K-State 2nd Most Efficient, Kansas Least in College Football

Oct 6, 2012; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats fans show their support for Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder during a 56-16 win over the Kansas Jayhawks at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Stunning news: K-State football has been significantly better than Kansas football over the last three seasons.

Unbelievable, right? Thanks to Forbes Magazine, we now have a new way to explain just how good K-State football and how putrid Kansas football have been the last three years. According to the magazine, K-State ranks second in the nation in lowest average cost per victory while Kansas finished as the worst.

Forbes on K-State:

"More spending – the Wildcats’ expenses rose by $3 million, or nearly 25%, in 2012-13 – and a seven-win season this year knocked Kansas State out of the top spot on our list. Despite the rising costs, K-State is still the eighth-lowest spender in college football."

Forbes on Kansas:

"The Jayhawks are once again college football’s worst team for the money. They are the very bottom of the barrel on the field, winning just six games over the last three seasons, while spending nearly as much as Baylor and Stanford. Head coach Charlie Weis is expected to return in 2014, but he’s got to be on thin ice at this point."

Nowhere can you find the importance of a college head coach than in the state of Kansas.

The Little Apple has benefited greatly for having one of the best coaches to every step on the sidelines of a college football field for a “bargain” price. Snyder’s $2.95 million salary in 2013 ranked just fifth in the Big 12 this season. With Art Briles new contract extension and the assumed huge salary the new Texas head coach will receive, Snyder will bump down to sixth next year.

Those savings alone, coupled with Snyder’s efficient approach to recruiting, allows K-State to win a lot of games without having to spend huge amounts of money. Snyder has been worth every penny and more to K-State.

Meanwhile, Kansas football’s has been paying people to not coach for Kansas. In 2012, Kansas paid Turner Gil and Mark Mangino a combined $8.5 million to not coach Jayhawks football, in addition to the $2.5million they paid Charlie Weis to attempt to coach Jayhawks football. That $10 million expense in 2012 was 25% of the money K-State has spent on the entire football program over the last three seasons combined.

Think about that for a minute. Kansas paid $10 million in 2012 to three head coaches, or about $4.5 million less than what K-State will pay for Bill Snyder from 2013-2017. Insane.

The good news for Kansas football is that the payments for Gil and Mangino are complete, and they can start to turn some of those financial resources into facilities and other football expenses as opposed to paying for ex-head coaches. KU has their winningest season (don’t laugh) since 2010, snapped a disastrously long conference losing streak, and has seen significant improvement in talent on their roster. So there is some reason for hope that KU will be spending less than $8 million per win in the future.

But while KU tries to get their act together, the efficient K-State train will continue to roll thanks to Snyder and his genius football mind.