INDIANAPOLIS - Illinois football and head coach Bret Bielema announced the hiring of Sean Snyder as the special teams coordinator and specialist coach on Tuesday as a replacement for tight ends and special teams coach Ben Miller who is on leave during the 2022 season as he continues treatment for colon cancer.
“The past 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 in a statement. "I have a few more challenges ahead but have received encouraging news about my diagnosis. I have completed four months of chemotherapy and am awaiting liver surgery in August. I will be undergoing more chemotherapy during the fall and will miss the majority of the 2022 season. Treatment is going as planned, and I'm fortunate to be receiving the very best treatment by world-class physicians. I'm also blessed to be a 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 famILLy and, of course, Illini Nation. I-L-L!"
For the previous two seasons, Snyder served as the special teams coordinator at Southern California. From 2011-19 Snyder was on staff at Kansas State in some capacity as either a coach or analyst. Sean’s father, Bill Snyder, is a College Football Hall of Famer and served accumulated a 215-117 overall record as the head coach of Kansas State.
“It’s really been a tough situation to work through,” Bielema said on Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium. “Last spring, we weren’t quite sure if he’d (Miller) would be will us in the fall. Then really as spring developed, we knew that at some point he was not going to be with us for the fall. He and I sat down and had a conversation, and it really kind of took us to in reality kind of put us on the shelf as a football coach. He can still recruit for us. He can make phone calls. Do things. There are certain rules that are in place. He’s still a full active recruiter, but the NCAA allows me to replace him on the field. Sean really becomes one of our 10 assistant coaches. He’ll coordinate with our special teams and our specialists.”
Sean Snyder and Bielema’s relationship dates back to 2002-03 when Bielema was the co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State on Bill Snyder’s coaching staff. During that time, Sean worked as a senior associate athletic director in the Kansas State athletic department.
Last season, under Snyder’s direction, USC’s special teams ranked third in the Pac-12 conference in kick returns. The Trojans returned 26 kicks for 617 yards, averaging 27.4 yards per kick return. In the punt game, USC was 12th in the conference averaging just 4.8 yards per punt return. USC had the second-best field goal percentage in the Pac 12 last season and averaged 45 yards per punt, for fifth in the Pac-12. USC finished fourth in the conference in average kickoff distance.
At the tight end position, Miller’s other area of specialization on the Illinois coaching staff, Illinois hired Courtney Messingham as an analyst. Every coach on the Illini’s offensive staff has served as a tight ends coach at some point in their careers, Bielema anticipates coaching the tight position will be a group effort in 2022. Offensive line coach Bart Miller was the tight ends coach at Air Force in 2017, wide receivers coach George McDonald was the tight ends coach at Stanford in 2004 and running backs coach Cory Patterson was the tight ends coach at Illinois from 2018-20 for former Illini head coach Lovie Smith
“Two of my Gas, one of them will there from a pure functional standpoint with them every day in the meeting room and on the field,” the Illinois head coach said. “We hired some analyst who can help coach coaches. They can’t be on the field. Courtney Messingham is a guy who I added from K-State’s staff who has been around a lot of good football. A national championship guy, who has been a huge asset to our team. For me, personally, I’ve always really liked tight ends, so it allowed me to get my hands dirty as well.”
Messingham was fired at the conclusion of the 2021 regular season before Kansas State’s bowl game after three years serving as the Wildcats offensive coordinator. It was his second Power-5 coaching job. He was the offensive coordinator at Iowa State from 2012-13.
