With the NCAAF season right around the corner of summer celebrations, burnt weiners, flattened beer cans, and easily prevented sunburns. The office-team smack talk is already begining. This post has been motivated by the local OU fan to my left and a post on the Big XII ESPN Blog by David Ubben.

Wihout being a "homer" I'll give credit where credit is due. The Big XII is full of accomplished coaches that have made their careers memorable with BCS Title Game appearnces and BCS Bowl wins. But it got me thinking, "where did these coaches gain all their knowledge?"

Enter Bill Snyder----

As we all know, Bill Snyder started his career under Hayden Fry. But did you know it all began at North Texas State? Later, the Silver Haired Fox moved to the University of Iowa in 1979 as Coach Fry's Offensive Coordinator. Coach Fry collected an over-all record of 232–178–10 with Coach Snyder at his side in Iowa and was later inducted into the College Fottball Hall of Fame.

Year 1989: Kansas State introduces Coach Bill Snyder as the Kansas State Wildcats Head Football Coach. Of the past years at Kansas State, Coach has had eight (8) assistant coaches further their careers as Head Football Coaches at some of the most prestigeous programs in the nation. Phil Bennett (SMU), Bret Bielema (Wisconsin), Jim Leavitt (South Florida), Mark Mangino (Kansas), Dana Dimel (Wyoming), Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), Mike Stoops (Arizona), Carl Pelini (Florida Atlantic University).

Here is a link to a Photobucket Coaching Tree of Bill Snyder:

http://s399.photobucket.com/albums/pp79/jeffreymeisel/?action=view&current=snydercoachingtree.png&newest=1

So I guess you could argue, it's because of Bill Snyder and his 16 Core Values that made these particular Coaches as successful as they are being their mentor. Or perhaps they are all just as talented and used the opportunity as an assistant to sell their product.

You decide! Let me know what you think..