Perhaps no football program has had a more abrupt reversal of fortune than Putnam.
In 2022, the Kingsmen had a major breakthrough when they started the season 8-0 for the first time in 36 years. They haven't won a game since.
Putnam dropped its last two games in 2022, then after a wave of transfers by key players, struggled to even field a varsity team, forfeiting three games in the next two seasons. The Kingsmen have lost 28 in a row by an average margin of 32.1 points, finishing last season at the bottom of the 5A power rankings.
The job of stemming that tide falls on Michael Snyder, who was hired as coach last month. Snyder went 10-34 as the coach at 3A Valley Catholic for the past five seasons.
“I definitely know what I'm walking into,” Snyder said. “I know it's a top-to-bottom rebuild. It's not just a quick little fix.”
Snyder is no stranger to rebuilding. He took over a struggling program at Valley Catholic, and after going 1-16 in his first two seasons, he went 9-18 in the next three years. The Valiants finished 4-5 last season, their most wins since 2016.
“I loved it. It helped me grow as a coach so much,” Snyder said. “I just felt like it was the right time to step down and look for something else.”
Snyder resigned in January. He was growing weary of the commute from his home in Happy Valley to the Valley Catholic campus in Beaverton, and when the job at nearby Clackamas opened, he decided to pursue it. He has two sons attending elementary school in the Clackamas enrollment area.
Snyder was a finalist for the Clackamas job before the school opted to hire former Roosevelt coach Ryan McCants. Snyder joined the Clackamas staff at the request of McCants, but the Putnam job opened within a month, and he altered course.
“Ryan knew I wanted to be a head coach again,” Snyder said. “When the Putnam job opened, that's something I had been kind of eyeing, like a Clackamas or Putnam or Milwaukie job.”
Snyder began his coaching career in 2010 as an assistant at Milwaukie, where he graduated in 2008. He coached under the late Don Johnson Jr. at Milwaukie (2012) and went with Johnson to coaching stops at Evergreen (Wash.), Madison and Jefferson. Johnson left Jefferson in 2020 to join the University of Oregon staff, and one year later, Snyder took over at Valley Catholic.
At Putnam, Snyder will be the third coach in three seasons, following Michael Riggins (0-9 in 2025) and Tim Jacobs (35-60 in 11 seasons). Snyder said he is encouraged by what he has seen in his three spring practices at Putnam.
“I see potential there,” Snyder said. “Seeing the freshman-sophomore group, there's a good core there that I know I can build around.”
Putnam had 42 players in the program last year. The varsity often was overmatched, but young players showed promise in winning three of their four JV games.
Snyder is working to build a stronger youth program. Last year, Putnam's youth program had only a grades 3-4 team. This year, he plans to have teams for grades 3-4 and 5-6 and is working on a team for grades 7-8.
He also is recruiting the hallways for athletes.
“I've already got seven to eight new players, just this last week, who haven't played football before but have played other sports,” he said. “Just working on getting kids out so that in a couple years we can really start competing again.
“There are good-sized kids, athletic kids. It's just there's a lack of confidence. It's going to be a process, but I'm excited for the challenge. The community is begging for somebody to come in and build a culture.”
Putnam, which played in the eight-team Special District 1 last season, will be part of a five-team Special District 2 next season, along with Milwaukie, Parkrose, St. Helens and McKay. If the Kingsmen continue to struggle in coming seasons and have the option to drop down to 4A, Snyder isn't interested.
“I want to stay at 5A, and the administration is on board with that,” he said. “Especially with the new league. I feel like once we get this turned around that we can compete with those guys. Maybe not a lot of wins, but we definitely can be more competitive.”
As the director of the Northwest Showcase and Las Vegas Mega Camp – events that give high school players a platform in front of college recruiters – Snyder is keenly aware of local talent. And he will make a point to keep Putnam's best athletes from going elsewhere.
“We're putting a fence around Putnam, and not letting anyone leave,” he said.
And that goes for Snyder, too.
“I'm planning on being there long-term and build from top to bottom,” he said. “I've been telling the kids every single day, 'I'm not here as a steppingstone to get into something else. This is where I want to be.'”
jerryu@osaa.org
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