FLUSHING PAIN : WIFE OF ASU'S SNYDER FINALLY ENJOYS FRUITS OF SUCCESS.

Byline: Paola Boivin Arizona Republic

You want glamour? Try being the wife of Arizona State football coach Bruce Snyder.

Let's see. There was the scorpion sting while living in dusty Las Cruces, N.M.

Then came the tire blowout in the middle of the desert with the family - sans Bruce - packed into a Nash Rambler.

The games may be the worst. If ASU is losing, Linda Snyder often sneaks into a Sun Devil Stadium restroom and repeatedly flushes toilets.

``It drowns out the crowd noise. Pretty glamorous, huh?'' Linda Snyder said, smiling.

Marriage to Bruce Snyder has been a roller-coaster ride and an experience she wouldn't trade for anything. The good times - meeting new friends, living in interesting places - far overshadow the tough ones.

She finds this season particularly pleasant. The Sun Devils are undefeated and Rose Bowl-bound. Criticism of her husband has been minimal and the kind words from fans numerous.

``It's like being in a car and driving real fast,'' she said. ``It's enjoyable, but you're not quite sure what's going to happen.''

Snyder has maintained a low profile during her husband's five seasons in Tempe. She doesn't intentionally avoid the spotlight; it's just that being a coach's wife is not a big part of her identity.

She works twice a week at a store in the Biltmore Fashion Park. She belongs to the National Charity League and helps out at St. Mary's Food Bank and with the Special Olympics. She even plays an occasional round of ``bad golf.''

``All those things she does are not for my career but because she wants to do it,'' Bruce Snyder said. ``And it's a healthy situation for our family. Honestly, I don't think I'd want a `coach's wife.' When I come home, the last thing I want to do is talk about my job.

``When I come home, we talk about other things.''

Linda met Bruce when he was a football graduate assistant at Oregon and she was a student. He was attracted to her because she was so different from him.

He came from a blue-collar family of eight kids who moved often. She was an only child, the daughter of a San Francisco accountant, who lived in the same home much of her life.

``Meeting her was like reading a new book and learning something different,'' Bruce Snyder said.

They married and the journey began. They lived in Las Cruces, Logan, Utah, and Northern and Southern California. Linda adjusted but sometimes the moves were difficult on their three daughters.

Jennifer, 27, said leaving Logan for Orange County was particularly tough.

``I felt so backwards,'' she said. ``Nobody dressed the way I did.''

As much as Bruce Snyder loves being a coach, the toll it sometimes takes on his wife and daughters upsets him.

The criticism is the worst.

``The thing is, I don't want anyone to get hurt,'' he said. ``I don't mind if I get hammered by what's said or written, but what's painful for a coach, certainly this one, is to come home and have someone hurt by what was said about me.''

Several years ago, the school that daughter Paige, now 16, attended auctioned a parking space. The Snyders were awarded it and the school painted the name ``Snyder'' on the spot.

Several seniors, apparently angry over ASU's struggles, painted the name ``Tomey,'' for Arizona Coach Dick Tomey, over ``Snyder'' and wrote derogatory things about the Sun Devils on the family's car.

Paige said she was involved in a nose-to-nose shouting match with a middle-aged man sitting next to her at an ASU game this season because he repeatedly criticized the team and her father.

``It makes me so mad when people criticize him,'' Jennifer said.

The family agrees the toughest time was when Snyder left the University of California after five seasons to coach at ASU.

Bears fans and the media called Snyder a traitor and said the move was simply money motivated.

When the Sun Devils played at California in 1995, the infamous Cal band formed the letters ``BS'' - Snyder's initial - during a halftime show. The band members then changed their formation, turning the ``S'' into a dollar sign.

``It was really hard because all that time I thought all those people still liked my dad,'' Paige said.

Despite the occasional bump in the road, the family says they wouldn't trade their lives for anything.

Even if it means flushing a couple of toilets now and then.