Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SF Examiner: Last winning Cal coach passes away

By Rob Calonge

Bruce Snyder last coached in 2000 for the Arizona State Sun Devils, but his shadow still looms large on campus.  Snyder joined his former player, Pat Tillman last year in the ASU Athletic Hall of Distinction - the equivalent of a Sun Devils hall of fame.  He coached the Sun Devils for nine seasons from 1992-2000 where he compiled a record of 58-47-0.

Prior to joining ASU, he was responsible for bringing excellence to Cal football.  After taking over head coaching duties for Joe Kapp in 1987, he was tasked with creating a winning team from a program that had just gone 20-34-1 over the previous five seasons.

In his first season, the Bears went 3-6-2.  It wasn't until his fourth season that the Bears finally broke out of their slumber, winning for the first time in seven years.  They went 7-4-1 and won the Copper Bowl.  In his final season, the Bears went 10-2-0 and won the Citrus Bowl.  He finished his Cal career with a 29-24-4 record. Prior to Cal's hiring of Jeff Tedford, he was the last coach to leave with a winning record. Over a 20 year career, Snyder compiled a record of 126-106-5.  He had a winning record at all three head coaching stops, going 38-37-2 at Utah State before coaching at Cal and ASU.

Read the rest of the article here.

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