Kansas State’s Bill Snyder has ruffled a few feathers by denying the former wide receiver Corey Sutton the right to transfer out of their football program this season, but he continues to defend and stand by that decision. Snyder has been holding Sutton to his scholarship agreement, which means Sutton will lose his eligibility to enter a different program in 35 other schools.
Snyder met with the press on Tuesday to discuss his decision, and used his time with the team and the fact that the stadium is named after him to back up his argument.
“I’ve been around there for 28 years; the young man was in our program for less than two years,” Snyder said. “I think our fans know what I’m about. They know what our program is about. I think they trust that. The feeling all along, if you’re a No. 2, you probably want to be a No. 1. If you have the option to leave and you have 22 No. 2s on your team leaving, you don’t have much of a team left. It doesn’t make sense to not try to prevent that from happening.”
This statement seemed to suggest that Snyder wasn’t too happy with the process when it comes to transferring, but to deflect this issue, he mentioned that Sutton had failed two drug tests during his time as a Wildcat. Sutton gave Kansas State a list of 35 schools that he would consider for a transfer, but Kansas State rejected every one of these options; even some programs that were FCS or Division II.
“Coach Snyder told me [Wednesday] that, when I signed my letter of intent, that was my commitment to him, that I was going to be there for four years,” Sutton told reporters. “I heard that and told him, ‘Coaches can leave. So why can’t a player leave? You made a commitment to me that you were going to treat me the right way and that’s not what you’re doing.'”
During an interview on Sports Radio 810, Snyder responded to Sutton’s complaints by explaining that he won’t release a player, meaning they can’t immediately seek out a scholarship program somewhere else, however, they can choose to walk on at another school without a scholarship. This, of course, would be an issue for most students since tuition is already a financial strain even with scholarships in place.
“It doesn’t mean he can’t go someplace else and play, he can certainly do that,” Snyder said. “He wouldn’t be on athletic scholarship for a year’s period of time, but could still go and play and then go on scholarship after that. That’s a choice they have to make. I’ve told the young man, and have told him all along, we’d love for him to stay in the program. Anyways, at the end of the day, that’s always been my policy, as I said. There’s a lot of things being said out there, some of them that I’m not even aware of.”
Snyder is considered a positive presence throughout the college football universe, but the fans and media have started to see both the Wildcat’s head coach and Kansas State in a different light since most believe Sutton should just be released if he really wants to go.
Featured Image via Wikimedia
