Tom Osborne Legacy Award Recipient Announced
OMAHA—Former Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder will receive the 2021 Tom Osborne Legacy Award on January 13th during the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises at the Hilton Omaha Hotel.
Snyder, 81, who retired as the Kansas State coach after the 2018 season, will be in Omaha to accept the award from Osborne, Nebraska’s legendary coach, at the 24th annual dinner. The 75th recipient of the Outland Trophy, selected by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), and winners of the University of Nebraska senior football awards also will be honored.
This is the seventh year for the Tom Osborne Legacy Award, which goes to a player, coach or a person who has made an extraordinary contribution to the interior line of college football; and/or has made contributions to the Outland Trophy. The recipient must exhibit the characteristics of integrity, sportsmanship and fair play associated with Tom Osborne and demonstrate a record of leadership in the community. Furthermore, the person must continue to hold a record of good citizenship within and beyond the athletic field that is consistent with the one of the award’s sponsors, Rotary International’s primary motto, “Service Above Self.”
Previous recipients of the Tom Osborne Legacy Award are Milt Tenopir (2015), Jim Ridlon (2016), Barry Switzer (2017), Bobby Bowden (2018), Frank Solich (2019) and Fisher DeBerry (2020).
Snyder is considered the architect of one of great turnarounds in college football history at Kansas State. Inheriting a program in 1989 that was in a 0-26-1 slump and had just one bowl appearance in its first 93 seasons, Snyder took Kansas State to 11 straight bowls from 1993-2003 and won 80 percent of his games (109 victories). Kansas State, averaging 10 victories a season, was the second winningest program in major-college football over that period. In 2003, the Wildcats won the Big 12 championship and defeated No. 1 Oklahoma, 35-7. His 1998 team held a No. 1 ranking.
Following a three-year hiatus (starting with the 2006 season), Snyder returned to the sidelines from 2009-2018. During that time frame his teams accumulated a 79-49 record and went to eight bowl games. Included in the second tenure were double-digit victory seasons in 2011 (10-3) and 2012 (11-2). The 2012 Wildcats captured the program’s second Big 12 Championship.
Snyder has been an iconic figure in Manhattan for many years. On Nov. 16, 2005 the Kansas Board of Regents issued a proclamation changing the name of Kansas State’s football stadium to Bill Snyder Family Stadium. In 2015 Snyder became only the fourth person to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. A five-time national coach of the year honoree and seven-time conference coach of the year recipient, Snyder compiled a 215-117-1 record (64.7 winning percentage) in his 27 years as the head football coach at Kansas State. He left as the 20th winningest coach in FBS history.
Tickets to the Outland Trophy Award Dinner Sponsored by Werner Enterprises are available by calling 402.346.8003 or by going to www.showofficeonline.com/OTADHOME .
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.