K-State’s Bill Snyder is catching heat for not allowing transfer

Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder is being criticized in many circles for not allowing wide receiver Corey Sutton to transfer.

Sutton, who is from Charlotte, N.C., is having trouble getting a release from his K-State athletic scholarship after announcing earlier this month that he planned to transfer.

During a Catbackers event Thursday in Overland Park, Snyder said it was in the best interest of the program to not allow the transfer.

“If you’re a No. 2 (second team) you probably want to be a No. 1, and if you have the option to leave and you have 22 No. 2s on your team leaving you don’t have much a team left,” Snyder said, per The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff. “It doesn’t make sense to not try to prevent that from happening.”

The story has gone national, and most observers believe Snyder is in the wrong.

Mike Golic, speaking on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” show, said Snyder’s logic was flawed.

“If he doesn’t want to stay, he should absolutely be allowed to go,” Golic said. “He’s given you a list of 35 schools ...

“This is a coach that I really, really respect. Unless there is more to it that I’m missing here, I don’t get it. I don’t get it and I don’t buy the ‘Well, if you had 22 No. 2s and they all left, you wouldn’t have a team.’ To me, weak excuse.”

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports wrote that Snyder’s position was a “bad look.”

“For the most part, Snyder is universally beloved by the college football world — both fans and media — but blocking Sutton from transferring is just a bad look for him and Kansas State,” Fornelli wrote.

“Sutton clearly wants to leave. Snyder and Kansas State should just let him go.”

Zach Barnett of NBC Sports wrote: “It’s a bit hypocritical — okay, it’s more than a bit hypocritical — that Snyder limits players from transferring while freely hiring coaches who are under contract elsewhere.

“But, still, Snyder has the power to limit Sutton’s transfer and he’s standing behind his decision to do just that.”

Here is what people have shared on social media about Snyder:

This is not to say that all the talk has been negative about Snyder. There are some people who believe he is in the right:

UPDATE: Sutton tweeted that he had been released from the scholarship.

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 9:12 AM.