If it has been said once, it has been said a million times, Bill Snyder is the best head coach to ever lead the Kansas State football program and there is no competition.
Now there have been a lot of different coaches to coach in college football. A lot of them with many National Championships, a high winning percentage, and by the typical definition could go down as the greatest coach of all time.
Snyder should be a part of the greatest coach of all time conversation, not because of his winning percentage or the National Championships he unfortunately didn't win, but because of what he did at Kansas State.
Back in 2021, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said that he thinks Bill Snyder is the greatest college coach ever and he has even modeled his coaching style after him. However, Gundy made that comment saying that Snyder was the greatest coach ever because of what he did at Kansas State, taking a program that no one was able to make success and making it a success.
Snyder spent 27 years at Kansas State and compiled a 215-117-1 (.646) record. In the 103 years that Kansas State has been playing football without Snyder, the program has compiled a 276-499-34 (.341) record. That is a .305 winning percentage difference with versus without Snyder.
There have been a lot of great coaches in college football, but would any of them have been able to take on Kansas State's program?
When Snyder took over, the Wildcats had gone 27 straight games without a win and seven straight seasons without a winning season. They also had never won the conference and they had honestly never come close to winning the conference.
When Snyder took over, He only won one game his first season, but two seasons later, he had a winning season, and two seasons after that they won their first bowl game under Snyder. By 1997, the Wildcats were winning 10 and 11 games every year.
Snyder not only took over the program and made it a winning program but he also made it a respectable program. He taught guys in his facilities not just football, but how to be men and how to be respectful and accountable for themselves.
So Bill Snyder may not go down as the greatest college coach ever based on stats and wins, but he is based on the program he built.