Bill Snyder was ‘good for college football,’ TCU’s Gary Patterson says

TCU coach Gary Patterson has always looked at coaches who have done “more with less” in his career. That’s an accurate description for what he’s done at TCU, and something he admired about Kansas State’s Bill Snyder.

Patterson, a K-State alum, had nothing but good things to say about Snyder who retired earlier this month.

“Bill Snyder is what’s good for college football,” Patterson said. “He took a program that was probably in the most dire straits, it’s my alma mater, and in the last 30 years he’s turned it into something to remember. He’s won championships. He’s done the things he needed to do and he should be respected for that. It’s as simple as that.

“He’s taught a lot of us a lot of lessons about how to treat people, how to go about our business, a lot of lessons learned from Bill Snyder.”

One thing Patterson does that Snyder did early in his career is talk to the team on the field before heading into the locker room for halftime. Patterson, like Snyder, feels that’s the best time to do it because players can scatter throughout the locker room at half.

“I watch people who have done more with less and he was one of those guys that did that,” Patterson said. “So you have to respect things he does and how he does it.”

Patterson and Snyder faced each other seven times since TCU joined the Big 12. The Frogs went 4-3 in those games, including a 14-13 victory this season.

Snyder, 79, walks away from the game with a 215-117-1 career record in 27 seasons at Kansas State. That’s the only school he worked at as head coach with stints from 1989-2005 and 2009-18.

Patterson, 58, is now the unquestioned dean of Big 12 football coaches.

“I’ve kind of been that guy,” Patterson said. “To me, I keep fighting for the kids and us doing the right thing as far as how we make decision as a NCAA group, as a college football group, as any group – making decisions as what’s right for the student athlete.”