking back at the 76 seasons from 1913 upon joining the Missouri Valley Conference to 1998 - the season before Snyder officially took over - Kansas State had:
* A .341 winning percentage, 231-462-33 record. That was the worst in college football over that time span by an incredible margin. If you gave Northwestern (the next worst team) 100 additional losses, they would still be above Kansas State with a .344 winning percentage.
- Seven 0-win seasons
- 29 seasons with fewer than 3 wins
* One bowl appearance, a 14-3 loss against Wisconsin in the 1982 Independence Bowl.
- A 63-300-16 record against teams who finished with a record above .500
- A 1-119 record against teams who finished the season ranked in the AP Poll. Their only win was in 1970 against an OU team who finished 7-4-1, ranked #20.
Over the next 15 seasons Snyder led the team to six top-10 finishes. He took a team that had reached only 7 or more wins in their near 100-year history only 6 times (with over 8 wins only one time) and brought them ten 9+ win seasons in his first 15 years, with six of those being 11-win seasons. He went to 19 bowl games with the Wildcats. He revamped facilities that were labeled “worse than high school” early on with his own paychecks. He inspired a new foundation of K-State. He rebuilt a town and saved a university with his herculean effort, pride and belief in his players, rigorous practices, and incredible attention to detail.
