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| Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder talks with referees during a game this season at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. |
•Snyder: Well, not really because I didn't have any particular sensitivity to what the makeup of what the team was. I think anything that could have happened would probably have not been a surprise. When you've been around as long as I have that's probably an easy statement to make. I've probably seen it all by now.
•MM: Did they overachieve at all? Was there a turning point in this season. You're mood after Louisiana versus the win against Colorado seemed to change. Was that because you saw more on the table later in the season?
•Snyder: I don't know how I changed. I think it was perception more than anything else. I think I'm normally pretty consistent whether it be with the players or coaches or a presentation of sorts.
I think in a nutshell we just got a little better. I can't do a whole lot more than reiterate things you've probably heard me say during the course of the season. It was a gradual ascent to a certain area with bumps in the road. It wasn't a straight line. I think we ended up better than we started, and by that I mean we were a better football team at the end of the season than we were when we started.
I think that's what we set out to be. I think we made headway in that respect, certainly. We had opportunities in front of us that we couldn't complete, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that they did collectively become a better football team in a lot of different ways.
•MM: There's obviously a lot of rigors that go with being a head coach. But did you enjoy this season in your first year back?
•Snyder: I'm asked that all the time so there must be a perception one way or the other. I never really look at it that way. I don't think about it in terms of 'am I enjoying the day or whatever?'
So many things happen for any football coach, so many things happen in a given day, not just in a season, that can just take you to the ceiling, to the floor and bounce off walls. Positive things, negative things — it's on-going. Because when you think about it, you're looking at the building, there's a hundred people that do certain things that are valuable to the program. Then you've got another 125 young guys, they've all got parents and families. The core is in this office and it just expands, so there's so many people that can have an impact on what goes on. If you were to respond to each and everything that took place emotionally, you'd be all over the place.
It would be so easy to walk away and say, 'yes I'm happy or no, I'm not,' because it's on the clock. For five minutes you could be happy and in 10 minutes it could change. It's always been my nature to try and stay as even-keeled as I possibly can and not get caught off in that because I think that would, for me, have a tendency to tear people down. And I think you can do it with young people as well, so you try to keep them as even-keeled as well as you can.
•MM: You obviously enjoy coaching, or you wouldn't have come back though, right?
•Snyder: Yes, there's an enjoyment that goes along with it. I think it's probably fed by a competitive nature. I think that's probably true with an awful lot of people that do what they do, whether it's coaching or something else. That wasn't the reason that I'm sitting here today, though.
•MM: What's the perception of K-State on the recruiting trail?
•Snyder: Obviously with the youngsters that we've been in contact with, it's very positive. It's positive. They know and part of it is because our coaches do a nice job of imparting knowledge about the history of Kansas State and our first tenure here. And where we started and where we are and some progress is being made.
But there's so many positive things to address and the perception of the young people is positive based on what they're learning about Kansas State.
Many of them, it's history that they've known and they're positive about that. It's not a matter of a negative perception of Kansas State, I haven't run across that to this point in time.
•MM: Has recruiting been different now versus nine months ago when you were first getting back on that trail?
•Snyder: I think so. It helped because the approach at the time we're just going to try to get ourselves a little bit better and that's what our focus is and that's what our intent is. That's the direction of our program, that's the foundation for our program now as it was 20 years ago.
I'm certain they're young people that were looking at Kansas State to see well, 'can that really happen? Can they move in that direction and forget the history?' So they probably have some sensitivity to it, that says 'yes they are, they're moving in the right direction.'
Those things were accurate assessments.
•MM: Does the length of your expected return ever come into play with recruits?
•Snyder: That was always the case. If I were a young recruit, I'd say, 'if they get rid of him in a year I'll be glad to come.' But yes, that's always asked.
•MM: With the coaching staff that you have in place. Is it important to keep that nucleus — that group now in the early stages of building something maybe more so than once you've already got that established, the string of 11-win seasons? Does that change ever in terms of keeping that continuity?
•Snyder: You just have to look at reality I think as much as anything. It's valuable to retain quality people. But it's realistic to understand that if you have quality people they have opportunities that are hard to pass up so you have to deal with reality. But we've been blessed, when someone's moved on to a better spot we've always been able to find people that have been very, very competent and there are a lot of wonderful coaches out there.
•MM: What do you do in the offseason right now? Last year, it seemed like during spring ball, a lot of focus was on the intrinsic values and getting back to some of those. Obviously, that's still in place, but do you go a step further this offseason than you did a year ago because there's a foundation now?
•Snyder: Not really. As it relates to the intrinsic values and our chronicled goals, all of that is still in place but it's not a matter of just saying, 'here's one of these goals so just live it.' It's doing things within our program that promote each of those particular values and that has to do with programs that we have in place within the totality of our football program that address each of one those.
So our youngsters do an awful lot of things, but that doesn't change. That's just not going to change from year to year. We'd like to stay consistent and we take as much of their time as we can and they spend as much time as they can.
And part of that is their academic progress and part of that is their personal progress. We have programs in place obviously to help with all of those.
Our out-of-season program is very demanding and it will stay exactly that way. You don't change anything. I don't know that you could escalate what we have in place right now because we've taken that part of it to what I would consider the limits.
Where there might be a difference is now our young guys understand what lies ahead and what is expected — what the demands are and have a better understanding about how to prepare themselves for that. I think they are doing exactly that.
Last year, it's so easy to say 'this is what's going to take place and here's how complex it is or how difficult it may be.' But you never know until you experience it and that's true whether it's in football or life.
You have to have the experience to find out what this all means.
•MM: The family aspect — have you been able to do things differently this last year than before? Were you still able to do a little bit more this time than maybe the first 17 years?
•Snyder: I just try to prioritize family events a little bit better. I got to see Tate (Snyder) play. I couldn't see him play on his away games, but I got to see him and I arranged our schedule that I could see him play on Friday nights when they played at home so I got to see those ballgames.
The hard part is getting away to Texas to see Meredith and her children. And I will take some time, just set aside five or six days in the summertime and take them some place where we can all be together, but also, we've got a granddaughter here who has a son and I get to see him frequently. She brings him to the office on regular occasions so I can spend sometime with him.
•MM: What are your thoughts on Turner Gill being named head coach at Kansas? How far back do the two of you go?
•Snyder: When he was at Nebraska, I've always admired Turner. I think he's a wonderful person. I talked to Tom Osborne about him on more than one occasion and Tom's always been very high on Turner. I think it's a good choice and I think he'll do quite well. And he hired Chuck Long and I recruited Chuck to the University of Iowa. He'll be an excellent addition to their program as well. I think they've done well.
•MM: Have you had any contact with Mark Mangino since the investigation and his resignation at Kansas?
•Snyder: I'm sure this is a hard time for Mark. I texted him, but we haven't sat down and visited at all. I think that probably, things will have to settle down before that takes place.
•MM: When you look to change schedules, is that something that you have to do closer to the game or is that something you can to do this far out?
•Snyder: It takes two to tango. There's some buyout clauses in all of those that are pretty expensive for a school like Kansas State that kind of operates on a shoe-string budget.
It's not as easy as just saying, 'OK, let's change this.' If you're the one that wants to eliminate the contract, then a lot of things go into it and you have to find a replacement that is acceptable. And then come to some kind of financial agreement which requires some negotiations to make it worth while for the other program.
•MM: As things stand now, are those big games ahead, games against the Virginia Techs and Miami's, still on the schedule today?
•Snyder: Yes as we speak, they're still set on the schedule, but there's ongoing dialogue about each of those.
