THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
SPORTS
INSIDE
Q&A with Lawrence’s new police chief p. 3
Devonte’ Graham’s play leads to Jayhawks’ opening win over Tennessee State The University Daily Kansan
vol. 135 // iss. 24 Mon., Nov. 13, 2017
Lawrence veterans suit back up for Veterans Day Parade p. 5
SEE GRAHAM • PAGE 9
Editorial: Fire Beaty and Zenger
Kansas football coach David Beaty has a 3-31 record in nearly three years at the University. Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger’s two hires to lead the Jayhawks football program have won nine games in six years. That’s unacceptable.
KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD @KansanNews
“I set out to find the best, and I found Charlie Weis.” With this bold declaration in December 2011, Kansas Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger put the future of the Jayhawk football program in the hands of a brash, brazen man — a man with little success coaching college football and a man who Notre Dame was paying millions to never coach its football team again. Fast forward two and a half years to the 2014 season. Kansas loses 23-0 at home in late September to a dreadful Charlie Strongcoached Texas team, and Zenger is forced to fire the man he entrusted to rebuild the Kansas football team after Mark Mangino’s downfall and two dismal years under Turner Gill. “I normally do not favor changing coaches mid-season,” Zenger said after firing Weis. “But I believe we have talented coaches and players in this program, and I think this decision gives our players the best chance to begin making progress right away.” Weis left Kansas with a 6-22 overall record, winning roughly 21 percent of his games, and just one win against Big 12 opponents. Kansas Athletics and Zenger agreed to pay Weis $5.6 million to go away, in search of real success in football for the first time since 2008. The man Zenger hired to replace Weis? He’s actually been worse. Zenger brought David Beaty to Kansas soon after the 2014 season ended. A position coach under both Mangino and Gill, and
coming off his last job at Texas A&M, Beaty exuded positivity from the day he was hired. He came in with grandiose goals of restoring the high-flying offenses and stout defenses that had taken Kansas to three bowl games between 2005-08. He admired, and even coached, several of the most prolific players in Kansas history. A man familiar with the Jayhawk football program, Beaty seemed like he could be the answer to the woes that consistently plagued Kansas since Mangino was fired. Fast forward two and a half years to today. Beaty is now 3-31, fresh off a 42-27 loss at the hands of the Texas Longhorns that could have been a win if not for a series of coaching missteps.
Last season, Kansas miraculously beat Texas in overtime for Beaty’s only victory against an FBS school. But without six Texas turnovers in 2016, Kansas would be going on three years without an FBS win. And while Weis undoubtedly left the football roster and the team’s culture a mess, that is an unacceptable lack of progress. In a Kansas City Star article from Big 12 football media day in July, Beaty told writer Sam Mellinger that this was the year he expected to see dividends begin to pay off for the Jayhawks. “We know that in year three and year four we have to be more than competitive,” Beaty said. “We have to start getting over that hump and winning games.” Instead, the current Jayhawks team is arguably
the worst of Beaty’s tenure — including his first squad in 2015, who didn’t win a game. They haven’t even come close to Beaty’s goal of being “more than competitive,” and seem to be regressing with each game. Beaty said year three is when fans could expect tangible progress. Instead, Kansas has lost to two teams from nonPower Five conferences, been shut out in two consecutive Big 12 games — one of which saw them gain only 21 total yards — and lost by 29 at home to a winless Baylor team with a heavily depleted number of scholarship players. Coaches in all sports get fired for this level of performance. Beaty should not be any different. What’s most important for the future of Kansas
MAJOR HIRES MADE BY KANSAS ATHLETICS DIRECTOR SHEAHON ZENGER
CHARLIE WEIS Football Record: 6-2 (1-18 Big 12)
Source: Kansas Athletics
Missy Minear/KANSAN
Coach David Beaty watches from the sidelines against Ohio on Sept. 10, 2016.
CLINT BOWEN (INTERIM) Football Record: 1-7 (1-7 Big 12)
DAVID BEATY Football Record: 3-31 (1-24 Big 12)
BRANDON SCHNEIDER Women’s Basketball Record: 14-47 (2-44 Big 12)
“I won’t sleep,” Beaty told a crowd of 16,000 in Allen Fieldhouse shortly after his hiring, “until we give you something to be proud of.” It’s been a restless three years. And it’s time to move on. Kansan Editorial Board
football is that Zenger — who was brought to Kansas specifically to fix the football program and has touted himself as a “football guy” since he was hired in 2011 — doesn’t get the chance to hire a third coach. Weis and Beaty have proven that the intangible qualities Zenger looks for in coaches don’t translate to any success. While Zenger has served Kansas’ non-revenue sports — volleyball, track and field, and cross country, among others — well, it was clear from the beginning he had one job at the University: fix the football program. Zenger’s two permanent hires to lead the Jayhawk football team have won nine games in six seasons. Beaty has a lower winning percentage in more games coached than both Weis and Gill. Apathy toward the program as a whole is at an all-time high. Attendance at the most recent home game, an embarrassing 38-9 loss to previously winless Baylor, was announced as
21,797 — less than half the capacity of Memorial Stadium — and was likely less than that. Simply put, Kansas fans cannot support the football program in its current state, and they frankly shouldn’t be expected to. This University deserves better. And Zenger and Beaty, while both wellintentioned, aren’t the answer to fixing the seemingly insurmountable problems facing Kansas football. “I won’t sleep,” Beaty told a crowd of 16,000 in Allen Fieldhouse shortly after his hiring, “until we give you something to be proud of.” It’s been a restless three years. And it’s time to move on.
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Conner Mitchell, Ryan Liston, Omar Sanchez and Mitch Tamblyn.
— Edited by Chandler Boese