Bruce Snyder has won only a little more than half of his games as a head football coach, but that didn't stop Arizona State from hiring him last year with hopes that he would lead the Sun Devils back to the Kushy days of the 1970s.
The Sun Devils gave Snyder a contract worth $175,000 per year, and that's not counting perks that bring the deal to over $300,000. All for a guy who was 39-37-1 at Utah State, 29-24-4 at Cal and, last year, 6-5 at Arizona State.What's so great about this guy?
Well, for one thing, he did turn Cal, a perennial loser, into a 10-2 juggernaut in five seasons. And he held his own at Utah State, which is hardly a football mecca.
ASU is putting its money on Snyder to repeat his Cal act with the Sun Devils, who have had only sporadic success since it reigned as a national powerhouse nearly two decades ago. They haven't been to a bowl game since 1987.
"This is a very attractive position," says Snyder of his new job. "And I think it has all the earmarks of being a better one than it is right now. This is a heck of a job with great potential, and that's why I'm here."
The Sun Devils were encouraged by their finish last season, when they won five of their last seven games, but their fans evidently are still skeptical. A crowd of 45,000 is expected for Saturday night's season opener against the University of Utah (kickoff: 8 p.m. MST). That would be the smallest opening night crowd at least 20 years, which is bad news for an athletic department that is counting on football to help pull its ledgers out of the red.
"It's human nature to wait and see," said one ASU athletic department official.
They won't have to wait long. Saturday's game should be a good test for both teams. Utah lost a close decision to ASU 21-15 two years ago in Tempe, and the Utes have improved greatly since then.
The Utes are no stranger to Snyder, who has coached against them seven times, all while at USU, and won only two of them. McBride, now Utah's head coach, was a Ute assistant at the time.
"I started last week being nervous and paranoid about this thing," says Snyder. Of McBride, he says, "He's a highly emotional guy, and his teams reflect that. I suspect Saturday night we'll face a very emotional team, coming off its first bowl game in a long time."
Meanwhile, the Sun Devils are creating some emotion of their own. ASU players have been circulating a quote by Utah cornerback Kareem Leary that appeared in a Salt Lake newspaper: "We'll take care of ASU, play our 12 games, and in our 13th game we'll take care of that."
Snyder has wasted no time putting his stamp on the Sun Devils. The defense is a gambling, aggressive, eight-man front that attacks the quarterback and leaves the cornerbacks in single coverage on the wideouts. The offense has returned to the running game - the coach's pride and joy. Fortunately for Snyder, he has two standout players to lead the attack on both sides of the ball.
The Sun Devils return just 30 lettermen from last year - the school's lowest total since 1975 - but among them are tailback Mario Bates and defensive end Shante Carver, who are being billed as two of the best players in the country.
Carver, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound senior, has collected a school-record 31 sacks during his career. A consensus preseason All-American, he is listed among the leading candidates for the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy. Some believe he is the best pure pass rusher in the country.
Bates, a 6-foot-2, 213-pound sophomore, rushed for 214 yards against Washington last season, then 109 against Louisville and 118 against Nebraska before he was sidelined for the rest of the season by a knee injury. He is rated among the top five or six running backs in the nation.
"He is the real deal," says McBride, who helped recruit Bates and his teammate/fullback, Barry Bacon, while an assistant at the University of Arizona.
Snyder loves the running game, and even with most of his best runners sidelined with injuries the Devils still rushed for 1,897 yards last season.
Sophomore quarterback Grady Benton completed 66 percent of his passes last season to break the NCAA record for freshmen held by Miami's Bernie Kosar, but he threw mostly short, high-percentage passes. ASU is hoping for more big-play passes this season.
Whether it all adds up to a better ASU team remains to be seen, but Saturday night's game against Utah will provide the first clue.