Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder is so popular in the state that the Wildcats' football stadium and a section of highway leading into Manhattan, KS are named after him, so it makes sense for political candidates to seek his endorsement.
Republican Pat Roberts, who's a Kansas State alum and is a candidate for U.S. Senator, had that idea and called on an endorsement from Snyder. In the ad, Snyder says he'd vote for "my good friend Pat Roberts, of course," adding in all of the hard work Roberts has done for the state.
This raised some eyebrows at the university, who promptly reminded employees of the university not to endorse political candidates and requested that the ad be put down.
Kansas State president Kirk Schulz said Snyder didn't know his endorsement was going to be used like that and that the coach was "apologetic for the resulting issues".
"I made a mistake," Snyder said. "I'm not going to delve into it, how exactly everything happened. I made a mistake. I embarrassed the university. That's my responsibility. That's my error." He also said that he prefers the ad no longer run.
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