K-State’s Snyder Says College Athletics ’In A Bad Place’

CBSSports

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/dennis-dodd/22091018/k-states-snyder-college-athletics-in-a-bad-place-right-now-

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said college athletics is “in a bad place right now” to the point that his departure from the game may “not [be] too far away”. The remarks were made on a Kansas City-based sports radio station Wednesday morning.

“College athletics, particularly football, has changed dramatically throughout my career,” Snyder said on 610 Sports Radio KCSP. “I think it’s in a bad place right now. It’s in a bad place for a variety of reasons. We’ve allowed it to become money driven. We’ve allowed it to become TV driven. We’ve allowed athletic programs or football programs to mean more to a university than what the university is really supposed to be all about.”

Snyder didn’t specifically refer to conference realignment, but since 2010 his conference, the Big 12, has lost four members while downsizing to 10 schools with the addition of TCU and West Virginia. Kansas State was particularly vulnerable in 2010 and again in 2011 when the Pac-12 attempted a raid of the Big 12 that could have left Snyder’s school scrambling for a conference.

“The last I heard we were educational institutions,” Snyder said. “Certainly there is an education that takes place in football and I understand all the parameters, but it’s not driven by values, it’s driven by dollars and cents.”

Asked by a host if the current state of college athletics makes Snyder consider if he wants “to be in it much longer,” the coach replied: “You’re not too far away. You’re absolutely right.”