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We mention it over and over – Bill Snyder teams play smart football. They tackle well, minimize penalties, and don’t make mistakes. And it’s easy to say that in this season or that year the Wildcats did a good job by only taking four penalties a game or limiting yards after contact. However, ESPN dug up an excellent stat this morning demonstrating exactly what Snyderball is about: over the past three years, K-State has been +36 in turnover ratio.

This margin leads the Big 12, and only Oklahoma State at +33 was even close. Next was TCU, which went +14 from 2010-2012 while scooping up fumbles in the inferior Mountain West. No other team in the league had a double digit ratio.

Statistics like this are what make the Wildcats so good in spite of “inferior talent.” The average BCS bowl team has more players likely to be drafted than Kansas State. Maybe that means they have better players. But there are a couple moving parts here. Defenses need luck to generate turnovers, but they also need to create them. Whether that’s due to tremendous coverage in the secondary, linebackers shooting past linemen for sacks, or simply hitting running backs really damn hard, it requires playing better than one’s opponents. Conversely, the offense must protect its quarterback, get its receivers open, and have a damn good running back (which is why I’m still convinced Chris Harper will have a place in the NFL for several years). Being good enough to put opponents in an early hole so that they feel pressured to play catch-up doesn’t hurt either.

What’s remarkable is that even the 2010 campaign when the Wildcats finished 7-6 and 3-5 in the Big 12, they were still a solid +4 (partially due to forcing Garret Gilbert into five interceptions when they played Texas), and no one was marveling about the team’s talent that year. They were then +12 last year and +20 in the 2012 season. Yet they play with a quarterback who “can’t” play the position in the NFL and a set of LBs and DEs that are fast but “too small” to play as well. Bill Snyder has been finding/teaching his players that even though they may not have the best vertical in the nation, they can play smarter and better than anyone else on the field. And that’s why they finished 11-2 this year with a Big 12 championship.

National Signing Day has come to a close, and Alabama has already claimed the next four national championships. They will be playing another SEC team during each of those four games. And K-State will be among the bottom half of the teams in country. This includes last place finishes in the Big 12. It must be true; I read it on ESPN. The truth is, K-State could have fared better today. It could have secured some better recruits in the days leading up to February sixth. But every year we’re subjected to listening about how this team plugged a couple holes with mediocre junior college players and didn’t get any good high school players. It’s recruiting class is ranked in the 60th range. Then we watch the Wildcats climb the rankings and visit exotic locations thanks to prestigious bowl selections. So stop listening to David Ubben and let The Jug give you the meat of today’s events:

The Good

This league demands good linebacker play. It’s crucial for teams to possess players capable of rushing quarterbacks, dropping into coverage, and stopping running backs that get to the second level. This team shined at the position, highlighted by Nick Ramirez from Lee’s Summit, MO. Although more likely to play at ILB, he can do either, and chose K-State over offers from Missouri, Nebraska, Purdue, Colorado, and several other programs.

Additionally, the team found an excellent player to push Daniel Sams at the quarterback position. JUCO transfer Jake Waters had already been signed before today, and looks to be among the best QBs coming out of the community college ranks and could make an immediate impact. Overall, the team takes on six junior college transfers and 26 high school athletes, including nine walk-ons. This is a departure from the typical mix of high schoolers and JUCO players, and will allow the team to develop these players for four years while getting immediate playing time out of them. And as noted on our Facebook page earlier, K-State hauled in the State’s 1-2A, 3A, 4A, and 6A defensive players of the year. Not that Kansas is the recruiting hotbed that is Texas, but that’s a pretty impressive stat.

The Bad

The team claimed 16 three star players and one four star according to ESPN. This is okay, but certainly overshadowed by TCU, Oklahoma, and even Kansas. Overall, the count was 12 defensive players and six offensive recruits. Aside from the quarterback position, there wasn’t much else to trumpet in the skill positions. WR LeAndrew Gordon runs a smoking 4.30 40, and a couple other receivers come to the team. Not a single running back. Lots of tight ends that will probably be featured in various roles. The team is more than set at RB for 2013 with John Hubert, but will need to make a push to fill this need next year.

The Ugly

Three recruits became personas non gratas on campus today. The first two were standout recruits that committed to K-State but inexplicably switched today. OLB De’Vondre Campbell was a likely starter from Hutchinson Community College that committed to K-State last summer, but when his LOI of intent went through the fax machine, it came out at the University of Minnesota. DB Melvinson Hartfield was a promising recruit out of Texas that announced a surprise visit to Fayetteville this past weekend after seeming to be in the bag for K-State. Something scared him from the team, and Hartfield will be attending Arkansas in the fall.

Additionally, the team’s highest rated recruit was an embarrassment. DE Jamone Boyd, who ESPN rated the number 298th player in the nation, was a four star prospect. Yet Boyd himself in yesterday and is being charged with five counts of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Boyd was already set to carry some heavy baggage, having been charged with resisting arrest and possessing marijuana after getting into a confrontation with a school resource officer in November. During the confrontation, a taser was deployed but did not penetrate Boyd’s heavy jacket. He fled, and the taser was used a second time once the officer caught up with him a second time. Boyd was also suspended for a game earlier in the season for undisclosed reasons. Missouri’s fourth best player originally planned to sign with K-State but recently opted to attend Butler Community College to get his grades up. However, the prospect of Boyd using his freshman year to improve his person before transferring to Manhattan has encountered a serious wrench.

The Takeaway

First of all, don’t listen to anyone trying to predict K-State’s future based on recruiting rankings. It’s important for Alabama, Florida, and LSU to get the most five-star players in the nation. Snyder has never recruited these players – who needs prima donas – but his teams have been pretty successful over the past twenty years. His targeting of large, tight end-type players has been interesting. It’s obvious he wants old school football players – good athletes that like to hit. Special teams at this school will remain outstanding. Quarterback play will stay among the best in the nation. There’s good size coming to the line on both sides and you can’t argue with the focus on defense. This recruiting class isn’t going to produce a lot of kids drafted in the NFL, but they’re system players that should rack up a lot of wins in their four years with K-State.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas State saw preseason All-Big 12 selection Rodney McGruder have another off night. It didn’t need him to be a star, as his seven points helped K-State eek out a 52-50 win at Oklahoma on Saturday night. McGruder only managed to hit two of his eight shots but contributed nine rebounds and was only on the court for 27 minutes after beginning the Big 12 season playing 35 minutes per game.

This was a complete team game, with solid defense and no one playing more than 31 minutes. Yet anyone who contests the notion that Angel Rodriguez is the heart and soul of this team is crazy. His quick hands and constant pressure force turnovers, and helped K-State create 14 Oklahoma turnovers. His constant motion and willingness to slash to the basket, attracting defenders while kicking the ball out to open teammates helped him accumulate three assists. Most importantly, the sophomore guard calmly knocked down two free throws with 5.6 seconds left after getting fouled on a drive to put K-State ahead 52-50 after the Sooners tied the game late. On Oklahoma’s final possession, Rodriguez took away a passing lane that created hesitation while the Sooners attempted to push the ball downcourt. A desperate three point shot fell well short and K-State returned the favor of Lon Kruger’s Sooners sweep last year with a sweep of their own this season.

It was another defensive slugfest for the Wildcats as both teams failed to reach 40 field goal shooting. Will Spradling led the team with 12 points on five-of-eight shooting, hitting two of his four three point shots. Martavious Irving put in another ten off the bench while Jordan Henriquez got the start tonight and had eight in only 13 minutes. Overall, the team found itself in foul trouble once again and accumulated 18 personal fouls to only 12 for Oklahoma. However, they had six more steals than the Sooners, more assists, and hit 71.4 percent of their free throws.

Both teams struggled early and often, but it appeared K-State was going to pull away when Jordan Henriquez scored with a putback of Irving’s miss to put K-State up 40-32 with 7:49 left in the game. The slow pace of the game to that point made an eight point game insurmountable, and a jumper by Shane Southwell with four minutes left reestablished an eight point lead at 48-40. However, anyone willing to turn the channel at that point missed an exciting comeback attempt as the Sooners hit a three with a minute to play and a layup with 13 seconds left to tie the game at 50. However, Rodriguez took over from there to secure the win.

With the loss by KU to Oklahoma State earlier today, K-State (17-4, 6-2) pulls within a game of first place in the Big 12. The trip to Lawrence on February 11 looms large.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

A small coaching exodus following the end of the season left speculation that K-State’s head coaching situation was unclear and without direction. As reported by the AP today, Snyder’s position with the institution just got a lot more stable. While the idea of Snyder being fired (the entire State of Kansas would be calling for the heads of the AD, President, and almost any other senior administrator at the University) or leaving for greener pastures (Snyder will never leave Manhattan), concerns with his future ambitions were rampant as he already has one retirement under his belt. However, the Silver Fox indicated intentions to stay through 2017 with a new contract extension.

Snyder’s new contract entitles him to $2.75 million during the 2013 season and an annual increase of $100,000 through 2017. The contract contains several standard incentive bonuses, as follows:

• $50,000 for a third-place finish in the Big 12
• $75,000 for a second-place finish
• $100,000 for winning the conference title
• $50,000 for each bowl appearance
• $100,000 for a BCS bowl appearance
• $175,000 for making the national semifinals when the playoff structure begins in 2014
• $250,000 for a championship game appearance
• $350,000 for winning the national title
• $30,000 for winning one of three potential coach of the year honors/awards
• $50,000 for a top-20 finish in the AP or BCS standings
• $100,000 for finishing in the top 10

Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Bill Snyder has received a lot of recognition this year. That’s what happens when you take a team picked to finish in the bottom of the conference and win the Big 12 while going 11-1 and securing a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. And as of yesterday, you can add the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award to Snyder’s list of accolades.

The Bobby Dodd award is one national recognition Snyder is familiar with – in fact, it’s the fifth year he has been presented with the honor. What makes this award special is how it recognizes excellence both on and off the field; the foundation was established to recognize winning coaches that bring integrity and moral character to their jobs. Snyder is well-known for both. So The Jug offers its congratulations to Snyder, who has exemplified everything a school could want in its coach.

In addition to this award, Snyder has also been named the  2012 Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and by a vote of Big 12 coaches, was named a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award for the second straight season, was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, and is a semifinalist for the Maxwell Coach of the Year Award.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

To the victor go the spoils, so it makes sense that K-State would take home some hardware on the heels of their first conference championship since 2003. Yet for a squad picked to finish in the lower half of the conference with few stars and no hope unless it played complete team football, here are the awards handed down by the conference yesterday:

• Coach of the Year
• Defensive Lineman of the Year
• Defensive Player of the Year
• Offensive Player of the Year

That’s four of 11 awards – not shabby of a haul. You can probably guess who took home each of the respective recognitions, but here’s your rundown:

Coach of the Year: Bill Snyder
This is the second straight year Snyder was recognized as coach of the year, and for good reason. The media expected K-State to have the sixth best team in the Big 12. And it’s not like Snyder fielded the catalog of four and five star recruits available to Mack Brown and Bob Stoops. So

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Meshak Williams
The JUCO transfer (who doesn’t start for this team on defense that isn’t a JUCO transfer?) has 13.5 tackles for a loss. That was good for third in the league. He also recorded 9.5 sacks, good enough for first in the league. And as ESPN.com’s David Ubben points out, 8.5 of those sacks were in league play while TCU’s Devonte Fields had just 4.5 sacks.

Defensive Player of the Year: Arthur Brown
There may be players drafted higher than Brown, but few defenders were more important to their team’s success. Brown owned the center of the field and roamed from sideline to sideline while clogging the line of scrimmage. Impossible? Apparently not. Brown is expected to be the highest drafted Wildcat in the NFL, and for good reason.

Offensive Player of the Year: Collin Klein
Who else in the conference could be expected to pull down this honor. Klein was awarded the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award earlier this week, which is annually presented to the best senior quarterback in college football (sorry Johnny Football, but you’ll have to take a couple more communications courses before you’re eligible for this one). It was only right he took home this recognition as well. Klein’s final stats: 2,490 yards passing for 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He added 890 yards rushing for 22 touchdowns. In sum, Klein was responsible fore 132 points.

Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Despite its on-field success, ESPN and other major news outlets have still turned
their backs to what K-State has achieved when compared to their ‘sexier’ BCS opponents.

(Alternative title: K-State Is The Best Disrespected Team That Everyone Says Nobody Says Anything About)

A few weeks, ago K-State sat at 4-0 after going down to Norman and beating a very good Oklahoma team. It had suddenly became fashionable to start talking about the Wildcats again. Nobody wanted to say how good they were, but stories about Bill Snyder’s resurrection job popped up on every news outlet. There was no new reporting here – everyone was merely dusting off the same articles they wrote last year about how Snyder took the laughingstock of NCAA football and turned it into a national power after K-State cracked the top ten in the polls. Those articles written last year were merely rehashed from the prior year when everyone was curious as to how K-State would fair in Snyder’s second tenure. And those articles were copy-pasted from articles written when Snyder retired. I love reading about the genius of Bill Snyder as much as the next guy, but ESPN putting it on its front page makes it far from original reporting – it just means its a slow news day.

There’s a new popular news story surrounding the university now: everyone’s talking about the fact that no one is talking about K-State. Commentators are falling all over each other to mention how no one else is mentioning Kansas State in the national title picture. In doing so, K-State is damn near getting more mentions on Sportscenter than the Oregon Ducks.

This situation is an interesting example of the national psyche. It’s representative of how everyone loves rooting for the little guy and talking about how they think it’s awesome the little guy has a chance to compete with the big boys. It also demonstrates the fact that people still don’t actually respect K-State. Name the ranked teams Oregon has beaten. I’ll sit here patiently and wait. Yet which team receives more points in the polls? Now name the ranked teams Alabama has taken down. I’ll be waiting nearly as long. Maybe it’s crazy to believe K-State is better than Alabama. Sure, Alabama shellacked Michigan to kick off the season – but are we that impressed? They beat up on the BCS #22 team at a neutral site down south. K-State beat up on #19 West Virginia at West Virginia. Alabama doesn’t have another win over a top 25 opponent under its belt. K-State beat Oklahoma in Norman. Alabama it looking for a victory over a conference opponent with a winning record. K-State beat a team in Ames that’s knocking on the BCS top 25. Oregon, we should remember, has not played an opponent currently ranked.

It’s a crazy idea, but maybe, just maybe, you should have to prove your ranking at some point. Yes, the schedules for both Oregon and Alabama toughen up going forward. Good for them. When they manage to beat somebody, voting these teams ahead of K-State can be justified. But they’re being voted ahead of K-State today – it’s only the computers that put the Wildcats ahead of Oregon. Which just goes to show that everyone is still talking about K-State because they think it’s cute that the team from backwoods Kansas with a quirky coach and a bunch of cast-offs are trying really hard. They don’t actually respect what this team has done. The second half of the season should be fun, because this team is gonna just keep giving East Coast writers something to talk about.

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Part five of our reaction to K-State’s ability to answer the questions and bottle the goals for OU posed by NewsOK.com.

Goal 2: Force multiple turnovers.

Outcome 2: Nada.

A quick evaluation of my writing makes a couple issues obvious. The first is that although I was clever enough to avoid ever having to take an English class in college (as a liberal arts major, no less!), I probably should have. The second is I expound ad nauseum on Bill Snyder’s hallmark of coaching smart teams that win as many games playing smart football as they do from physical dominance. The victory over Oklahoma was no exception. Beating a top ten team requires something close to perfection and this is exactly what we saw on the field Saturday.

Both teams did an excellent job of avoiding penalties (K-State incurred 3 for 24 yards, Oklahoma 4 for 25). It was not true that both teams did an excellent job of securing the football. Oklahoma didn’t just fail to force multiple turnovers – they failed to force one. This statistic wasn’t close either. There were no forced fumbles K-State was lucky to recover and get back. OU cornerbacks weren’t breaking on underthrown passes only to drop potential pick sixes. The only moment that made me hold my breath was the punt Tyler Lockett couldn’t seem to get out of the way of, but even that play broke the Wildcats way as it was finally ruled the football bounced off a Sooner before grazing Lockett.

While Oklahoma failed to force a turnover, it did manage to give away three possessions the Wildcats happily turned into 17 points. Two turnovers K-State clearly earned: the forced fumble by Justin Tuggle, and the interception by Ty Zimmerman of a pass Landry forced up under tremendous pressure. However, the goal line fumble by quarterback Blake Bell was just embarrassing. I’ve read at least one outlet giving Snyder some credit for the play, as he called a timeout immediately before the first time Bell lined up to make him nervous; effectively ‘icing the quarterback.’ When he lined up again, he failed to secure the snap and it’s Wildcat football at the five. As much as I’d like to give Snyder credit for this play, this diagnosis may be a bit much. Either way, that fumble resulted in one fewer scores for the Sooners, and in a game decided by five points, Saturday’s victory was likely impossible without winning the turnover battle. It’s a hallmark of coach Snyder, and now it’s the Wildcats ranked in the top ten.

Tefnut. Credit: Reocities.com

“I  think he’s learning what this conference is all about. What I like is his mental toughness. He did a pretty nice job today.” – Bill Snyder on the team’s new equipment manager.

(more…)

Bill Snyder at the Big 12 Media Days. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE

Snyder addressess national and regional media in Dallas

July 23, 2012

DALLAS, Texas – Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder, along with student-athletesArthur Brown, Collin Klein, Tre Walker and Ty Zimmerman met with national and regional print, radio and broadcast media on Monday as part of the Big 12 Media Days. The following is a transcript of Snyder’s press conference from early Monday afternoon.
THE MODERATOR:  We’re now joined by coach Bill Snyder from Kansas State.  We’re going to go straight to questions.

Q.  Coach, can you talk about with what happened with Penn State, how hard would it be to run a program with so many fewer scholarships and things like that, what kind of challenge would that be?

COACH SNYDER:  I haven’t thought about it. I really don’t know. That was probably going to be my opening statement, if I were to give one, and that is there’s a lot of things going on in our society today, whether it happens to be what you’re addressing or things that have taken place in Colorado, et cetera.  That’s not why we’re here.

We’re here about    for me it’s about Kansas State University, about the young people that play the game for us, and it’s about the Big 12 Conference. The rest of it I’m not interested in.

Q.  During the summer you spoke a time or two about expectations, and after being picked eighth in the Big 12 last season, K State finishes second. Now coming off ten wins, K State enters picked to finish sixth in the league. Just your thoughts on that spot and do you feel like your program does its best when it’s considered somewhat of an underdog?

COACH SNYDER:  I’m not altogether certain.  And I think you look back at last season and we moved up maybe six slots. I just hope that we can do something similar to that.

But for us that’s, I don’t think, really significant. How do I deal with it? Probably not the same way that young people in the program do. Do we perform better as, quote/unquote, underdogs? That I don’t know.  I haven’t seen any statistics in that regard. Last year obviously we played reasonably well in those circumstances.

I have a greater concern about game by game when we are perhaps selected as favorites in a ballgame.  I think that as any coach probably would say, that’s where your greatest concern lies, just not making sure that young people don’t take things for granted or we as coaches don’t take anything for granted.

You go back to the last season and what was our mindset going into the very first ballgame of the season. We played Eastern Kentucky and did not score a touchdown until 58 plus minutes of the ballgame and then we’re very fortunate to walk away with a victory.

So one of the things that we have to be concerned about this coming season is that very simple concept of not taking anything for granted. And I think sometimes underdog or favorite, the favorite role is one that’s more complex because it’s easier to kind of take it for granted.

I think our youngsters have responded well in regards to maybe not so much dealing with the fact that they are an underdog or they’re ranked lower, that it may be more so in the day to day improvement just trying to compete every single day to get themselves a little bit better and realizing the rest of it takes care of itself.

However you want to be ranked, you gotta be willing to pay the price today in order to make that happen six months down the road.

Q.  You’ve been in this league a long time. The last two years we’ve been in this room talking about where this league was going, what was going to happen in this league. Can you talk about the difference in perception today as opposed to the last couple of years, and maybe even to years past on where this league’s perceived and where you see the stability of it?

COACH SNYDER:  Well, I think it’s the state of the conference right now, if there is such a thing in college football. I think it’s quite obvious that the universities that make up the Big 12 Conference today are heavily committed to the conference. I think we lost two very fine universities and programs, but we gained two extremely talented football programs and quality universities as well.

I think as evidence as it relates to football, when you look at the preseason rankings and the two incoming universities, they’re ranked right up in the top 10 or top 12 in the country. So it would indicate that there’s a national perception that they are quality programs as well.

And I think we’re an extremely solid conference, and I appreciate the leadership. I have an awfully strong feeling, appreciate Chuck Neinas stepping in and taking some time out of his life to help with our conference. Bob Bowlsby added as our new commissioner I think has been a very, very positive step, a very quality person and strong leader as well.

So, again, I think we’re a very stable conference.

Q.  Coach, if you could, just kind of discuss the maturation of Collin Klein last year how he came along and did it surprise you how quickly he seemed to take to the offense?

COACH SNYDER:  First, I’m too old to be surprised.  At my age you’ve seen an awful lot of things take place over a period of time. And I really don’t. Believe it or not, it’s not my modus operandi to place expectations on young guys in regards to their performance level.

Collin is a wonderful young person. He has made tremendous improvement during his time in the program. And it’s happened because of the quality of person that Collin is. Collin is one of those young guys    as we were talking about a moment ago, he’s one of those young guys truly committed not just lip service to it, he’s truly committed to becoming better every single day of his life in all facets of his life, very faith based young guy and works diligently to improve his plight with the state every day.

He’s a tremendous family man and he works diligently every day to become a little bit better family man to try to be a better person, et cetera, et cetera, and certainly to become a better football student athlete.  And he works diligently at trying to improve his skills and consequently does.

And I think that’s    and it was evidenced as you watched him through the course of the season.  And, of course, you haven’t but seeing him for the past three years and seeing his involvement is really    it’s the way you’d like for all young people in your program to be.  And we have a lot of young guys that have that same kind of commitment to that daily improvement that Collin does.

But he’s a shining example of that.

Q.  The Big 12 obviously is a league full of good quarterbacks. There are five guys on the O’Brien watch list.  How tough is it to play in a league that has so many weapons at that position?

COACH SNYDER:  It’s been my experience, particularly since coming back, that the league has evolved to a certain degree to be able to, what we say, spread the field and throw the ball around. And you’ve got quality people doing it. Extremely talented quarterbacks in this conference, and talented offenses collectively. Some great wide receivers have come through the league here of late.

And I can’t put it on a scale of how complex it is and how difficult it is other than to say it is extremely difficult. Statistically you look at the passing staffs in the conference, and they’re extremely significant.

You look at defensive staffs in the Big 12 Conference, and they’re significant in the other way as it relates to defending against the pass. We certainly had our issues with that as well.
So quality players and good systems really make it a very complex preparation week in and week out.  Good football teams, awfully good players.

Q.  Tyler Lockett, your sophomore receiver, coming back from an injury. He’s also on the Preseason All Big 12. How has his recovery been going and how do you expect him to make an impact coming off an injury that debilitated him the last part of the season?

COACH SNYDER:  I think what is overlooked perhaps, we have 15 days of practice in the spring, and on the 15th day it was our spring game and Tyler didn’t play.

And the perception probably    I can’t speak for you    but the perception was probably that he was still recovering from an injury that occurred during the course of the season, which indeed was not the case.

Tyler participated in the first 14 days of practice, didn’t participate in the spring game because of a hamstring, not seriously injured, but we didn’t want to take any chances in that ballgame.

So the answer, I guess, is that he’s recovered fully, and I think is having a productive summer as well and should be well prepared to play.

Q.  You’ve been in this league since the very beginning and have seen it evolve. Have you changed your philosophy about recruiting Texas, and is it any easier to get into the state to recruit players now than it might have been when you guys first started off in the mid ’90s?

COACH SNYDER:  Right now my feeling is probably a little bit more difficult. And I say that with this in mind. There’s probably some other reasons for that.

But the calendar, the recruiting calendar is kind of upside down. If you look at it today. You think you’re printing in your newspapers and, et cetera, radio, broadcast, TV broadcast, et cetera, commitments from young people.

And you look at most programs throughout the country and they’ve got 20 commitments and 18 commitments, et cetera, et cetera.  And you go back a decade ago and that wasn’t the case.  You didn’t have any commitments and you were still waiting for young people to play their senior year in high school and be able to, I don’t know, make those kind of decisions a little bit later in their career.

Plus, the other thing that’s taking place is that because of the kind of    the way it’s been approached, the opportunity to really get to know young people and for them to get to know you and you to get to know their families and their families to really get to know you has become more and more difficult, and those decisions are made before all those things can take place.

And, yes, young people can come to your campus, but you can’t go into their homes, et cetera, until whenever the date comes up during their senior season. So you don’t have the time to or the format really to get as close to young people and their families as you used to be able to before the decisions were made. I haven’t got it all figured out yet. That falls on my shoulders, but it’s really    it’s complex, I think, very difficult.

So I think it’s harder now to answer the question. It’s harder now than it was some time ago.

Q.  This time last year on the same stage I asked you what kind of signs you had seen as far as continuity, as far as building from one season to the next, and you mentioned about maybe a lack of participation during some of the voluntary workouts.  At this stage of the game, coming off ten wins, can you address the continuity you’ve witnessed or heard about among this team heading into this fall?

COACH SNYDER:  I think one of the things that    and you might also recall, I’m sure that part of that answer was the need for the development of quality internal leadership within the confines of our players themselves. And I think in each of the last three years I have seen that grow.

I think we were dangerously limited the very first year back in regards to that type of leadership. I think it’s grown every year since then, and I would suggest right now that we probably have a strong leadership, player leadership within, demanding leadership, vocal leadership, quality, caring leadership than we have had at any point in time. And I caution myself about taking that for granted, that it will carry itself into the season.

But I think    I see a great deal of growth in that respect.

THE MODERATOR:  Okay.  Coach, thank you very much for your comments.