CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois assistant coach Ben Miller’s health-related leave of absence from coaching will extend through the 2022 season. Miller, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in February, will remain in communication with the Illinois staff and student-athletes as much as possible while continuing his medical plan and treatments.
“The last few months away from football have been difficult, but it has given me time to be with my family and focus on my health,” Miller said. “I have a few more challenges ahead, but I have received encouraging news about my diagnosis. I have completed four months of chemotherapy and am awaiting liver surgery in August. I will have more chemotherapy in the fall and will miss most of season 2022 Treatment is proceeding as planned and I am fortunate to receive the very best care from world class physicians I am also blessed to be part of a first class organization at the University of Illinois I would not be where I am without the support of my family, coach Bielema, Josh Whitman, the Illini football family and, of course, Illini Nation. I-L-L!”
“Ben continues to impress me and our entire football family with his approach, fight and belief,” head coach Bret Bielema said. “He will be missed on the sidelines, but we are excited to have him with our student-athletes as much as his treatments and NCAA rules allow. Ben and I knew this scenario was a possibility since February. We put together a plan that we are confident will give our student-athletes the best opportunity to succeed while keeping their health as the #1 priority.
“As part of that plan, we are excited to have Sean Snyder join our Illini FamILLy as our special teams coordinator/specialist coach. Sean and I have a long history, first as teammates and then as assistant coaches together, and he is always someone I have respected. He is an accomplished special teams coach with 10 years of Power-5 coordinator experience and over 25 years total in college football. I am thrilled to be reunited with Sean and his family here in Champaign .”
Veteran Power-5 special teams coordinator Sean Snyder comes to Champaign from USC, where he spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as special teams coordinator. Previously, Snyder spent more than two decades at Kansas State, where his father, Bill Snyder, was a legendary head coach.
Snyder began at Kansas State as a part-time assistant coach in 1994 and 1995, then served as director of football operations from 1996 to 1998, assistant athletic director of football operations in 1999 and 2000, associate athletic director in 2001 and senior associate athletic director. from 2002 to 2010. He served as special teams coordinator/associate head coach from 2011-18 and special teams analyst in 2019 before moving to USC.
During his tenure, Kansas State ranked in the Top 15 of ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency rating 5 times, including first in 2017, second in 2015 and third in 2012. The Wildcats were also in the Top 25 of Football Outsiders’ Special Teams Rating 6 times since 2011 , including first in 2017, third in 2014 and 2019 and sixth in 2012. Snyder was named the National Special Teams Coordinator of the Year in 2015 by FootballScoop and Phil Steele and in 2017 by Phil Steele.
In 2020, USC’s special teams were ranked No. 1 nationally by Football Outsider, and the Trojans were in the national Top 25 in NCAA statistics in kickoff return defense (10th at 17.0) and net punting (25th at 40.8) . True freshman Parker Lewis was 20th nationally in field goals (1.6), Gary Bryant Jr. (also a true freshman) was 22nd in kickoff returns (26.2), Ben Griffiths’ 46.4 punting average was the highest by a Trojan since 2003 and snapper Damon Johnson was a Mannelly Award finalist.
Under Snyder, Kansas State’s special teams units set eight team records and 20 individual marks. He coached four Big 12 Special Teams Players of the Year, including three consecutive (returning Tyler Lockett in 2013 and 2014, Morgan Burns in 2015 and Joshua Youngblood in 2019). Lockett, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks, was an All-American first team kickoff returner in 2011 and punt returner in 2014. Burns earned All-American first team honors in 2015 as a kick returner, leading the nation in kickoff return touchdowns (4 ). Youngblood was a first-team Freshman All-American in 2019 as he ran back three kickoffs for TDs and helped Kansas State lead the nation in kickoff return average (29.5). Placekicker Matthew McCrane was a Freshman All-American first-teamer in 2014 and an All-Big 12 first-team selection in 2017, while kicker Jack Cantele made the All-Big 12 first-team in 2015. Kick returner Byron Pringle was All-Big 12 first-team in 2016 and returner D.J. Reed was then honored in 2017.
Snyder was a consensus All-American and All-Big Eight first-teamer under his father at Kansas State as a senior in 1992, averaging 44.7 yards per punt. He was the Big Eight Defensive Newcomer of the Year as a junior in 1991, averaging 40.5 points. His 43.0 career average was a school record. He played in the 1992 Blue-Gray Game. He was inducted into Kansas State’s inaugural Ring of Honor Class in 2002 and into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
Snyder redshirted at Iowa in 1988, and saw action in two games for the Hawkeyes as a redshirt freshman in 1989 before transferring to Kansas State. He received his bachelor’s degree from Kansas State in money and banking in 1994.
Snyder signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Cardinals in 1993 and the San Diego Chargers in 1994.
He and his wife Wanda raised a daughter Katherine and sons Tate and Matthew. They have five grandchildren: Katherine and her husband Colton have three children, DJ, Declan and Murphy, and Tate and his wife Nikki have two children, Pearce and Presley.
