EUGENE a What Jim Leavitt will say is that he is ever grateful for Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.
By 1990, when Snyder called to make Leavitt his linebackers coach at Kansas State, Leavitt had spent 12 years as a coordinator at small colleges and a low-level staffer at larger schools. The move to Manhattan, Kansas, was his big break. Within six years, he was a Division I head coach.
"Coach Snyder and I are very, very close," Leavitt said Wednesday, calling himself Snyder's "No. 1 fan."
By now, most know Leavitt considers KSU to be a special place.