College Football Loses a Legend

November 16th, 2005

by Justin Waganer
Senior Sports Writer

As the plane flew over Owen Field fans gasped and half-heartedly agreed with the sentiment that flew behind. “Hey Gary, Delta’s ready when you are.” Oklahoma fans didn’t know that they had just begun to embark on the worst five year period in the school’s history anymore than they knew they were being pummeled by one of college football’s newest legends. The end of WWII is commonly considered the beginning of the modern era of college football and this day in 1994 marked a meeting of the best (OU) and worst (KSU) programs of that era based on winning percentage. Kansas State was beginning the best period in the history of their program, Oklahoma began their worst. Oklahoma was coached by Gary Gibbs, a victim of circumstance, Kansas State was coached by Bill Snyder, the unlikely legend.

Snyder played his first four contests against Oklahoma in Norman because playing in Manhattan wasn’t profitable enough, who wanted to watch the Wildcats? K-State had won 134 games total since 1937 prior to Snyder’s arrival, they’ve won 135 games in the 17 years since. Baylor’s history looked like Notre Dame in comparison to Kansas State. Snyder took Kansas State to 11 of the 12 bowl games in the school’s history including three trips to the Holiday Bowl and two trips to the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls. His teams won nine games or more ten times including six 11 win seasons.

I could go on and on with the stats of the ridiculous success Kansas State had during Snyder’s tenure, but all has been and will be said. My memories of Bill Snyder’s success were painful as a young Sooner fan. Watching his suddenly stout ball club shut the Sooners down in Manhattan 21-7 in 1993 for the first victory in the series since 1970. Sitting in the rows just behind the K-State bench in 1994 being heckled by their players as that infamous plane flew overhead. Enduring the indignity of a contest between Snyder’s Wildcats and Schnellenberger’s Sooners in a 49-10 thrashing.

However, I’ve never experienced anything like the atmosphere in Manhattan during the 2000 dream ride on October 14th. As we stepped out of the car the owner of the yard we parked in exclaimed, “Welcome to the King’s Country!” As a Sooner, I immediately looked for Barry Switzer, but this fan was referring to the man Switzer has repeatedly claimed should be the “coach of the century”, Bill Snyder. Snyder’s boys fell behind early, but as all Snyder teams seemed to do, they made the game interesting late. Just as they would do during the Big 12 Championship later that season, delaying celebration for his prized pupil.

The next two times the Sooners and Wildcats faced off were the two hardest to watch during the series for a Sooner fan. First, the 2001 Sooners looked to be rolling with a 35-14 lead late in the third quarter, only to hold on for a 38-37 win as the Wildcats heaved a hail mary to the end zone on the final play. Sooner coaches talked afterward of the great escape after Snyder basically scrapped his offense midway through the third to an offense that showcased Ell Roberson at quarterback. How OU survived this game I still don’t know.

Bill Snyder’s Wildcats are responsible for one of the most painful memories in Sooner history as well, a 35-7 drubbing in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. Oklahoma scored the first touchdown and promptly gave up the next 35 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score. It was Snyder’s crowned jewel of his incredible tenure. Not because it exposed what appeared to be a team with no weaknesses, but because it brought Kansas State its first conference title since 1934.

The last two meetings have been forgettable in a series that has almost become a rivalry after years of complete and utter domination. Snyder said he felt it was time to hang it up, he could just feel it. Most Sooner fans felt that when Kansas State forgot to field a punter for a play during their meeting earlier this season. Something wasn’t clicking. This wasn’t what we came to expect from Snyder’s teams. We expected well-prepared juggernauts, not unprepared cupcakes.

In an interview Tom Clancy once said the only difference between reality and fiction is fiction has to make sense. If Bill Snyder’s story was made into a movie few would believe it. This wasn’t the “Bad News Bears“, it was the “Worst News You Could Ever Dream of Wildcats.” Snyder’s turnaround story doesn’t begin to make sense and neither does college football when we lose a legend. We can’t stomach looking towards Lincoln these days and soon Penn State and Florida State will lose what makes them so unique, their leaders. Bill Snyder wasn’t charismatic or brash, but he is what makes college football special, he was what we think of when we think of the pageantry of the game. He engineered the greatest turnaround in college sports history. He may be the greatest coach in college football history. He will definitely be missed.

Entry Filed under: Oklahoma Sports