How NCAA rule change allowed Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy to add Sean Snyder
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — With the hiring of a legendary coach’s son on Wednesday, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy took his first step into one of college football’s least talked-about rule changes.
While so much of the conversation over the last few months has focused on everything from the still-evolving world of name, image and likeness to the new uses of technology now being allowed in the sport, the elimination of coaching limits has flown under the radar.
Late last month, the NCAA Division I council approved a proposal to remove the limit on the number of on-field coaches, which had been capped at 10. Now, the analysts and other ancillary staff who fill out a college football team’s support staff are allowed to be involved in on-field coaching.
Less than a month into the realm of unlimited coaches, Gundy hired Sean Snyder to work with the team’s kickers and punters. Snyder is the son of legendary Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, and served alongside his father for several years.
Snyder was at Kansas State for nearly 30 years, concluding after the 2019 season. He was the team’s punter from 1990-92, then held a variety of football and administrative roles from 1994-2010. He then moved into his role as the special teams coordinator and associate head coach from 2011-18 and as a special teams analyst in 2019.
Since then, he spent two seasons as the special teams coordinator at USC in 2020-21, one season in the same role at Illinois, and last year, he served as the special assistant to the head coach at Kansas, where he also assisted the Jayhawks’ special teams.
Snyder’s hiring comes a few months after Gundy and athletic director Chad Weiberg worked to provide raises for the program’s 10 position coaches, plus strength coach Rob Glass.
Eight of the 11 coaches have been with Gundy for at least five years, and some for much longer.
“I think a big part of our success has been the consistency we’ve had,” Weiberg told The Oklahoman. “Also, it’s a reflection, in a lot of ways, of the market.
“When coaches get here and they do a good job, then we want to take care of them so they stay here and we have that consistency.”
Gundy, of course, would always love to have more money for his staff and support personnel, but programs have to be diligent in how they spend their funding. Still, Gundy was happy to provide raises for his staff — which included $100,000 bumps for Glass and associate head coach/offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn.
“There’s never enough money available for those guys,” Gundy said earlier this month at Big 12 Media Days in Las Vegas. “As we progress into this new league, our salary pool for our 10 guys who will be on the road recruiting — which I guess would be the best way to term that now, with the new rule — we need that pool to be up near the highest in the league, in my opinion, if we want to compete at a high level.
“So we try to continue to do that and take care of the people who have been loyal to the football program. It’s important to me, selfishly, to reward loyalty, and not make people feel like they need to take other jobs for compensation, when if they stay here and are loyal to our program, we’ll reward them for that.”
Now, with the removal of the on-field coaching limit, those position coaches have additional help from the seven analysts and other support staff.
That’s where Snyder’s hiring becomes important, because Gundy can adjust how his special teams coaching is managed.
Over the last few years, Gundy has used a special teams analyst — first M.K. Taylor, and now Joseph Foteh — to build game plans, but that analyst was not allowed to directly coach the players.
So a group of four position coaches were tasked with working with the analyst and taking the game plans to the players — one coach for each team, kickoff coverage, kickoff return, punt coverage and punt return.
Now, Foteh can be involved in direct coaching on the field throughout the week, and Snyder, with a wealth of experience as a special teams coordinator, can also be involved in the planning and preparation.
That could help to limit the additional work of the position coaches and build added continuity throughout each of the special teams units.
The Cowboys have not previously had a coach who works specifically with kickers and punters, often resulting in those players working together to help overcome any struggles. Snyder has an experience and knowledge base to provide useful feedback.
And Snyder’s experience, particularly at K-State where he was part of his father’s incredible forging of the Wildcat program, makes him a valuable voice in the coaches’ offices.
“Sean brings years of experience with kickers and punters and special teams concepts,” Gundy said in a press release. “We’re really excited about what he brings to our coaching staff.”
