Kansas Jayhawks: David Beaty gets long-term endorsement from school

Everyone throughout the world is in agreement that David Beaty needs to be replaced as the Kansas Jayhawks football coach…except for the school’s leadership.

It wasn’t your standard “vote of confidence” statement from the Kansas Jayhawks athletic department. There are many ways to “support” an embattled head coach, while still letting everyone know he’s on the way out. However, that is not what KU did with it’s most recent announcement regarding David Beaty.

In an open letter directed at fundraising efforts, new school chancellor Dr. Doug Girod made it clear that David Beaty and athletic director Sheahon Zenger were sticking around. Dr. Girod referred to long-term vision in his support of the two men. This is not the kind of messaging that indicates changes.

David Beaty has gone an abysmal 3-31 (so far) in his first three seasons as KU’s head football coach. This is the worst start to a tenure in the history of the school…which does not have a proud football tradition to begin with. There have been increasing calls to move on from Beaty, but that does not seem to be in the works.

Long-Term Plans?

The bar was not being set very high for David Beaty and the Kansas Jayhawks this year. All anyone really wanted to see was some forward progress. That shouldn’t be hard after back to back 10+ loss seasons. Just finishing the year with a single-digit loss total should have been good enough. However, with two Big 12 powerhouses left on the schedule, that seems unlikely.

For his own part, David Beaty reiterated his catch phrase: “If you want this thing done overnight, I’m not your guy.” That is a sensible sentiment for a football coach rebuilding a program…just not in the third year of that rebuild. Nobody has asked the impossible of Beaty. All that was expected was progress, and it hasn’t come.

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That’s what is truly concerning here. Jayhawks fans have every right to be frustrated with the program right now. So failing to even set an apparent benchmark for improvement is absolutely infuriating. The team is about to stumble into it’s third straight 10+ loss season. Some schools consider disbanding their program at that point!

Other Options Must Be Considered

There are too many other coaches out there that are much more qualified than David Beaty for the Kansas Jayhawks to sit on their hands. Just last week Tennessee fired head coach Butch Jones. This wasn’t unexpected, but it should be fortuitous for the Jayhawks if they are willing to make a change.

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Butch Jones and Tennessee had a down year, but he’s coming off of back-to-back 9-win seasons, and has had success at other schools. This is the kind of hire that Kansas should be trying to make. Grabbing quality coaches that have been let go by programs that probably pulled the trigger too early.

Another candidate in that mold would be former Florida head coach Jim McElwain who brought the Gators back into prominence. These are the kinds of coaches who fix programs and make them contenders again. There are many more names I could go through that are more qualified that David Beaty.

The Kansas Jayhawks are settling for mediocrity…well, less than that, in their football program. David Beaty has not shown any progress in rebuilding this team. The Jayhawks are at an absolute low point in the school’s already bleak football history. At some point you have to make the decision to be better. It’s time for KU to do that.