Success No Joke for Cal : Citrus Bowl: Efficiency expert Snyder brings Golden Bears to the next level.

The definition of disaster is clearly different for every person. For Bruce Snyder, the highly successful football coach at California, you have to go back to his graduation ceremony from El Monte High in 1958.

Snyder was driving some buddies to the ceremony when a car pulled in front of him, causing an accident. No one was hurt, but time was lost. By the time they got to school, the class was already lined up, ready to receive diplomas.

“We were scurrying around the field and didn’t know where to line up,” Snyder said. “We were wandering around, all through “Pomp and Circumstance,” trying to find our place.”

If that doesn’t sound like too big a calamity, you don’t know Bruce Snyder.

Snyder is described by his friends as:

--”Extremely efficient.” John Robinson, his former boss with the Rams.

--”An excellent organizer.” NBC analyst and former San Francisco 49er Coach Bill Walsh.

--”Constantly preparing.” Cal assistant Rod Marinelli.

--”(A man who) obviously gives everything a lot of thought.” Dave Maggard, the current Miami athletic director who hired Snyder at Cal.

Get the picture?

Snyder is addicted to planning and punctuality. He goes so far as to make his assistant coaches practice for daily practices. Judging by Cal’s 9-2 record, it works.

Five years ago, Snyder took over a program that had hit rock bottom under Joe Kapp. After three lackluster seasons, things changed and Cal went to the Copper Bowl last season, its first bowl game in 11 years. This season, Cal moved up another notch and will play Clemson in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1.

“You could tell through his public remarks and patience that he would get it done,” Walsh said. “It was only a matter of accumulating enough of the top athletes. That takes time, but he’s done that, it’s very evident.”

Snyder’s appearance does not betray his fastidiousness. He can sound like a football coach, using terms such as focused and one at a time. He has been called boring and dull.

“I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that puts on a funny hat and does a dance on the bar,” Walsh said.

Even his players, some of the more vocal in the Pacific 10 Conference, play it straight when it comes to Snyder.

“We don’t play too many practical jokes on Coach Snyder because he’s a low-key, classy type of guy,” said Brian Treggs, his top receiver.

But if you peel away the layers that surround Snyder, you’re likely to be surprised. He’s more multifaceted than your average football coach, who talks about how many football players it takes to put on a football field to win football games.

BRUCE THE ATHLETE

As might be expected, Snyder achieved a degree of success as a football player. But before that, he made a run at being a boxer. He won his first fight on a technical knockout and followed that with another victory. By his third fight, he thought boxing was a pretty good thing to do. That was before he became acquainted with the size and meanness of his next opponent.

“I got into the ring and he came in after me with one of those hoods on,” Snyder recalled. “I couldn’t tell what he looked like, but of course I wanted to know. I tried peeking at him but didn’t really see him until he took his robe off. Then all I could think was, ‘Holy cow! That guy looks mean!’

“It was a three-rounder and I told my brother I was going to go as hard as I could. I think I won the first round, but I completely wore myself out. Then he beat the hell out of me in the second round. By the third round we were both so tired it looked like a waltz. We just danced and it ended up a tie.

“After the fight I took off my gloves, hung them up and said, ‘That’s it. I’m going to college and be a football player.’ ”

So ended his boxing career at 2-0-1.

Snyder became the starting fullback and linebacker at Oregon. In 1960, his first year, the team went to the Liberty Bowl, where Penn State thrashed the Ducks, 41-12.

Snyder was a redshirt the next year and finished his playing career in 1962. There was no pro career waiting and as the expression goes, those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

BRUCE THE ACADEMICIAN

Snyder didn’t want to go the traditional college route and be a physical education major, so he chose mathematics. He didn’t really like math, but he was good at it.

“I got very, very good grades in math,” Snyder said. “So I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to be a coach, I’ve got to be able to teach something, so it might as well be math.’

“If I could go back now, there is no way I would be a math major. I would have fought my way through as a history major, or political science.”

Although Snyder discounts his penchant for numbers, others see it as a value.

“His math background means he has a more structured mind,” Walsh said. “And it’s clear he’s always looking for a formula to get things done.”

Tom Keele, Cal’s offensive line coach, was responsible for Snyder’s first coaching job in 1962. Sheldon High in Eugene, Ore., had just opened and needed coaches and teachers.

Snyder was an immediate hit--as a math teacher, that is.

“He was an excellent math teacher,” Keele said. “It was the time of new math where two and two equaled five. I had three daughters who were having trouble with math and I sure couldn’t figure it out. So I had Bruce come over to the house and work with them.”

Tutoring the boss’ kids does little to hurt your chances of future employment. After all, who knows what you might end up doing?

BRUCE THE MUSICIAN

Snyder has had steady employment in football for almost three decades. He has been an an assistant at Oregon, New Mexico State, USC and with the Rams. His previous head coaching job was at Utah State.

And he has also held some non-football jobs. In college, he could be found pouring beer and serving pizza into the early hours of the morning.

He even did a stint at Disneyland.

“As a kid, it was quite a treat to have a brother working at Disneyland,” said Phyllis Snyder, his younger sister by 11 years. “He would bring us souvenirs of things people left behind, and oodles and oodles of tickets.”

But one career that mercifully never developed was playing the spoons. Snyder was back in Iowa after the death of his father when he and other family members decided to stop in Bartlett, a little town on the Iowa-Nebraska border.

“On one corner, there was a general store with a gas pump out front and on the other was Honkers tavern,” Snyder said about the place named for ducks of the non-Oregon variety. “Come in and get your whistle wet--Honkers.

“We were there and I probably had a couple of beers and my musical background came out and I learned to play the spoons.”

Snyder admits to having no scheduled appearances planned on “Hot Country Nights.”

“I gave up that career faster than I gave up boxing,” he said.

For Snyder, that calling is nothing more than ancient history. And speaking of history. . . .

BRUCE THE HISTORIAN

Snyder makes no secret of his love for history. In fact, he read two books during the season: “Alexander the Great” and “The World Rushed In,” a factual account of the California gold rush. He’s currently reading “Just Win, Baby,” about Al Davis. However, Snyder points out that the book was given to him and proudly says: “I don’t read many sports books.”

It’s not uncommon to find coaches enamored of history. Woody Hayes, the legendary Ohio State coach, was addicted to it. Bobby Bowden, the glib coach of Florida State, also is a student of the world. Somehow, coaches can always find a parallel to football.

Read at your own risk Snyder’s analysis of Alexander the Great:

“Alexander the Great was kind of crazy. He took off down into Asia with his army and he had a marginal fleet in the Mediterranean. The Persians had a terrific navy but a very average army. So, he knew he couldn’t beat them at sea but thought that having a fleet would give his army a way out if things got bad. So, he destroyed some of his fleet and sent the rest of them home. His land troops had no way out.

“His theory was that it made them a tougher fighting unit because they didn’t have a choice.

“So, the point I’m making is that if you give people options, their resolve tends not to be as strong. I took this job five years ago and I said I didn’t have any other choice and we’re going to go do it. You try to eliminate reasons for failure.”

And with success, come decisions, and, as was the case with Alexander the Great, the chance to travel.

BRUCE THE TRAVELER

Snyder doesn’t like to admit it, but there is a possibility that Wednesday’s Citrus Bowl could be his last game as Cal’s coach. His name is surfacing on coaching-vacancy lists.

He is currently negotiating for a long-term contract at Cal at slightly more than the $250,000 package he now receives. But down several notches in the Pac-10 standings is Arizona State, which has put Snyder on top of its short list of candidates. According to reports, Arizona State could put together a package of about $500,000.

But the real carrot may be found about four hours south of Orlando in Miami.

Dennis Erickson, coach of the Miami Hurricanes, has been rumored in line for one of the many--currently six and climbing-- NFL jobs open. Erickson has repeatedly said he wants to stay at Miami at least one more year, but, hey, when Snyder took the Cal job he said he wanted to coach there for at least 15 years.

Things change.

The common denominator that puts Snyder at Miami is Maggard, the former Cal athletic director who has moved to Miami.

“I don’t want to get pulled into a deal where I begin to talk about him as the coach at Miami because we have a coach,” Maggard said. “I would just simply say that Bruce Snyder has the capability of coaching anyplace. He’s an outstanding coach and I have a real strong feeling for his abilities.”

In athletic director double-speak, that’s a strong endorsement.

As for Snyder, he dismisses any rumors.

“I think the first reaction is that I’m flushed with flattery,” Snyder said. “But at this point, I can’t say it’s anything more than flattery. It gives you a good feeling that people are recognizing your accomplishments. But that’s all it is at this point, flattery.”