Ex-Arizona St. coach Snyder in fight for life

During his freshman season at Arizona State, Keith Poole received a powerful, painful example of the ideal that defined Bruce Snyder as a coach — and continues to do so as he fights for his life.

Snyder figured out fast Tillman was different

Read 'Blogging with the Devils'

In a 1993 practice, Poole, a wide receiver of modest size, was bowled over by a group of tacklers and suffered a broken collarbone.

“Coach Snyder told me to toughen up and get over to the sidelines,” Poole said. “He said, 'Don’t show pain.’ I looked at him like, 'Are you kidding me? I’m about to die here.’ But he doesn’t like to show pain, and he doesn’t want others to show pain. He’s a tough, hard-nosed guy.”

A former boxer who believes that there is no room for the agony of defeat — or agony of any kind — on a field, Snyder and seven other 2008 inductees into ASU’s athletic Hall of Fame will be honored at halftime of the Sun Devils’ game against Oregon Saturday. He coached at ASU from 1992-2000, leading the Devils to a Pac-10 title and within 19 seconds of a national championship in the 1996 season.

Those Saturdays of attrition pale to the battle that Snyder currently wages. The coach who will be on the Sun Devil Stadium field today has a different look than the one that prowled the sidelines for nine seasons. Stage IV melanoma, diagnosed in May, and the resulting bouts of chemotherapy have sapped his strength while causing him to lose weight and his hair.

However, the heart is still fighting. Snyder, 68, might be showing cancer. But he is not showing pain, even in the face of a disease that is “very evil, very evil,” he told the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard.

“He told players that there are always crises to deal with,” said Sun Devils tight ends coach Dan Cozzetto, a Snyder assistant at California (1990-91) and ASU (1992-99). “To deal with it emotionally, he said, is to get back to what you were doing before the crisis hit. That tells you something about Bruce, the man. He is going to keep living life as much as he can. He isn’t letting this stop him.”

Snyder is sharing his life publicly on a Web site — caringbridge.org/visit/brucesnyder — replete with photos, a regularly updated journal and guest book that, as of Friday morning, had 681 entries, some from former players and coaching colleagues.

Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, Oregon assistant Robin Pflugrad and former ASU quarterback Andrew Walter have guest book entries.

Cozzetto has left several messages.

Jason Simmons, a defensive back at ASU from 1994-97 who recently retired from the NFL, is not surprised to see Snyder share his struggle.

“When you talk about his toughness, the thing that always stood out to me was his honesty,” Simmons said. “If you ask him a hard question, you’re going to get a hard answer. It’s tough love, sure, but at least it’s honest and to your face.”

The tough, honest truth is that the odds are long for Snyder. The cancer has spread throughout his body, and the National Cancer Institute indicates that the five-year survival rate for Stage IV melanoma is 5 to 6 percent.

However, Snyder said that he plans to beat cancer, with his great commandment the same one he had for the Sun Devils. The saying is still on the tram buses that take ASU’s players from their Sun Devil Stadium locker room to the Bill Kajikawa Practice Facility:

One at a time.

“I didn’t buy into it at first, but later, I got what he was talking about when he said, 'One at a time.’ ” Poole said. “First, it was just football, with one play at a time, one hit at a time. But he wanted us to use that in life, too. You do each task, each adversity, one at a time.”

In the locker room following the 1997 Rose Bowl, with the players feeling shock and disappointment at their last-minute loss, Snyder’s postgame speech ended with a life lesson: “Cherish each other, because this is the last time this particular team will be together.”

He added, “You will be Sun Devils for life.”

Snyder, too, is a Sun Devil for life, which is affirmed by his Hall induction.

And as long as Snyder has life, he plans on never giving up the fight.

“Bruce always finds the positive in any negative,” Cozzetto said. “That’s why he’s battling the way he is. It’s a fight for him right now, but he is taking it one day at a time. There’s so much to learn from him in the way he’s going about it, taking every day, every hour, every minute, and not taking it any farther than that.

“And I know that he’s thanking God, every time he wakes up in the morning, for the day he has.”

Arizona State’s 2008 athletic Hall of Fame induction class has seven former athletes and one coach.

Eric Allen: (football, 1983-87) A cornerback, he had 15 interceptions at ASU before embarking on a lengthy NFL career. He played in six Pro Bowls.

Jacinta Bartholomew: (track and field, 1986-89) A four-time All-American, she holds the school record in the long jump (6.62 meters). She was part of the national championship 400-meter relay team in 1988.

Brandie Burton: (golf, 1989-90) Played just one season at ASU and did it all, winning six tournaments and the Pac-10 championship while leading the Sun Devils to their first national team title.

Lisa Dacquisto: (softball, 1994-97) She finished with a .378 career batting average and is ASU’s all-time leader in hits (296) and stolen bases (102). A two-time All-American.

Markus Mollica: (wrestling, 1993-96) One of only two wrestlers in school history with two national titles, in 1993 (at 158 pounds) and ’95 (at 167 pounds).

Bruce Snyder: (football coach, 1992-2000) The Sun Devils won 58 games and made four bowl appearances during his tenure. Was the national coach of the year in 1996, when ASU went 11-1 and won the Pac-10 title.

Pat Tillman: (football, 1994-97) In 1997, he was named the Pac-10’s defensive player of the year, an award that now bears his name. He was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2004.

Jeremy Veal: (basketball, 1995-98) Left ASU as the all-time leading scorer (1,984 points) in school history; he now ranks second behind Eddie House.