That question's not as simple as it sounds. Not surprisingly, the show set (mostly) at a high school actually had a lot of principals. It's not a position that normally has a lot of turnover, but when your school is situated on top of the mouth of hell, it's apparently harder to keep someone in the job.

Buffy Summers' (Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Cruel Intentions," 1999) school had three principals during the show's seven-season run, and to complicate things more, that required four actors.

In order of number of appearances, you could be referring to: Armin Shimerman ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"), who played Principal Snyder from Seasons 1 to 4; Ken Lerner ("The Goldbergs"), who played Principal Flutie for most of Season 1; Stephen Tobolowsky ("Groundhog Day," 1993), who played Flutie in the pilot; or D.B. Woodside ("Lucifer"), who played Principal Wood in the final season.

All that said, when you say "the principal," you're probably referring to Principal Snyder, played by Shimerman. Not only was he in the job the longest, but his actions most affected the plot of the show: Snyder conspired with the mayor (who later became a demon) to cover up the various supernatural goings-on at Sunnydale High.

During the time he was on "Buffy," Shimerman was also moonlighting in his more famous role as Quark, a Ferengi bar owner, on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."  

Principal Snyder came in late in the first season, replacing Principal Flutie after he was eaten alive by a pack of students possessed by the spirits of hyenas. In that episode, Flutie was played by Ken Lerner, who is more recently, and better known, as Lou Schwartz, father of central character Geoff on "The Goldbergs." (Fun side note: Geoff is played by Ken Lerner's real-life son, Sam.)

In the pilot episode of "Buffy," Principal Flutie was played by the great character actor Stephen Tobolowsky, best known forever as annoying insurance salesman Ned Ryerson in 1993's "Groundhog Day" ("Bing!"). 

The last person to hold the big job at Sunnydale High was Principal Wood (played by Woodside), who only took the job so he could work as a freelance vampire hunter in the vamp-infested city. Woodside joined the show coming off one of his biggest roles, playing the tragically ambitious son of a crime boss trying to go clean in 2000's "Romeo Must Die."

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