The Coach Joe Spencer Award for Lifetime Achievement and Meritorious Service in Coaching, established in 1997 by the Athletic Alumni Association, is given annually to alumni or former coaches of Austin College for achievement in the coaching profession.
Bill Snyder was an assistant coach at Austin College from 1974 to 1975 before leaving to join coach Hayden Fry’s staff at North Texas State in 1976. He moved with Fry to Iowa in 1979 before taking over at Kansas State in 1989.
The architect of the “greatest turnaround in the history of college football” and a sure-fire Hall of Famer, Snyder (William Jewell ’62) retired in November of 2005 after 17 seasons as the head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats.
Named the 32nd head football coach at Kansas State on Nov. 30, 1988, Snyder amassed a 136-68-1 (.666) record with the Wildcats, including a 75-53-1 (.585) mark in Big 8/12 games. His 136 victories are more than triple the man in second place on K-State’s all-time coaching victories list (Mike Ahearn, 39 wins).