Staff Report

 

Mark Snyder is headed for a new team and a new league.

The former Marshall head football coach was hired Monday by new Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator.

Snyder has been the defensive coordinator the past two seasons for South Florida.

Texas A&M left the Big 12 and will join the Southeastern Conference next season.

Sumlin made the announcement while addressing the American Football Coaches Association on Monday. The hiring won’t be official until Sumlin returns to A&M.

South Florida was 5-7 last season but the defense was rated among the top 40 in the country.

“If you watch what they’ve done at South Florida, they’re a 4-3 teams, they’re aggressive, they’ll give you some odd fronts in different situations, (but they’re) very aggressive,”Sumlin said on his Twitter account.

“Statistically they’re at the top of the country in sacks and tackles for loss which means that’s a style our kids will be excited to play in.”

Snyder’s salary is expected to be approximately $1 million.

Snyder spent seven years as an assistant for Ohio State and Minnesota. He helped coach the Ohio State defense during the 2002 national championship season.

Returning to his alma mater as the head coach, Snyder had to rebuild a program racked by probation and the loss of 16 scholarships. The Herd also lost 16 of its 22 starters prior to his arrival and moved from the Mid-American Conference to Conference USA.

Marshall went 7-6 in his fifth season and won the Little Ceasars Pizza Bowl. However, he resigned under pressure after the final regular season game and did not coach in the bowl.

Most of his recruits made up Marshall’s starting lineup this past season as the Herd went 7-6 and won the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

Snyder was an All-Ohio quarterback at Ironton where he helped the Fighting Tigers to the 1982 Division III state runner-up.