Precise. Intense. Tireless. Accomplished. Dedicated. Caring. 200-Game Winner. Hall of Famer. Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder is all of these and much more.

To understand the full picture of Snyder, it is necessary to acknowledge his values, sincerity and warmth, along with the concern he shows for the people around him – all qualities that solidify his reputation as an innovator and mentor in college athletics.

The architect of the “greatest turnaround in college football history” returned to the sidelines in 2009 with hopes of revitalizing a program that he once built, piece by piece, into a national force. And, after nine seasons back in charge, he has done just that – and then some.

Over the past nine years, Snyder has led K-State to 73 victories – an average of 8.1 wins per year – advanced to eight-straight bowl games, won a conference championship in 2012 and finished fourth or better in the ultra-competitive Big 12 Conference in five of the last seven seasons. The Wildcats’ eight-year bowl streak is tied for 13th in the nation and third in the Big 12.

Kansas State under Snyder has been a model of consistency, and that hasn’t changed in his second tenure. From 2009-17, only 11 FBS programs had the same head coach but only four – K-State, Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma State – have totaled at least six wins in all nine seasons.

Furthermore, Snyder became just the 26th coach in the history of college football to reach 200 career wins and only the sixth to do so while coaching at the same school for his entire career as he hit the mark against Kansas in 2016.

However, the recent success should come as no surprise as Snyder took over a program in 1989 that was in the midst of a 27-game winless streak and turned it into a national contender that advanced to 11-straight bowl games and tallied six 11-win seasons over a seven-year stretch.

Turning around a program not only once, but twice, is one of the biggest reasons why Snyder became just the fourth person all-time to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. The man who said, ‘No,’ to those who said it couldn’t be done in Manhattan, Kansas, was enshrined in the hall in December 2015.

Holding 171 more victories than any other coach in K-State history, Snyder ranks first in the FBS in wins among coaches at their current schools and second in total wins among active coaches. Additionally, his 123 conference wins rank second all-time in Big 8/12 history to Nebraska’s Tom Osborne (153).

The latest in a long string of bowl seasons was 2017, but it may have been one of the unlikeliest. The Wildcats lost to No. 9 Oklahoma by seven in late October when the Sooners scored a touchdown with seven seconds remaining. The defeat left the Wildcats with a 3-4 record as they were in search of three wins in their final five games, including three road tests.

All K-State did was rip off four victories to close out the regular season, which began with its ninth-straight win over in-state rival Kansas before climbing out of an 11-point hole in the fourth quarter at Texas Tech to earn a 42-35 overtime victory.

Two weeks later, the Wildcats secured bowl eligibility with a 45-40 triumph at No. 10 Oklahoma State, its first over a top-10 team on the road since 2012. K-State topped that feat with a one-point victory over Iowa State in the regular-season finale. Trailing by five points with less than two minutes remaining, the Wildcats marched down the field and connected on a one-yard touchdown pass on the final play of regulation, marking the first time K-State scored on the final play for a victory since 1995.

The momentum carried into late December when the comeback Wildcats turned a 10-point deficit to UCLA in the Cactus Bowl to a 35-17 win. It was K-State’s second-straight bowl win, posting consecutive bowl victories for the first time since 1999-2000.

The 2017 Wildcats produced an All-American for the ninth-straight year in the form of first-team offensive lineman Dalton Risner and second-team returner D.J. Reed. The duo led a group of four First Team All-Big 12 performers that also included place kicker Matthew McCrane and defensive tackle Will Geary.

Snyder’s squad in 2016 was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 Conference race, and to him and his Wildcat team, that was just fine. All they did was finish 9-4, including a 6-1 mark over the final seven games. The stretch was capped by a victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl as K-State joined Georgia Tech and USC as the only three teams in the country that started 3-3 and finished with nine wins in 2016.

The 2016 squad was spearheaded by All-American defensive end Jordan Willis, who was the fifth player under Snyder’s watch earn Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. Willis led six players named First Team All-Big 12 performers by the league’s coaches, the second most in the conference behind league-champion Oklahoma.

The Cats were put to the ultimate test in 2015 as virtually everyone outside of the Vanier Family Football Complex had concluded the season to be a failure in the middle of November. The difficulty of withstanding a large personnel turnover from the previous season was compounded by injuries at multiple positions early in the season, namely at quarterback and in the secondary. Following yet another rally that fell short at Texas Tech, the Wildcats were reeling, standing a 3-6 and suffering through a six-game losing streak.

With their backs firmly against the wall, the Wildcats trailed to Iowa State, 35-14, at halftime and saw a five-year bowl streak slipping away. However, Snyder’s resilient group fought back and scored 10 points over the final 42 seconds of the contest to earn a 38-35 win and kick start a stretch of three-straight victories to end the season and become bowl eligible for a sixth-straight campaign.

Following the win against Iowa State, K-State routed its in-state rival, Kansas, for a seventh-straight season and made another fourth-quarter comeback, this time against West Virginia, for a 24-23 win to earn another bowl berth. The in-season turnaround in 2015 was one of the best in school history, rivaled only by Snyder’s 2002 and 2013 squads. With the feat, K-State became just the sixth Power 5 team in the 12-game schedule era (2006) at the time to stave off bowl elimination in at least three-straight games (2-6 or 3-6 record). Additionally, the Wildcats became just the third team since 1980 (joining 2011 Illinois and 2015 Indiana) to have a six-game losing streak yet finish the season with bowl eligibility.

Throughout his entire coaching career, Snyder has emphasized an importance in special teams, and it was the specialty units that spearheaded the in-season turn around in 2015 as kick returner Morgan Burns was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year and an All-American by numerous outlets. In all, 10 Wildcats earned All-Big 12 honors, led by first teamers Burns, offensive lineman Cody Whitehair, place kicker Jack Cantele and fullback Winston Dimel.

Act Two of the renowned career started in 2009 when the Wildcats went 6-6 prior to a 7-5 campaign in 2010 and a berth in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl.

K-State’s climb back into the nation picture continued in 2011 as the Cats went 10-3, finished No. 8 in the BCS standings and earned their first Cotton Bowl invitation since 2001.

The bar was raised again in 2012 as Snyder led the Cats to their third conference championship in school history and first since 2003. Kansas State, which won its first 10 games of the season and finished the regular season at 11-1 with an 8-1 mark in Big 12 play, tied the school record for overall wins and conference victories while also ascending to No. 1 in the BCS rankings following its 10-0 start. Snyder went on to win the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award as well as top Big 12 coach honors for the second straight season following the Cats’ memorable 2012 campaign that culminated with a berth in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Quarterback Collin Klein became just the second player in school history to be named a Heisman Trophy finalist, while a school-record 20 Wildcats earned All-Big 12 honors in 2012, including Klein (Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year), Arthur Brown (Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year) and Meshak Williams (Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year).

In 2013, K-State opened the year 2-4 with all four defeats being by 10 points or less. But Snyder’s charges continued to improve each week and went on to become just the fourth team in Big 12 history to bounce back from the slow start to become bowl eligible. And, with a victory over Michigan in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, the 2013 Wildcats became just the eighth FBS team in the BCS era to earn eight wins after starting a season 2-4 or worse.

The 2014 Wildcats collected their 13th season with nine or more wins and top-20 finish in the Associated Press poll. The Cats reached the top 10 during the season with a 7-1 start as K-State’s lone early-season loss come at the hands of No. 5 Auburn. Led by Consensus All-American wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who became the school’s first four-time All-American and school record holder for career catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, the Cats played for a Big 12 Championship in the final weekend of the regular season.

A total of 14 players earned All-Big 12 honors in 2014 while Lockett was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year for the second straight season and four-year starter B.J. Finney was Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year. Finney joined Lockett by earning All-America honors at center, while redshirt freshman place kicker Matthew McCrane was an honorable mention All-American.

In 2011, Snyder’s Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 start – the best in 12 years – which included big wins at Miami, against 15th-ranked Baylor and at Texas Tech. Following a two-game skid to a pair of nationally-ranked teams, the Wildcats got back into the win column with a thrilling four-overtime victory over Texas A&M – the longest conference game in Big 12 history – before ending the year with wins at Texas and against Iowa State.

For his efforts in 2011, Snyder was named the Woody Hayes National Coach of the Year, as well as picking up national coaching honors from Sporting News, Rivals.com and CBSSports.com, and the Big 12 Coach of the Year by the AP and league’s coaches. He also tutored 11 players to All-Big 12 honors, including the Defensive Newcomer of the Year in Brown and the Offensive Freshman of the Year in Lockett, who, along with Nigel Malone, was named a Walter Camp All-American.

In 2010, Snyder’s Wildcats jumped out to a 5-1 start, which included big wins over UCLA, Conference USA Champion UCF and Iowa State, behind All-Big 12 running back Daniel Thomas, who became the fastest Wildcat in school history (in terms of games) to rush for 1,000 yards.

In his first season back as the head man of the Wildcat program, Snyder led the Wildcats to a 6-6 record in 2009 and a second-place finish in the Big 12 North. In fact, K-State was just one win away from advancing to the Big 12 Championship game as the Wildcats played at Nebraska in the regular-season finale with a championship game berth on the line.

K-State claimed more First Team All-Big 12 selections on offense than any other school with four. Thomas, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, led the league in rushing, while Nick Stringer, Jeron Mastrud and Brandon Banks also garnered First Team All-Big 12 accolades.

Named the 32nd head football coach at K-State on Nov. 30, 1988, and again as the 34th on Nov. 24, 2008, Snyder has amassed a 210-110-1 (.656) record during his tenure with the Wildcats, including a 123-84-1 (.593) mark in Big 8/12 games. His 210 victories are over five times the man in second place on K-State’s all-time coaching victories list and rank 20th in FBS history. Additionally, he is the 14th person in FBS history to be a head coach for at least 25 years at one school and never coach at another.

But to fully understand the turnaround ushered in by Snyder at Kansas State one must only consider that the Wildcats had not won a game in the two previous seasons prior to his arrival. It also took K-State 51 seasons (1938-1988) to total just 130 wins, while the 12 head coaches prior to Snyder’s arrival in Manhattan combined to win just 116 games from 1945-1988.

Snyder led K-State to 11-straight bowl berths between the 1993 and 2003 seasons, making K-State one of only seven programs in the nation to appear in the postseason every year during that stretch. Snyder’s Wildcats won nearly 80 percent of their games, chalking up 109 victories – a staggering average of nearly 10 wins per season – and making Kansas State the nation’s second-winningest program over that period.

And Snyder continued to break new ground with the Wildcats. K-State’s 35-7 victory over top-ranked Oklahoma in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game lifted K-State to its first conference championship since Pappy Waldorf’s 1934 squad and secured the school’s first BCS bowl berth in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. With an 11-4 record in 2003, K-State was the only team in the country to win 11 games in six of the previous seven years and just the second in history to win 11 games six times in a seven-year stretch.

Snyder’s unprecedented success in 25 years at Kansas State has not gone unnoticed. He has been named the National Coach of the Year on five occasions (1991, 1994, 1998, 2011 and 2012). He has been a finalist for the prestigious Bear Bryant/FWAA National Coach of the Year Award in 1993, 1995, 2011 and 2012, while winning the award in 1998; a finalist for the Football News National Coach of the Year Award in 1995 and 1998; and a finalist for the AFCA National Coach of the Year Award in 1993 and 1998.

In 1993, he joined legendary Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney as the only head coaches in Big Eight history to be named Associated Press Big Eight Coach of the Year three times in a four-year period (1990, 1991 and 1993).

Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference, Snyder’s Wildcats truly have been a dominant force in the league, ranking in the top three in overall Big 12 wins. Kansas State also won more Big 12 road games than any team in the league during Snyder’s first tenure and advanced to the championship game three times.

Those facts alone demonstrate the continuing evolution of a power in the Big 12 and with it the recognition that Snyder is truly one of the finest coaches ever in college football.

The list of accomplishments Snyder has amassed in his 25 years is as endless as the time most people thought it would take for the Wildcats to be a consistent threat in the Big Eight, and now, Big 12 Conference.

Like so many in recent history, the 2003 campaign was a dramatically successful one for K-State, which ended the regular season with seven-straight wins, a fourth Big 12 North title, its first Big 12 Championship and another top-20 finish.

But the 2003 season was not without its bumps in the road as the Wildcats overcame their share of adversity to produce perhaps the greatest season in school history. Ranked as high as No. 6 nationally in the early going, a key injury to quarterback Ell Roberson precipitated a three-game slide that threatened to wipe out a promising season.

The three losses all but erased K-State from the national consciousness, as the Wildcats slipped out of the both polls for the first time since the second game of the 2002 season. But Snyder was not about to allow the year to spiral out of control. He constantly reminded his players that they still controlled their own destiny, and if they could just go 1-0 each week, the season would take care of itself and the team would ultimately achieve its goals.

And like everything Snyder seems to touch, this strategy too worked, as the Wildcats rode their 1-0 mantra week after week all the way to a berth in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

The 2002 season was one of the best in Kansas State history, witnessed by the Wildcats’ five-victory turnaround from the previous year’s 6-6 team to a win in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl and an 11-2 overall record. In addition, the 2002 Wildcats set or tied 45 school records, including tying the mark for wins in a season.

In 2001, Snyder directed one of the best in-season turnarounds in school history. Despite losing four straight in the middle of the year and facing the fourth-toughest schedule in the nation, the Wildcats recovered to win four of their last five games to end the regular season with a 6-5 record and a berth in the Insight.com Bowl. Six K-State players were selected in the 2002 NFL Draft, the most of any team in the Big 12 Conference, with only six schools in the country having more players picked in the draft. Thanks to that draft, and many others before and after it, the Wildcats currently lead the Big 12 Conference by having a player selected in the NFL Draft each of the last 23 seasons.

The Wildcats started the 2000 season ranked in the top 10 for just the second time in school history and made a four-week run into the top five that saw K-State climb as high as No. 2. K-State won the Big 12 North Division for the second time in three years and earned at least a share of the title for the third consecutive season. K-State had six players named First Team All-Big 12 by the coaches, and Jamie Rheem, Mario Fatafehi and Quincy Morgan were All-Americans.

The 1999 season saw the Wildcats climb from No. 20 in the preseason poll to finish at No. 6 after starting the season with nine straight victories, and win 11 games for the third straight year. K-State tied Nebraska for the Wildcats’ second consecutive Big 12 North Division Championship.

In 1998, Snyder led K-State to its second straight 11-win season and a No. 4 ranking in the final polls. In November, K-State occupied a No. 1 ranking in a national poll for the first time in school history. The Wildcats won the Big 12 North and advanced to a bowl game for the sixth year in a row. K-State won its first 11 games of the season and ran its winning streak to a school-record 20 games before falling to Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship game. Quarterback Michael Bishop became the first Wildcat to be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, and a total of six players earned All-America honors.

Snyder earned National Coach of the Year honors from the Walter Camp Foundation, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation, the Associated Press, the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award and the Schutt Sports Group.

In 1997, Snyder led the Wildcats to their first 11-win season in school history, a No. 7 final ranking and the first 10-win regular season since 1910. It was just the third 10-win season in 102 years of K-State football. Kansas State won a school-record seven conference games, finishing second in the North to undefeated and eventual national champion Nebraska.

The 1996 season saw K-State finish with a 9-3 record, while more than 45,000 Wildcat fans painted Dallas purple for the Cotton Bowl, K-State’s first-ever New Year’s Day Bowl. Despite a 19-15 loss to No. 5 BYU, the support and respect for the K-State program grew to unprecedented heights.

In 1995, Snyder guided K-State to a 10-2 record, including a 5-2 Big Eight mark to tie for second behind national champion Nebraska. Following a 54-21 blitzing of WAC champion Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl, the Wildcats finished the season ranked sixth in the USA Today/CNN coaches’ poll and seventh in the AP poll. Both rankings were the highest ever attained by a Kansas State football team to that point.

In 1993, Snyder guided K-State to its first bowl win in school history and, in 1994, the Wildcats cracked the top 10 for the first time in school history. Individually, Snyder has produced 56 different All-Americans during his 25 years as head coach, including eight consensus All-Americans.

The foundation for K-State’s turnaround was laid in 1989 during Snyder’s first season in Manhattan. Although the season yielded just a 1-10 record, it became evident to everyone involved in the program that something special was happening. In 1990, K-State was one of just four teams in the country to improve its record by four games with a 5-6 mark, including its first Big Eight Conference wins in four seasons with victories over Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Snyder again beat those two schools in 1991, while adding Kansas and Missouri to the list of his Big Eight victims to finish at 7-4 for K-State’s first winning season since the Independence Bowl season of 1982. Heavy graduation losses on the offensive side of the ball resulted in a 5-6 mark in 1992, but the Cats were still able to hang their hats on their first perfect home season since 1934.

Of course, it should come as no surprise that Snyder would be this kind of architect for a building program. At Iowa, he played a key role in the renaissance of a Hawkeye program that went from 17 consecutive losing seasons to eight straight bowls. Snyder was the mind behind Iowa’s potent offensive attack. The Hawkeye offense ranked first in passing efficiency and third in passing yardage nationally in Snyder’s last five years of direction. Snyder also served as quarterback coach at Iowa and helped develop some of the best quarterbacks in NCAA history, including NFL players Chuck Long (second in Heisman voting), Mark Vlasic and Chuck Hartlieb, who wrapped up his career as the first Hawkeye to throw for 3,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.

Snyder began his full-time coaching career in 1964 as an assistant at Indio High School in California. In 1966 he served as a GA at USC under John McKay before becoming head coach at Indio High in 1967. He accepted the same position at Santa Ana Foothill High School in 1969, where he stayed until 1973.

In 1974, Snyder became the offensive coordinator and swimming coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He joined the North Texas staff in 1976 and helped author an impressive turnaround with a three-year record of 26-7.

During his three-year hiatus, Snyder remained involved with the university and is currently a member of several halls of fame that are listed below. The long-time mentor also involved in many organizations, including:

• Chairman of the Kansas Mentors Council and the Kansas Leadership Council
• Board of Directors for Kansas Leadership Center
• Board of Directors of Prairiefire Museum of Natural History (K.C.)
• Board of Trustees for the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
• Terry C. Johnson Cancer Research Center Advisory Council
• Manhattan Community Foundation Board of Trustees
• KSU Foundation Board of Trustees
• Honorary Co-Chairman of the Kansas Masonic Partnership for Life

Snyder was awarded the 2015 Excellence in Mentoring Award by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership in recognition of his longstanding commitment to meeting the mentoring needs of young people in Kansas.

Snyder, 78, received his B.A. from William Jewell in 1963. He earned his M.A. from Eastern New Mexico in 1965. As a player, he was a three-year letterwinner as a defensive back at William Jewell. Snyder and his wife, Sharon, have two sons – Sean and Ross – and three daughters – Shannon, Meredith and Whitney. They also have eight grandchildren – Sydney, Katherine, Tate, Matthew, Alexis, Gavin, Kadin and Tylin – and one great-grandson, D.J.