Short shrift has been given to the critical game this weekend that has forced the suspension of the Unholy Alliance for this week.
(Then again, given the events of this week, the Alliance may be permanently suspended. But that's another show.)
I would say that every football program in the country has a coach that is legendary. Some schools may have multiple coaches.
But there are few programs where said legendary coach is still active.
Kansas State is one of them.
I think about the vast, fetid wasteland that Mizzou football was from the mid 1980s until the mid 2000s. It was bad.
Okay, so take that time frame of 20 years. Double it and add another 10 years.
That was Kansas State football from the late 1930s until Bill Snyder showed up in 1989.
In a period of 53 years, K-State had four winning seasons. Four.
They were the first NCAA program to lose 500 games. We are taking epic levels of futility.
But, much like I wrote a couple of weeks ago, K-State found the right coach at the right time. And five seasons later, Snyder led K-State to its second bowl game and first bowl win.
K-State was pretty dominant in conference during the late 90s and early 2000s, winning or sharing four North Division titles between 1998 and 2003, and one conference title in 2003. When Snyder retired after the 2005 season, I admit I was taken aback. I couldn't imagine K-State without Snyder prowling the sidelines.
After the, ahem, Ron Prince debacle, it seemed only fitting that Snyder should come back and take over. After all, I know that when I think of K-State, one of the first things that comes to mind is Bill Snyder.