The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

November 19, 2009

Snyder's Christmas wish

By Gary Fauber

Christmas will be here before we know it, bringing with it the smell of sugar cookies baking and holiday music playing in the background.

Mark Snyder would trade it all for room service and 6 a.m. wakeup calls.

Marshall’s fifth-year head coach hasn’t been bowling since he was an assistant at Ohio State in 2004, when the Buckeyes went to the Alamo Bowl. It was the sixth straight year Snyder was an assistant on a team that went to a bowl game.

He admittedly misses the experience.

“I would like to not be home for Christmas again, as weird as that sounds,” he said. “I just don’t like being home for Christmas. It was OK the first year because I hadn’t been home for Christmas in a long time. But it wears on you.

“My kids want a Christmas tree in a hotel room somewhere because that was how they were brought up. I want to be at a bowl game.”

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Of SMU’s nine blocked kicks, seven have come from the same player.

Redshirt freshman defensive end Margus Hunt, a native of Estonia, now holds the SMU record in that category. He is tied for second in NCAA history, one away from the record of eight.

Hunt, 6-foot-8, 267 pounds, originally came to SMU to be a member of the track team. He won gold medals in the shot put and discus at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, becoming the first person ever to do so.

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Normally, the Conference USA champion is rewarded with a trip to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. But SMU coach June Jones has aspirations of going elsewhere should his team win the championship.

In a recent story in the Dallas Morning News, Jones expressed hopes the Mustangs be able to go to the Hawaii Bowl instead.

According the report, the Hawaii Bowl was essentially created because of Jones’ success in nine seasons at Hawaii. Jones, in his second year at SMU, said the program would get better publicity there because of his return.

“They do a great job for that bowl game (the Liberty Bowl), too, but I know ESPN will play up me going back to Hawaii,” he said.

C-USA must “work with the Liberty Bowl in what selection they want,” said Alfred White, a C-USA associate commissioner.

“That would be a good draw, seeing how Hawaii isn’t bowl eligible,” Snyder said.

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As successful as SMU has been this season, Snyder said Jones’ system has not been fully installed.

“He doesn’t have all of his pieces in place yet, but you will see a variation of the run-and-shoot offense,” Snyder said. “But it’s not all there yet like he had it at Hawaii. It will take him some time, but he is well on his way.”

— E-mail: gfauber@

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