Retired KSU coach Bill Snyder thanks fans after earning Bear Bryant lifetime award
Retired Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder was presented the annual Bear Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award this week in Houston.
Snyder, who attended the televised annual banquet Wednesday evening, on Saturday texted a letter to The Star thanking friends, family and fellow K-Staters for attending the event and/or sending well-wishes leading up to and since the yearly honors event for college football coaches.
That letter will be published by The Star Monday, but here is an excerpt:
“My sincere gratitude to the many friends, family, Kansas Staters, ex-coaches and ex-players who traveled to Houston for the Bear Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award and Coach of the Year Awards. Your presence and support meant so very much to me and my family, as did the humbling award. ... I am also grateful for those hundreds who sent congratulatory messages after viewing the event on TV. It will take time, but I will eventually respond to each one.”
Snyder, 80, penned the letter in his customary and trademark style: purple Wildcats ink, neatly handwritten on “Manhattan: The Little Apple” Convention and Visitors’ Bureau notepaper.
Snyder won the marquee Bear Bryant Award as Division I’s top active coach in 1998. He led K-State to 19 of the school’s 21 bowl appearances and twice guided teams to the top of the national rankings, along the way coaching 214 All-Americans and 13 Academic All-Americans.
A five-time national coach of the year and seven-time conference coach of the year, Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015 — just the fourth time a coach had been inducted while still actively coaching.
Snyder retired before last season, and successor Chris Klieman’s first season as head coach at KSU was a very good one. The Wildcats went 8-4 and played in the Liberty Bowl, losing 20-17 to Navy on New Year’s Eve in Memphis.
The 215-117-1 record Snyder compiled during the course of his two stints at the helm will be the gold standard in Manhattan for a long time, perhaps forever. He remains the 20th-winningest coach in FBS annals and ranked second among active coaches in FBS victories at the time of he stepped down following the 2018 season.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron won this year’s Bear Bryant Award. His Tigers claimed the national championship and a perfect season Monday night, beating Clemson soundly.
Other finalists this year:
- Ryan Day – Ohio State
- Sonny Dykes – SMU
- P.J. Fleck – Minnesota
- James Franklin – Penn State
- Ken Niumatalolo – Navy
- Mike Norvell – Memphis
- Matt Rhule – Baylor
- Dabo Swinney – Clemson
- Kyle Whittingham – Utah
Also attending Wednesday’s awards dinner in Houston was ESPN GameDay co-host Lee Corso, who received the Bryant Foundation’s annual Heart of a Champion Award.
The Bryant Awards are named after the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach and administered by his family and the American Heart Association.
This story was originally published January 18, 2020 at 2:24 PM.