Bill Snyder admits he offered Jim Leavitt a job
Following Brett McMurphy’s report last week that Bill Snyder shot down the idea of Jim Leavitt joining the Kansas State staff as the coach-in-waiting, Snyder has given his take on what exactly happened.
Snyder addressed the topic when asked during the Big 12 media teleconference on Monday morning, saying:
“We had a vacancy on our staff and I had offered Jim the opportunity to come. The rest of it is something that I’m not totally aware of that probably the administration would be better served to answer.”
That’s the first time Snyder had really addressed the topic. When asked about it late last week he said he didn’t know anything about the report. The job Snyder is referring to is his opening at linebackers coach, which was open after Mike Cox left the staff.
McMurphy’s story implied that Snyder shut down the deal because he wanted his son Sean, who is the team’s associate head coach, to take over for him upon retirement.
Snyder went on to say Monday morning,
“He [Leavitt] has always been a close friend, and I would love to have had him here as a position coach, but I didn’t have a coordinator spot for him, so I couldn’t offer him that.”
Leavitt is getting paid a small fortune to be Oregon’s defensive coordinator, where his salary is $1.5 million, one of the highest for any coordinator in the country. But most importantly, there is a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for the Kansas State head job without paying a buyout.
Snyder also said he would wait until after the season, like he does ever year, to look back and determine whether or not he wants to continue coaching the Wildcats.
Needless to say, this probably isn’t the last time we hear about this.
