Bill Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015, an extremely rare honor for a still-active coach. His success on the field—engineering the greatest turnaround in college football history at Kansas State—makes him clearly deserving of this honor.
However, a great coach’s legacy goes beyond wins and losses on the field. Truly successful coaches have a lasting impact on their players’ lives outside of the game. The leadership lessons they teach and the effect it has on each player’s life is the true measure of greatness.
A great coach builds great people, not just great players.
Bill Snyder’s emphasis on life values that go beyond the game exemplifies what a great coach should be teaching.
Expect to Win, a new book by sportswriter D. Scott Fritchen, collects dozens of powerful stories about Bill Snyder and his legacy. One such story stood out to me as a revealing example of the type of character Snyder instills in his players—character that serves as the foundation for successful people, not just successful players…
A retired four-star general in the United States Air Force and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dick Myers graduated from K-State in 1965, served in the Vietnam War, and traveled the world during a distinguished 45-year military career.
It wasn’t until Myers listened to Bill Snyder address his Wildcats after a 26-13 loss at No. 8 Stanford in the 2016 season-opener that Myers adopted a new ritual on the road. That day, the 74-year-old learned a life lesson.
“What grabbed me was when we were in the locker room, and we lost the game, of course, so were going through all of that kind of stuff, and at the end, Coach said, ‘You know, when we go back to check out of the hotel, I want all of you to write a thank-you note to the housekeeping staff, because they don’t get a lot of thank-yous,’” said Myers, who was announced as permanent K-State president on November 15, 2016.
“Now, I’d venture to say there are not many people in the world that would think about doing that. Personally, I think about leaving a tip for the housekeeping staff. I’ve never thought about writing a thank-you note.
“I mean, that tells you a lot about who (Bill Snyder) is and how he’s trying to influence these young men who are in his charge. That’s, to me, an amazing story. That a head coach, a Hall of Fame coach, would say, ‘and don’t forget the housekeeping staff, write them a note.’
“Well, guess what? I’m writing notes now.”
— D. Scott Fritchen, from his book Expect to Win
Exceptional people do exceptional things.
What I find even more revealing about the above story is the timing of Coach Snyder’s character-building lesson. It’s easy to remind your players to be classy and teach them the importance of good manners and humility after a big win. But how many leaders think to do such things after a major disappointment? How many coaches think to add such lessons into a postgame speech after a devastating defeat?
This is exactly what makes a coach like Bill Snyder exceptional.
Great coaches and leaders do the exceptional things—the things that go above and beyond the ordinary. Every coach can spend hours breaking down film, teaching the fundamentals, and instilling courage, toughness, and grit. And these things are essential to a program’s success.
Yet, to truly be a great leader, you must go beyond what everyone else is doing. You must be exceptional.
And being exceptional begins with instilling character.
Without character, the number of victories won’t ultimately matter all that much. (Sadly, we see this play out too often in big-time sports where athletes or coaches end up being remembered more for their character flaws off the field than for any of their achievements on the field.)
But when coaches build their programs on character first, the victories tend to take care of themselves and even the defeats become life-altering opportunities.
True success is built on character first.
Without character, no amount of outward success—in sports or in business—will matter much at all.
