Retired coach Bill Snyder has gathered a lot of accolades in his long and storied career as a head football coach for Kansas State University.
Multiple conference and national coach of the year awards. A trophy case full of bowl trophies in the stadium that bears his name, Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium at Kansas State. Induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
And now he joins the ranks of former Sen. Bob Dole and other Kansas dignitaries with the ultimate recognition: a wheat variety named on his behalf, “KS Bill Snyder.”
This latest hard red winter wheat variety was released by the Kansas State University wheat-breeding program and is licensed by Kansas Wheat Alliance seed associates for farmers to plant this fall.
“It’s very rare that a wheat variety is named after a person, and Coach Snyder is certainly worthy of that for everything he’s done for Kansas, and especially rural Kansas,” said Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat vice president of research and operations.
Persistence
In coaching, sometimes you think 10 yards at a time. In wheat breeding, you think 10 years at a time. Both take dedication and persistence to find the win.
In his remarks at the March 14 unveiling of the “KS Bill Snyder” wheat variety, Kansas Wheat CEO Justin Gilpin said it’s always exciting when a new wheat variety is released out of the Kansas State University wheat-breeding program.
There’s so much investment of time and resources in developing that wheat, he said, from the farmer checkoff dollars that support the program to the efforts of the wheat breeder.
“It takes 10 years, over a decade, potentially, for that wheat variety,” Gilpin said. “That wheat breeder is making decisions, being diligent, looking at test plots and data.”
It’s a lot like the tireless work that Snyder put into breaking down games and thinking about strategy, he added.
And much like Snyder is credited with turning around a losing football program and injecting new life and vitality into the university, a new wheat variety can do the same for farmers, Gilpin said.