David Beaty one ups Lincoln Riley with bizarre “punishment” for players
Lots of folks got on Lincoln Riley for his punishment of Baker Mayfield following the quarterback’s “crotch grab heard around the world” last week against Kansas. Riley “suspended” Mayfield for the start of this weekend’s game against West Virginia and stripped him of his captaincy for the game. Considering the Mountaineers don’t have Will Grier and Mayfield is likely going to miss, what, a series or two, those knocking the punishment have a point when they say it’s fairly meaningless.
But David Beaty did one better with his Kansas players, who were the ones who got the ball rolling on all this bad blood when they decided to not shake hands with Mayfield before the game.
Beaty opened his weekly press conference on Tuesday by saying that Joe Dineen, Daniel Wise and Dorance Armstrong won’t be captains on Saturday when the Jayhawks travel to Stillwater to play the Oklahoma State Cowboys. But all three will start and play.
So, in other words, they won’t be at midfield for the coin toss. Ouch, those boys learned a lesson, huh?
Now I get it, Beaty can’t sit these guys or Kansas will be pulling fans out of the stands to start at linebacker, defensive tackle and defensive end. The 40-point spread in favor of the Cowboys would then become the biggest lock of the 21st century in college football gambling. Even a schmuck like me who’s been an as cold a streak as I can remember would get that one right.
But still, this in no way is tough enough. At the very least, KU should have matched Mayfield’s suspension that Riley handed down. No captaincy for the game and not starting. Let that be one drive. Whatever you want. Spot Oklahoma State seven points, it’s not going to matter anyway. But then Beaty would actually be sending a message of meaning.
Beaty was very apologetic yesterday, saying, “That was absolutely unacceptable. I’ve had a conversation with Lincoln Riley and apologized on behalf of myself and my team. I apologize to our stakeholders. It means more to be a Jayhawk and we have to make a good decision.”
Unfortunately, this punishment doesn’t do it and isn’t what I would call a “good decision”. This is like the NFL star making $10 million getting fined $10,000. Are you really deterring anything or teaching any lessons? Nope. You’re not.
