Once Again, Bill Snyder Resurrecting Kansas State

Somewhere in the privacy of his own home, 70-year-old Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is enjoying this and laughing at those who quietly thought the energy was gone to resurrect the Wildcats.

But as we've suspected for years, the private Snyder is different from the public guy. So it should be no surprise Snyder seems oblivious to the instant success he and the Wildcats are experiencing after he decided break a three-year retirement to return to Kansas State just under a year ago.

The Wildcats are sitting atop the Big 12 North with two regular-season games remaining after being picked to finish on the bottom half of the division in the preseason media poll.

"I really haven't gotten too excited about it," Snyder said of the Wildcats' success. "That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the success that we have had recently. When we do well, I'm happy about it. I try to stay on an even keel."

Steadiness is exactly what Snyder has given the Wildcats. After a win. After every loss.

Even knowing how weak the North has been, who would have thought the Wildcats were capable of winning the division after suffering a 66-14 loss to Texas Tech on Oct. 10? It seemed the prognosticators were right and Snyder's return would be more of the same ups-and-downs the program has experienced the past five years.

It turns out, Snyder didn't think much after that loss other than how to right what went wrong. The following week, the Wildcats returned the favor to Texas A&M, smashing the Aggies 62-14. Kansas State has won three of its last four since losing on the road to Texas Tech.

Who would have thought the Wildcats had such a run in them?

"That's just is not the way we think," Snyder said when asked if thought the team might be able to bounce back in such an impressive way. "We are maybe not smart enough to think along those lines. It was `What are our lessons in that ballgame? What can we do to get ourselves better? Let's set out to do do that.'

"There was no ... I don't try to make those kind of projections."

Those who know Snyder best, knew it was going to take more than a single haymaker to put him out. Snyder isn't just an excellent motivator, he's masterful at not over thinking the game and giving his team fundamental basis for success.

This season's squad is far from the talent-level of Snyder's late 1990s teams and early 2000s that included the likes of Darren Sproles, Ell Roberson and Michael Bishop, but this team has a strong resemblance. These Wildcats play hard-hitting defense, while offensively they have a quality running game on the strength of junior college transfer running back Daniel Thomas (Big 12 rushing leader) and well-traveled quarterback Grant Gregory.

It's a not-so flashy formula for success Snyder rode from 1989 to 2005 as he built the Wildcats virtually from scratch.

"I've known Bill since my days in the late '70s at Iowa State when he was at Iowa," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "He's the master, he's the wizard at what he does. I was happy for Kansas State and college football when he came back. I wasn't happy for the rest of us because I knew he was going to get it fixed fast."

No one could have predicted it would be this fast. If most are honest, bringing back Snyder last November seemed a reach after few seemed to want take a chance on living up the reputation of the man, whose name is on the stadium.

And in all actuality, things weren't all that great in Snyder's final two years when he limped into retirement a 9-13 record.

Somehow, Snyder has been able to defy geriatrics to be able to relate to a bunch of young men he didn't recruit.

"He's a great coach," senior defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald told FanHouse. "I didn't know too much of his reputation coming out here, I heard quite a bit but now I see why he has as much hype around him as he does. He deserves every bit of it because of the work he puts out for his team is great.

"Just having that confidence in him and just believing in him and following him and having faith in him that he is going to do what's best for the team has been the difference."

After three inconsistent seasons under Ron Prince, Snyder has restored confidence and pride into the program. These seniors will have a chance Saturday to go undefeated at home at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium for the first time since 1999 if they can get past Missouri.

The Wildcats are 6-4 overall, 4-2 in the Big 12 and most important, 3-0 in the North. In a classic flashback to the good old days, the North could be settle between K-State and Nebraska when the teams meet in the Wildcats' regular-season finale on Nov. 21 in Lincoln.

None of this is to suggest this has been the storybook comeback for Snyder and the Wildcats. There is that embarrassing non-conference loss to UL-Lafayette, And K-State, which is two wins away from solidifying the North title, still needs to win one more game to even become bowl eligible because the win over Tennessee Tech does not count toward bowl wins.

What these Wildcats have done is what has been a hallmark of Snyder-coached teams: they've improved as the season has gone along.

"We've gone into every game expecting to win," said Gregory, a sixth-year senior who is playing for really the first time in his college career after transferring last summer from South Florida. "We obviously got waxed by Texas Tech but other than that, we've done a pretty good job in the conference games. We've gotten better.

"We knew if we progressed we could make some noise in the Big 12 North and that's what we are trying to do."

But did they know they would make this kind of noise?

If Snyder had any kind of inkling, he sure isn't letting on.

"Did I see anything that would have told me we would have done anything one way or the other? I can't tell you that I did," Snyder said. "I think these young guys have been very very responsive. I thought they'd go back to work and try hard to overcome the loss that we had down there. Was I certain that they would? No. I kind of had that feeling we'd get better, that we'd win more ballgames. That wasn't the thinking one way or the other.

"I felt that they would work to try to improve and there was indication they would."