There’s no doubt that Kansas State has some talented players sprinkled on its roster. There is also no doubt that aging head coach Bill Snyder deserves all the credit in the world, as he has more than once made this program contend nationally – at a football school that could well be a Bowl Subdivision team (or worse) – without him.
Isn’t it about time that Pat Fitzgerald starts getting recognized as one of the best coaches in the country? Northwestern isn’t an easy job to get top notch recruits, so Fitzgerald had to start off winning games with far less talent than almost any other team in the Big Ten.
Second-year head coach Rich Rodriguez is coming off a season that saw him go 8-5 with the Arizona Wildcats. That campaign was the first time he had put together a winning record in a season debut, as well as the first time his team went to a bowl game in a debut.
Pat Fitzgerald still isn’t 38 years old, but he now has the second longest tenure of any Big Ten coach (behind Kirk Ferentz at Iowa). Fitzgerald is a young spirited coach who has gotten the most out of his teams. He recently signed an extension that keeps him in Evanston until 2020.
Rich Rodriguez is getting another chance to prove he can take a team to the top. After great success at West Virginia, Rodriguez was run out of Michigan after disappointing seasons. Mike Stoops never panned out for the Wildcats. Arizona had an embarrassing 4-8 campaign in 2011.
Kentucky has gained somewhat of a reputation in recent years for being a scrappy, hard-luck program that plays the role of spoiler for the bigger bullies in the SEC. Indeed, Kentucky often plays up to its competition and is usually only a couple upsets away from a bowl game.
The Northwestern Wildcats were 7-3 last year when quarterback Dan Persa went down with a season-ending Achilles injury.
The Wildcats have always been more of a basketball power rather than a force to be reckoned with on the gridiron in the SEC.
Arizona began the 2010-11 season with a bang, speeding out to a 7-1 overall record, going 4-1 in conference play before losing its last five games straight, including a 30-29 overtime heartbreaker to Arizona State in Week 12.
Bill Snyder may be 71 years old, but he can definitely still coach. Snyder has put together an impressive 149-80 record in his tenure at Kansas State.
Most impressive about that record is the fact that Kansas State never had any success on the field in the years before Snyder took over the program.
