David Beaty’s boost in pay doesn’t necessarily mean a boost in KU wins

David Beaty doubled his salary Monday and received a contract extension.

This after winning two games — and losing 22 — in his first two seasons as football coach of the Kansas Jayhawks.

Throw out everything you hear about America and its struggles when it comes to sports because those struggles to not apply. We have a national battle going on over the minimum wage, but a football coach with a .090 win percentage gets a new $1.6 million per year pact.

I’m not picking on Beaty or KU or even this decision, which I believe is sound.

There is no one who can say for sure whether Beaty is going to work out for the Jayhawks, not this soon and not with what he inherited from previous coach Charlie Weis.

But Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger has to assure people, perhaps most of all himself, that Beaty is the man for this job. And although signs of optimism are difficult to find, they are there.

Kansas beat Texas this season to break a 19-game Big 12 losing streak and, essentially, cost Charlie Strong his job as the Longhorns’ coach. Texas will tolerate a lot of things — but losing to Kansas? Oh no, no, no.

The Jayhawks put two defensive players — lineman Dorrance Armstrong and safety Fish Smithson — on the all-Big 12 first team. Nine other KU players made the honorable mention list.

Kansas was slightly more competitive in games than it was last season and the defense, at times, had a big-time feel.

Zenger has said he’s impressed by the way Beaty goes about his business and how he communicates with his players and the Kansas fan base. Zenger, though, is the guy who was enthused about Weis’ hiring in 2011, and whose future at Kansas likely rides on the success or failure of Beaty, the second football coach he has hired.

Those two coaches, by the way, have combined for an 8-44 record. And in a Power 5 conference like the Big 12, there’s only one way to move up … slowly.

What can KU do next season to move along the process? Settling on a quarterback would be a nice start.

The Jayhawks used three quarterbacks this season — Montell Cozart, Ryan Willis and freshman Carter Stanley — and none took over the position. They combined for 16 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions, although Stanley did enough late in the season to likely enter the spring as the guy leading the quarterback pack. All three, by the way, are likely to return.

Since Todd Reesing — oh, and doesn’t just reading Reesing’s name provide KU football fans with an infrequent feeling of joy? — left the program following the 2009 season, KU quarterbacks have thrown for 83 touchdowns and 96 interceptions.

Those quarterbacks are: Cozart, Willis, Stanley, Michael Cummings, Jake Heaps, Dayne Crist, Jordan Webb and Quinn Mecham.

Reesing, meanwhile, passed for 86 touchdowns and threw 30 interceptions during his final three seasons at KU, which included an Orange Bowl run and victory over Virginia Tech during his sophomore season in 2007, when he passed for 32 touchdowns and had only seven interceptions.

If finding Reesing-like production represents the goal-line, the Jayhawks are hung up in opposition territory. Beaty, who took over play-calling this season and might have been wooed by new Texas coach Tom Herman to run his offense, according to some reports, needs to figure out the O, and it starts with figuring out a QB.

Doesn’t everything?

Kansas improved its receiving corps this season with Steven Sims Jr., and LaQuvionte Gonzalez, who combined for 134 catches and 1,588 yards. But the Kansas offense lacked consistency and depth. Running back Ke’aun Kinner was OK with 738 yards, but the Jayhawks weren’t difficult defend. The opposition knew what was coming.

KU ranked 109th among 128 FBS teams in total offense. The Jayhawks were 57th in passing and 116 in rushing. There is work, lots of it, to be done.

Zenger touted Beaty’s offensive mind and his ability to pull players out of his native Texas as prime reasons for the hire. And it’s still too early to say this isn’t going to work. But it’s also too early to say it will.

The contract, though, had to be addressed. KU was paying Beaty $800,000 to coach football and that’s chicken feed by Power 5 standards, in which money is thrown around in the name of boosters, television deals and brand new facilities.

Believe it or not, Beaty still won’t be getting paid what Weis or Weis’ predecessor, Turner Gill, earned at Kansas. Needless to say, Jayhawks football has been in a constant state of wheel-spinning for quite a few years now.

Beaty might be the coach to fix things. But, despite what this huge raise might signify, he hasn’t fixed things yet.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "David Beaty’s boost in pay doesn’t necessarily mean a boost in KU wins."