In Terms of University History, Gundy Might be the Nation’s Best

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is the only Power Five coach to have doubled the previous coaching high in wins at his respective university. Two other such coaches have the potential to by 2019.

Mike Gundy is one of them.

At 104 career wins, Gundy is just 20 more away from doubling the previous Oklahoma State coaching high, which Pat Jones had set at 62.

It’s undeniable Gundy is a better coach than Jones. That’s not the point; it’s that he is better than Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald and Snyder, and, yes, one is much easier to prove than the other. But here goes.

Pat Fitzgerald

In comparing Fitzgerald and Gundy, it’s about turning a program into a conference contender vs. a national title contender.

Before Fitzgerald accepted the job in 2006, the most wins a Wildcat coach had posted was 49 by Lynn O. “Pappy” Waldorf, which is a great name unmatched by a not great mark on an all-time wins list.

Fitz is at 84, so he needs to win seven each of the next two seasons to top Pappy. His best season was 10-3 (twice – 2012, 2015), and those two seasons resulted with a win in the Gator Bowl and a loss in the Outback. The highest one of his NU teams has finished in the AP Poll is 17th.

That’s good but probably not as good as good as SB Nation’s Bill Connelly thinks it is, writing to the rest of the NCAA, “Don’t mess with Pat Fitzgerald.”

Those statistics should tell you just about all you need to know, and if not, remember there was a time when OSU was considered for the BCS National Championship Game and finished No. 3 in the nation, per AP. That will unquestionably do it.

Bill Snyder

Snyder has done more for the state of Kansas than Gundy will likely ever do for Oklahoma.

With two stints in Manhattan, Snyder was just celebrated for coaching his 25th season with the Wildcats. That’s four more years than I have been on the earth.

His longevity and class is unparalleled in Division-I football. He is probably in the 99th percentile of quality human beings, but Snyder has had seven seasons of at best a .500 record. Gundy has had one, and it was his first season as coach.

There are dozens of reasons to say why Snyder is a better coach than Gundy, but there are probably more that say it’s the other way around.

Gundy’s bowl win percentage is 12th best in D-I history. That’s a stat only emphasized by the fact that he has only been a coach for as long as Narnia has been a movie.

Snyder has been a coach for longer than double Gundy’s term at OSU. It’s possible and probable that Gundy won’t keep the pace he has set in his first dozen seasons. Snyder didn’t.

There was a time when K-State rolled out this series of seasons with Snyder leading the way:

The frightening part for the Gundy brigade is what followed at K-State in the two years after 2003, a 4-7 season, a 5-6 season, and then Snyder left. Ron Prince took over, went 17-20 in three seasons, and Snyder came back.

Gundy is on pace to surpass Snyder’s number of wins in one fewer season than Snyder, 77, did it. Gundy would be 61, which is encouraging because it’s possible but also a little spooky to imagine an elderly man with mulleted hair to his mid-back.