This last month or so has been quite revealing for what’s coming in Kansas State’s future. First we learned that John Currie, the guy who was fired after a disastrous coaching search at Tennessee, had tried to bring in Jim Leavitt to K-State to be head coach in waiting but Snyder nixed it.
I don’t know about y’all but this makes me extra suspicious about that whole “Jerry Kill is just going to hang around and serve the program,” episode that occurred before Kill left to become the OC at Rutgers. Another possible power play by Currie to try and set up a plan of succession for Snyder’s departure?
The not-so-secret dimension to all of this is that Bill Snyder wants the program to carry on with his infrastructure in place and his son Sean in charge. Well, a key piece to that infrastructure is now gone with UTEP hiring Dana Dimel as their new head coach.
Snyder’s offense is still his own but Dimel was in charge of implementing and running it and it’s hard for Snyder to simultaneously tell the story that this thing is off and running and can be managed by his son and also that they don’t need Dimel around. The last time Snyder had to replace staff he did so in-house and with a guy that hadn’t worked in a few years but had worked with Snyder in the past so I also wonder how much interest and energy he has in executing a search for a new coordinator. I bet he just promotes someone or else maybe snags Mark Mangino from the ranks of the retired.
So now what for Snyder and new AD Gene Taylor? And what’s the booster vibe like at Kansas State? Do they intend for Taylor to lead a coup at some point against Snyder or was that more the aim of Currie and a limited faction within the Wildcat boosters? Who leaked the story to McMurphy about Snyder nixing the succession plan of Jim Leavitt? A booster that wanted to present the story as “hey, Bill isn’t going to be reasonable about this,” or Snyder’s camp wanting a “look, they’re trying to force out your king!” kind of narrative?
Finally, there’s the 2018 season which is bringing back ERRBODY from 2017 save for Jesse Ertz, who didn’t play much anyways, Will Geary, and then some other players that honestly shouldn’t be difficult for the Wildcats to replace. If Snyder likes what he has with Skylar Thompson and this group it would make very little sense for him to hang up his windbreaker just yet if he has any juice left at all.
Or alternatively, just before fall camp could be the perfect time for Snyder to decide to retire. Particularly if he’s allowed Sean to do the real work in restocking the staff with replacement coaches. What else could Kansas State do at that point but stick an interim tag on Sean Snyder and give him a chance to win the job outright with what could be a strong roster in 2018? Or else just give him the job? The purple wizard would presumably be clever enough to pull this maneuver off the only question is whether he has an even stronger play to make.
Interesting times in the little apple.