Opinion: It’s called coach—ing?

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You can call old man Bill Snyder a lot of things — washed-up is not one of them.

After a 20-6 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday, Kansas State’s head coach, who recently turned 70 years-old, had the charisma of a rottweiler with rabies — and that’s when he was trying to be friendly.

“We did not play well,” Snyder said as he slammed his fist on the podium. “This is about getting better and we did not. That’s why I’m upset.”

His team is 3-1 in Big 12 Conference play and has left the rest of the Big 12 North division limping behind. You could say he’s a bit of a drama queen, right?

See, that’s what I thought before he took it further and sunk his team’s performance lower than crawl space.

“Getting the right plays on the field, penalties, you name it, it all went wrong,” Snyder said.

Pessimistic? Maybe a little.

I mean this team last year had a first-round talent in quarterback Josh Freeman and still couldn’t help fading into the basement of the Big 12 North with the likes of Iowa State and Colorado under former head coach Ron Prince.

Snyder built this program from the ground up in 1989 and it never seemed to fail. But right when he left in 2005, it sank faster than flushed water. The recruits got worse, the fans got sparse and the other Big 12 teams soared past them — even Baylor, the piñata of the Big 12 South. I mean K-State became a basketball school, for the love of God!

It was Michael Beasley-no good football team mania!

But then, in all of his wisdom, Snyder returned to start the 2009 season — with all the grumbling and hissing included.

The result: his team has not only improved since their second week gaffe to Louisiana-Lafayette, they have transitioned into the best team in the Big 12 North.

Better than Nebraska, or the new Cubs of the Big 12 who were just embarrassed for the second straight week at home. 2 p.m., lose to Iowa State. 2:05 p.m., the hanging of Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini.

Better than Missouri, who can only win outside the conference and poached another forgettable performance to Texas.

Better than Kansas, who has lost all offensive chemistry after losing to a confused Colorado team and then left something behind on their own field against Oklahoma, which sure didn’t smell like heart…

Better than Iowa State by a thread, only because it took eight Nebraska turnovers to win by two points Saturday.

And better than Colorado, who instead of smashing one quarterback’s confidence, they decided to smash Tyler Hansen’s confidence as well by benching him against K-State in his second start this year.

And yet Scrooge still came early to Manhattan, Kan.

And for what? Don’t think that the upcoming game against Oklahoma will break this team up either. They have already endured an embarrassing 66-14 loss to Texas Tech a few weeks ago. And after that, Snyder was more than furious at his team’s play.

The results: two straight dominate wins including a 62-14 victory over Texas A&M. After Saturday’s victory, he was even madder than before…oh wait, I’m starting to get it.

To us Boulderites, I think it’s called coach—ing?

Well anyways, to K-State it’s called a chance at their first Big 12 North title since 2003.

And to Snyder, when asked what it means to be in this position, he replied as only he could, “It means we didn’t play well!”

Ahh, the sound of a winner.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Brent Wilson New at Brent.new@colorado.edu.

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