Continuity is the key opponent on Saturday for West Virginia

In his Tuesday press conference, West Virginia head football coach Dana Holgorsen lauded the durability of Bill Snyder and the Kansas State football program. Holgorsen used word specifically.

“They have great continuity with the coaching staff,” Holgorsen said.

Continuity seems to be the theme for everything Kansas State does, and it stems from one man: Bill Snyder. The twice-tenured coach has built a legacy that is respected by all Big 12 coaches and college football fans around the country.

Holgorsen pointed to Snyder’s continuity reflecting his coaching search this offseason. Even though he had to replace both the offensive and defensive coordinators from 2017, Snyder has “replaced them with guys who have been in their program.”

The eight-year WVU head coach notes that he’s always been impressed with how the Wildcats do the simple things the best and that “their backbone has always been toughness and discipline” under Snyder.

Snyder built the Kansas State program in a truly Kansas way. No frills, no flash, just doing the things you’re supposed to do extremely well and valuing what’s important. In fact, he’s been wearing the same Nike pullover jacket since the 2015 Alamo Bowl.

“They play hard, they’re well-coached. Everything people say about them is true. Play with great effort, don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Holgorsen explained.

However, for as much as people may say this is a battle of old school and new school, Holgorsen dismisses Snyder as someone who sits in the past.

“I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference (between the two programs),” Holgorsen said. “The one drastic difference is QB run game and more passing, but their pass plays are up-to-date.”

In the Big 12 media teleconference on Monday, Snyder said that he is “not sure there’s separation between new and old.”

“Everything that we’ve got in our offense I see they have in their offense. Everything I see in their offense, we’ve got in our offense,” the experienced Wildcat head coach stated.

Program consistency seemed to be what did early Holgorsen teams in against Kansas State, as the Wildcats won the first four Big 12 matchups between the teams. However, Holgorsen’s teams have been able to gut out narrow victories the past two years. Maybe the young buck is learning from the old wizard of college football?

“There are some similarities between what they’re doing now defensively and what we do. We’ve got some toughness to us. We’ve got a lot of program pride around here,” said Holgorsen. “There are a lot of non-coaching aspects that I’ve tried to do with this program that he’s done with his program for decades.”

Snyder has compiled a 212-111-1 record in more than 25 years at K-State, while Holgorsen has a 55-37 record into his eighth year at WVU. It makes sense to model your program after a man who has coached in 232 more college football games than you and has a .654 winning percentage.