Peterson: Coaches, even great ones like Bill Snyder, should leave hiring replacements to AD

So you’re thinking Saturday could be the last time an Iowa State football coach shakes hands at midfield with Kansas State’s legendary Bill Snyder. You’re thinking the latest Wildcats drama, not to mention last summer’s cancer treatment, has taken so much a toll, that the Hall of Fame coach has seen enough.

Farewell to football?

I thought so, too, earlier in the week. Now? I’m like everyone else:

I’m not so sure.

If this 78-year-old coaching marvel was going to retire, he’d have done it last summer, someone that’s been around Snyder for a long time suggested.

He’d have done it during the treatments he was taking to fight throat cancer. He’d have done it then, and K-State officials would have had nothing else to do but to name his son, Sean, as his dad’s replacement.

That’s the way Bill Snyder wants it, anyway. In his perfect world, the next coach to occupy his office will be his son, the team’s special teams coach. Kansas State administrators apparently prefer former assistant Jim Leavitt, currently Oregon’s defensive coordinator who reportedly has a clause in his contract that says he can break it without penalty if Kansas State comes calling.

As successful as Bill Snyder’s been, does that give him carte blanche to pick his successor?

I think not.

Should he have input — whenever that may be — into the next Kansas State head football coach?

He’s been paid millions to coach. There’s a Bill Snyder statue outside the what’s called Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He’s the most beloved person in town.

Athletics director Gene Taylor watches plenty of ESPN, according to Jane Meyer’s sworn testimony regarding the days both worked at the University of Iowa.

He knows what coaches are available. His job is to raise money, hire good coaches, run a clean department — and hire search firms.

Bill Snyder’s job is to coach — something he’s done very well during two stints over four decades as Kansas State’s coach.

“I think that the reality for all of us young coaches — there’s a lot of big name coaches out there, guys doing great stuff, but here’s a guy that came to Kansas State and built a program and sustained success,” Iowa State’s 37-year-old coach, Matt Campbell, said this week.

Bill Snyder deserves our respect, regardless of what’s going on these days in The Little Apple.

He’s proven that a northern team can compete favorably in a southern-based Big 12. He’s the precursor to what Matt Campbell is doing now.

“The ability to sustain success in this profession is really hard,” Campbell said. “You don’t just get there; he’s gotten there and sustained it.

“You’ve really got to earn the right to beat a team like his.”

Campbell remembers attending a coaching convention back in the mid-2000s. He remembers sitting in a session led by Snyder.

“I listened to him speak, and I was just so impressed, to be honest with you,” Campbell said. “Being a Division III football player in Ohio, you didn’t know a whole lot about Kansas State, and then all of a sudden, you get into the coaching profession and you’re like, geez, you have such an admiration of what he’s doing and how he’s doing what he’s doing.”

He’ll carry that respect to their midfield conversation and their midfield handshake.

Who will he greet and with whom will he converse at the 50-yard line the next time the teams meet next season in Ames?

Earlier in the week, I’d have predicted someone other than Bill Snyder. Now, I’m not so sure.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.