Nevada football coach Jay Norvell blown away by Kansas State’s game-day atmosphere
Nevada football coach Jay Norvell wasn’t happy with the way his team played during a 38-17 loss to Kansas State on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, but he still thinks the game was a valuable experience for the Wolf Pack.
One reason why: They got to play in “a fun environment.”
“It was great for our kids to play in front of a really good college football crowd with a great band and great student involvement,” Norvell said during his weekly news conference on Tuesday. “It was a great atmosphere. They have really done some amazing things to that stadium over the years.”
Norvell would know.
Before he took over as Nevada’s head coach in 2017, he served as an assistant for four different Big 12 teams and regularly visited Manhattan for games with Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
His first trip to K-State’s campus likely came in 1995, when he was coaching for the Cyclones. The Wildcats have spent hundreds of millions renovating the stadium since then.
It truly does look nothing like it did 30 years ago, when the Snyder era was just beginning.
In particular, Norvell said he was impressed by the the stadium’s new press box and locker rooms.
He also went out of his way to compliment K-State fans for showing up early.
“They do a great thing with their student section,” Norvell said. “About an hour and a half before the game, they allow the students to come in and they sprint for their seats. That is something they have really built there and something other people can learn from. They also put the band behind the visiting team.”
A crowd of 48,768 was in attendance Saturday.
One could say those fans helped the Wildcats pull away from the Wolf Pack after Nevada tied the score at 17 midway through the third quarter.
Norvell would likely agree.
“I just think,” he said, “they do it the right way.”