The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Bill Snyder

Followed Stan Parrish. Bill Snyder took Kansas State from Regional Program V to Power Program I.

215–117
1989–2018 · 1 stint
← all coaches

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Reached Power Program in his 10th career season — faster than 7% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #356 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).

Kansas State, 27 seasons
+50.3
Regional Program VI → Power Program III.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

40%50%Kansas State1989–2018▼ 10.2pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)
How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.

Typical stint7.010.2 median13.9middle half of all stints
Kansas State12.4pt#84 of 258 · a typical amount

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

22–4 against his rivals. Just 1–5 against Art Briles.

Rivalry record
22–4
84.6% · 1 rival
One-score games
54–46–1
53.5% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
2–4
33.3%
Rivalry ledger
Kansas22–485%
The toughest matchupNemesis
vs. Art Briles1–5
6 meetings, 2010–2015
’10 L’11 W’12 L’13 L’14 L’15 L
Performance by opponent class
Dynasty
2–4 33.3%
Blue Blood
11–19 36.7%
Power Program
36–56 39.1%
National Program
28–18 60.9%
Regional Program
109–18 85.8%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
+0.12
#99 of 319 · a typical amount
Defense marginal impact
-0.15
#250 of 325 · less than most

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

1989–2018
Kansas Statetransformer
Regional Program V → Power Program I
Bill Snyder took Kansas State from Regional Program V to Power Program I.

1st-best Kansas State tenure of 18 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent
+3.6 pts
#94 of 208 · a typical amount
Defense vs. talent
-12.3 pts
#156 of 208 · a typical amount
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Followed Stan Parrish (1986–1988) · succeeded by Chris Klieman (2019–2025).

Season198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018Trend
Record & result
Record1–105–67–45–69–29–310–29–311–111–211–111–36–611–211–44–75–67–65–75–76–67–610–311–28–59–46–79–48–55–7
PostseasonL bowlL bowlW bowlW bowl
Recruiting rank#49#54#72#61#66
Style — pass rate
Pass rate46.639.435.134.236.4
Coordinators
OCDana Dimel / Del MillerDana Dimel / Del MillerDana Dimel / Del MillerDana DimelCollin Klein / Andre Coleman
DCTom HayesTom HayesTom HayesTom HayesBrian Norwood / Blake Seiler
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense8628797630
Defense296652850
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%43.030.228.526.731.9
Red-zone pass%36.721.328.325.233.9
4th-down go%opp. territory26.227.031.616.331.6
Does the system survive a coordinator change?
OC: co-Dana Dimel / co-Del Miller → Dana Dimel · 2017
79th pct76th pct0th100th
1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.
1st-down pass rate: 28.5% → 26.7% (-1.8 pts)
Confound, shown not hidden: only 82% of offensive production returned the year the coordinator changed — the roster turned over at the same time, not just the play-caller.
OC: Dana Dimel → co-Collin Klein / Andre Coleman · 2018
76th pct30th pct0th100th
1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.
1st-down pass rate: 26.7% → 31.9% (+5.2 pts)
Confound, shown not hidden: only 57% of offensive production returned the year the coordinator changed — the roster turned over at the same time, not just the play-caller.
DC: Tom Hayes → co-Brian Norwood / Blake Seiler · 2018
28th pct50th pct0th100th
1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.
Where the roster comes from, by position
Grows K from high school
100%
#52 of 56 stints
Grows Tight end from high school
100%
#164 of 188 stints
Postseason detail2014: Lost to UCLA 35–40 Valero Alamo Bowl2015: Lost to Arkansas 23–45 Autozone Liberty Bowl2016: Beat Texas A&M 33–28 Advocare V100 Texas Bowl2017: Beat UCLA 35–17 Cactus Bowl

62 NFL Draft picks: Maurice Henry (1990), Rogerick Green (1992), Russ Campbell (1992), Thomas Randolph (1994), Andre Coleman (1994), Barrett Brooks (1995), Chad May (1995), Chris Canty (1997) + 54 more

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