Snyder Back in the MMAA

Fran Snyder has accepted the Mount St. Mary’s girls varsity basketball coaching position. After spending the last four seasons with the Tapestry Charter School, Snyder was itching for another opportunity in the Monsignor Martin league.

“I’ve enjoyed my time with Tapestry” Snyder said “but there is nothing like competing in the private schools, this is a great opportunity for me and my family.”

Snyder is well-known throughout the WNY high-school basketball community. Having spent 26 years in the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association. He began a sixteen year run at Bishop-Timon as the JV head coach and Varsity assistant.

He then accepted the girls Varsity basketball job at Holy Angels. He coached his niece and daughter there and up until the school closed. He pulled double duty as the assistant Varsity coach and head coach at Holy Angels for two seasons.

“It will be great to be back in the MMAA with the Mount. It really is a great fit. It was sad when Holy Angels closed but I wanted to continue coaching. At Tapestry we won the C1 championship, the first charter school to ever do that and I’m extremely proud of that. I’ll miss the team at Tapestry and especially Marc LaMorticella the AD of the charter schools. He works unbelievably hard and is really a great guy.”

Snyder inherits a program that has had great success the past few years under the guidance of Mike McCarthy who, for some reason was let go after this past season. To this day there still has not been a good explanation as to why McCarthy was let go and parents and students are still very upset on how the ordeal played out.

McCarthy has not yet decided on his next move but has had plenty of offers to weed through before he commits. “If anyone was going to take over for me I’m glad it was Fran” McCarthy said.

Under McCarthy the Mount won their first ever state championship and first Monsignor Martin Association playoff title.

“All I could do is try and keep the momentum going and I’m confident that we can all do that together. I’ll be reaching out to former players and alumni to help me keep the momentum going” Snyder said. “I will work to make the school proud and the team better. I enjoy coaching, I’ve had success in other places I have been as well” Snyder said.

For the past nine years Snyder has been a fixture at the North Buffalo Community Center running the gym. Which is where he has continued to work with players of all ages on their basketball skills.

“I’m ready to go now, there is a lot of work to do and I look forward to the challenge. We’ll have some camps coming up in the summer. This week I’ll meet some of the players and start there” Snyder said.

Prior to coaching Snyder worked in the Buffalo Police Department and spent 35 years on the force. He was inducted into the Timon Hall of Fame in 2002.