PUEBLO, Colo. – Luke Snyder had his arms crossed and leaned back in a plastic, green lawn chair. The 2001 PBR World Finals event winner peered through the steel fence at Mike Hadley’s ranch in Canon City, Colorado.
Snyder then poked fellow Missouri Thunder co-coach Ross Coleman and pointed at a potential PBR Team Series prospect during the 2022 PBR Team Series Combine on March 15.
The two best friends have spent the last few months developing a growing list of potential prospects for the Missouri Thunder, including a Top 150 rider list, and the former PBR traveling partners speak at least three times a day about various possibilities for their inaugural PBR Team Series franchise.
Snyder and Coleman are planning to leave no stone unturned.
“Everybody is going to have a really strong team,” Snyder said. “The strategic part of this is why we are here right now (at the Combine). We are trying to find that diamond in the rough. Me and Ross are in constant contact. I followed 300 new kids on Instagram. Ross is sending me stuff. We are watching (RidePass on) Pluto TV. We are scouting everywhere as best we can.”
When Snyder was approached about leading Johnny Morris’ Missouri Thunder, Snyder knew he needed to have his close pal by his side.
“(Morris) tapped me for it and we couldn’t pick a better co-coach then Ross,” Snyder said. “He was my No. 1 pick. Ross was in my wedding. He has been my best friend. He has been around Johnny about as long as I too. I couldn’t be more thrilled. This is a dream scenario. Me and Ross roomed together for 12 years. You get closer to these guys than you do a lot of your own family. I guess for us to be doing this in our twilight years and getting back to the sport and not worry about getting hurt or anything is great.
“Ross is the best motivator in the sports world. He just won the Global Cup. What more can you say?
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Snyder, Coleman and Thunder General Manager Randy Bernard have been raising awareness for their team this week at the 2022 Bass Pro Shops World Fishing Fair in Springfield, Missouri.
The Thunder will have their inaugural homestand “Thunder Days” on Sept. 3-5r at the picturesque Thunder Ridge in Ridgedale, Missouri. Thunder Ridge is an amphitheater-style venue located within the rolling mountains of the Missouri Ozarks.
“After I retired from bull riding, I went to work for Bass Pro in the corporate world,” Snyder said. “I started working in partnerships and I stay connected in that aspect to the PBR. Johnny is a big advocate for Western sports in general. We are building this big, brand-new venue down in Ridgeville. It has the most beautiful view, not necessary in just the Ozarks, but in the whole world in my eyes. Johnny wants to bring some attention to that and get Missouri another sports team to root for.”
The Thunder hold the fifth pick in the inaugural PBR Team Series Draft on May 23 (Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas). The snake-style draft will consist of five rounds with 40 riders in total being selected. A two-round supplemental draft later this summer and three practice players will round out each teams 10-rider roster before the season begins on July 25-26 at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“This sport isn’t tiddlywinks,” Snyder said. “It is going to come down to a lot of strategic moves because you have injuries. You have to play your sixth and seventh place guys appropriately. It is a long season. There is a lot to come between now and the PBR World Finals. When you naturally think about it. We won’t have the very best pick. We won’t have the very last pick.
“You can’t really tell what eight teams are thinking. It can go a lot of different ways. Me and Ross put it in brackets. If we are the fifth pick, we have eight guys right there and then so on so on and so on. We keep tweaking our lists every single day.”
The Thunder brain-trust know what kind of team they are trying to build as well. There are certain types of rider and personality traits they hope their 10-man roster will represent.
“We know what we want to see,” Snyder concluded. “We don’t want to pick necessarily just the hottest guys. We want to build a team where these guys show up. They are dressed like they are showing for the game. They have the mentality that they want to get better. They want to learn. They carry themselves well. We are going to look for guys who enjoy the outdoors. There is a lot that goes into the sport. We are looking for a great all-around guy. We want to have a mixed team. We aren’t looking for just young guys from the United States. For the first time ever, you are going to mesh five guys together who don’t necessarily naturally share a room together or travel together. You are going to have American guys, Brazilian guys, maybe Canadian guys and Australian guys, and you are going to have to do some team building there.
“We are rolling with the punches, and we feel very confident with our program. We know we can build a very strong team and take it where we see it.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko