BREAKING: Snyder Resigns

[Hoosier Daddy]

Snyder resigns MU post
Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch
ANTHONY HANSHEW
Herald-Dispatch.com


HUNTINGTON —

A lone lopsided loss didn’t result in Sunday’s Marshall University football head coaching change. Instead, numerous factors factored into Mark Snyder’s resignation, announced by athletic director Mike Hamrick.

"Mark and I met and had a long meeting," Hamrick said. "He thought it was in his best interests to resign.

"I met with him extensively and he told me is going to resign."

Hamrick and Snyder met with Marshall players Sunday following Snyder's resignation.

Snyder, a former Thundering Herd player and graduate assistant coach, had a 22-37 record in five seasons, including a 6-6 mark this seson.

Marshall’s regular season ended Saturday with a 52-21 defeat at UTEP, but with six wins the Herd is conditionally eligible for a bowl game invitation.

Source: Herald-Dispatch

[genlock]

"Best interests that he resign"
Probably means that termination was imminent and that by resigning
he could still get a decent buyout of his remaining contract and avoid
a lengthy and messy lawsuit. An honorable way to depart the scene
for Mark Snyder and his future. Marshall University may now name a
new head coach without delay. Maybe today. Minter likely.

[Bar Rat]

"Best interests that he resign"
Probably means that termination was imminent and that by resigning
he could still get a decent buyout of his remaining contract and avoid
a lengthy and messy lawsuit. An honorable way to depart the scene
for Mark Snyder and his future. Marshall University may now name a
new head coach without delay. Maybe today. Minter likely.

Minter is the interim if Marshall gets into a bowl game.

[AmpedNow]

Oh, I was hoping it was Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Shucks...

[genlock]

Oh, I was hoping it was Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Shucks...

I heard he was on the SHORT list.

[genlock]

I have not watched closely, but I have not seen any Coach Snyder/Cabell-Huntington Emergency Dept
spots since he quit. On the ball sales depts maybe, or tipped off by someone.

[cgarison]

Oh, I was hoping it was Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Shucks...

I heard he was on the SHORT list.

After today, that list just got that much, much shorter.

[genlock]

Charlie Weis is out as Notre Dame head football coach, a source close to the program told the Daily News.

AD Jack Swarbrick has decided to make a change after Weis finished the season with a 6-6 record and four straight losses to Navy, Pitt, Connecticut and Stanford.

Weis coached Notre Dame for five years and leaves with a 35-27 record. He has told friends in South Bend he has at least six offers from NFL teams to become their offensive coordinator.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/colle ... z0YN8u3fNp

[Bob Campbell]

When was Marshall's last winning season?

[genlock]

A year or two before Snyder.

[Bar Rat]

When was Marshall's last winning season?

2003. 8-4. 2004, MU went 6-6.

[Bob Campbell]

Marshall has a great football heritage, but I always thought they would have been better served remaining a big fish in the small pond of Division 1-AA (now FCS) rather than going Division 1. It was always a blast going to playoff games and enjoying the atmosphere when they were competing for national titles, something they'll never be able to do in D 1. I guess they make more money even as a mediocre non-BCS school than an FCS championship contender.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Marshall has a great football heritage, but I always thought they would have been better served remaining a big fish in the small pond of Division 1-AA (now FCS) rather than going Division 1. It was always a blast going to playoff games and enjoying the atmosphere when they were competing for national titles, something they'll never be able to do in D 1. I guess they make more money even as a mediocre non-BCS school than an FCS championship contender.

Marshall's grande hoo-rah days of National Championships were in the days of being the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. Additionally, Pruett recruited athletes from D1 and D1A schools that had been kicked out of those programs because of academic failure and/or couldn't stay out of jail. Marshall fans turned a blind eye to it all because Pruett was producing "championship" teams. Pruett bailed when the athletic talent left and the writing was on the wall about moving up to Conference USA. I think Pruett knew he couldn't work the magic any more, and he wanted to go out remembered as a winner.

Snyder was an inexperienced coach who was given a program that was playing way out of its league by being in Conference USA. He tried to build a program based on credibility and student athletes who actually were in college to graduate with a degree. By Conference USA standards, Marshall's football program was underfunded and did not attract the star athletes other C*USA schools could get. I think Snyder is a good man who was overwhelmed. Hopefully, his Marshall coaching experience will be a building block, and he'll be able to find another opportunity down the road. There are a lot of smaller colleges who would value his ethics and keep someone like Snyder around for an entire 20 or 30 year coaching career. Of course, you'd have to give up the national spotlight, and sometimes that's hard for a coach to do.

I am already hearing how Marshall must "up the starting price" for their next football coach. This will probably be true for the entire football program. But where will the money come from? I am also wondering how being in Conference USA has worked out for the other sports at Marshall. Baseball, track, swimming, mens and womens basketball, et al. I always thought the decision to move to C*USA was based entirely on the success of the football program while in the MAC. Marshall alumni and athletic department big shots, punch drunk on that whole "We Play for Championships" thing, thought they were in the big leagues, and they were not. Time will tell if Marshall made the right decision.

[Big Media]

Very well said, HD.

However, I am firmly in the camp of "Mark Snyder may have been the worst head-coach in D1." We had some very talented players, this season, but they were poorly coached and plagued by poor decision making on the sidelines.

[Bob Campbell]

I just don't see how Marshall will be able to compete in Conference USA. They have a great stadium for a 1-AA team, but very small for 1-A, so it's hard to increase the revenue stream from that direction. Maybe the boosters will kick in the big bucks. But what is the long term goal.They're never going to compete for a national championship at this level. The best they could ever hope for would be an occasional non-BCS bowl game, maybe.

Appalachian State here in NC has a dominant program at 1-AA level, like Marshall in the 90's. They are perennial contenders for the national championship, in the playoffs again this year, and have a very good statewide following. They know they're never going to be a UNC, NC State or Wake Forest (though they have been good enough in many years to beat those teams), but they appear content to be a very big fish in the small pond.

[Bar Rat]

I just don't see how Marshall will be able to compete in Conference USA. They have a great stadium for a 1-AA team, but very small for 1-A, so it's hard to increase the revenue stream from that direction. Maybe the boosters will kick in the big bucks. But what is the long term goal.They're never going to compete for a national championship at this level. The best they could ever hope for would be an occasional non-BCS bowl game, maybe.

Appalachian State here in NC has a dominant program at 1-AA level, like Marshall in the 90's. They are perennial contenders for the national championship, in the playoffs again this year, and have a very good statewide following. They know they're never going to be a UNC, NC State or Wake Forest (though they have been good enough in many years to beat those teams), but they appear content to be a very big fish in the small pond.

Schools can do lots with small stadiums. Cincinnati's and Houston's are both smaller than Marshall's. Wyoming barely seats 30k and managed to pull Texas in as a visitor this year. MU will never see a visiting team like that.

[genlock]

Conferences set minimum stadium size as a requirement.
It is more impressive to fill a small stadium than to have
a half empty big one.
Marshall should have stayed in the MAC.
Easier, cheaper travel, less restrictive conference TV rules.

[fearpeddler]

the whole switching coaches AND conferences at the same time doomed marshall to its current condition....... gonna be a while before theres any real improvement seen, till then they'll be celebrating seasons like the one that just happened......

[Bob Campbell]

Conferences set minimum stadium size as a requirement.
It is more impressive to fill a small stadium than to have
a half empty big one.
Marshall should have stayed in the MAC.
Easier, cheaper travel, less restrictive conference TV rules.

Division 1 (FCS) teams are also required to have a minimum of 30,000 seats.
Cincy and Wyoming are doing great, but they're going to have a hard time being consistently good and are definitely exceptions to the rule. Marshall has had a few good years at the big boy level too, but Marshall finds it hard to compete with Cincy (bigger, more attractive city) much less WVU and the really big powers.
I agree Marshall would have been better off in the MAC.

[genlock]

ESPN’s Joe Schad reports this afternoon that Kansas football coach Mark Mangino ‘will not return’ as coach next season.