Kansas State University Football Coach Bill Snyder has been awarded the 2015 Excellence in Mentoring Award by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership in recognition of his longstanding commitment to meeting the mentoring needs of young people in Kansas.

Snyder was presented the award in Washington D.C. last week.

“If you are involved with coaching, you are involved with mentoring. And that mentoring happens both on and off the football field,” said Snyder.  “I still have mentors. Probably the most significant thing that anyone can do in our lives is surround ourselves with people who care, and people who want to make our lives better. And young people don’t always know how to reach out and find those people. That is why the role of a mentoring program is so important.”

Snyder, along with Coach Tom Osborne of the University of Nebraska, developed the Coaches’ Challenge, a recruitment campaign which has recruited tens of thousands of adults to mentor and this year, has first-time participation from the entire Big 12 Conference.