David Beaty era ends at Kansas with 24-17 home loss to Texas
Say this for Kansas football. When the program experienced coaching change upheaval three weeks ago, the Jayhawks could have packed it in for a lame duck coach.
Instead, they were competitive with all of their remaining opponents into the fourth quarter, including Friday when Texas prevailed 24-17.
“The one thing you can control is the commitment level to the team and how hard you work,” KU senior linebacker Joe Dineen Jr., said. “You can choose to waver or stay strong. We stayed strong and committed.”
Kansas did that, on Friday scoring 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to force the Longhorns into recovering an onside kick to preserve a victory that sent them into next weekend’s Big 12 Championship Game.
The Jayhawks finished 3-9 and in last place in the Big 12 for the fourth straight season. Players left the field slowly and remained in the locker room perhaps a little longer than usual, saying good-byes to each other and to their coaches.
Credit outgoing coach David Beaty for keeping the program on track after the Jayhawks made the firing official on Nov. 4. He and his staff stayed together through the introduction of Les Miles as his successor and made Kansas State, Oklahoma and the Longhorns sweat out victories.
It was an unusual spot. Coaching changes are a part of college football life, but rarely if a coach is released before the end of the season does he remain with the team.
But it happened here and Beaty said it was business as usual this month, with some exceptions.
“I wouldn’t say there was any more or less from an emotional standpoint,” Beaty said. “I’m an emotional guy when I care about something. This place is special to me.”
Special enough that when Beaty addressed the team after the game, he had a specific message to the underclassmen:
Stick around.
“He said to not go looking for other places,” senior quarterback Peyton Bender said. “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Honor these people who have been here by sticking together and getting this thing turned around.”
Kansas under Beaty went 6-42. He was hired from the Texas A&M staff on the strength of his recruiting ties in Texas, and don’t be stunned if he ends up on the staff of a program in that state. He also had experienced success at Kansas as an assistant on a bowl team a decade earlier.
His future likely was sealed when the athletic director who hired him, Sheahon Zenger, was fired in May and replaced by Jeff Long. When football is wobbling, new athletic directors rarely stay the course.
There was improvement this season. Three victories is the team’s most in a season since 2014, the last year Kansas changed coaches.
The Jayhawks broke the road losing streak that had reached a decade in length, and collected their second conference victory in four years, this one over TCU.
Kansas started 13 seniors on Friday, including nearly all of their front seven. But if the attrition is kept to a minimum, as Beaty expressed, the Jayhawks could return a running back in freshman Pooka Williams who could be among the nation’s best next season. He added 103 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown, against Texas Friday.
Williams and the rest of the Jayhawks will now answer to Miles, but relationships Beaty created with players over the past four years will be maintained.
“You know what?” Beaty said. “They’re going to be in our life forever. It’s not like the end. We won’t interfere, that’s not what I mean. But those kids, they’re guys we’ve built relationships with. It doesn’t end here.”
Blair Kerkhoff
Blair Kerkhoff covers the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals and college sports for The Star.
This story was originally published November 23, 2018 at 2:46 PM with the headline "David Beaty era ends at Kansas with 24-17 home loss to Texas."