Snyder's Hope

From September through the first of November, all of my extra time is focused on volleyball, but with another successful season under our belts – my downtime can be filled with friends, family, and one of my favorite pastimes…reading.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving and like always, it was a fun and entertaining afternoon at Grandma Bea’s, but after we got home – I didn’t know what to do…I was a bit bored. I “pinned” a few things on Pinterest, I came up short while looking for bargain Christmas gift, and finally I gave in and went to bed. Before I shut my light off and closed my eyes for the night, I looked to my bookshelf to find my Friday’s entertainment.

My book of choice was Bill Snyder’s They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. If you haven’t read it, you need to. It was published after he retired the first go around and tells the story how he took charge of the greatest turnaround in college football history.

I have always been a K-State fan and knew they had a phenomenal coach, but I was ignorant to how great of a man and how caring Snyder was…that was until I first read this book back in ’06 when I received it during my initial rehabilitation in Houston along with a letter that gave me so much hope. Don’t believe me, read Letters from Home.

In addition to hope, Snyder’s letter and book left me with some great life lessons…famously know as The 16 Wildcat Commandments. If you’re not aware of them, google them…they are some of the most basic, yet most important life lessons one could receive – and impressed me right off the bat.

Fast forward to 2012, I got to meet Bill Snyder thanks to my dear friend Tamren – see Hot Date in Manhattan. It solidified what I had thought about the man since 2006. He was so genuine, down-to-earth, and one of the nicest men I have ever met. I remember telling him that if I could be even ¼ of the coach he was, I would be a happy lady.

This afternoon, I finished his book for the second time and once again I was amazed and inspired. Ideas are running rampant through my head and it makes me think and dream of if/when I get the chance to head a program of my own.

It has been a pretty great Thanksgiving weekend and I have enjoyed both my time spent with family and my time spent with my nose in a book. Monday will come all too soon, but once again Bill Snyder has left me with hope and dreaming of what might lie ahead.