David Beaty Should be Fired Before Central Michigan Game
I hate this headline. I do.
I like David Beaty. I wanted him to succeed and be the guy to begin turning around a dormant football program. But it’s beyond evident following a 26-23 loss to FCS Nicholls State in overtime that Beaty is not the guy to turn around this program.
With the loss, Beaty is now just 2-2 against FCS opponents and 1-32 against FBS opponents. There’s no doubt that Beaty deserved time to try and turn around this program. And he got it. But to start Year 4 on the job and lose to another FCS team?! He’s at the point in his turnaround when it’s unacceptable.
David Beaty seems like a fantastic man. I’ve spoken with him one-on-one at Big 12 Media Days. He’s very easy to root for. But he also has proven incompetent at winning football games at KU. Sure, that is a tall task for anybody. But the gradual improvement has not been there. KU should be at the point now under Beaty where it handles FCS opponents with relative ease and is at least competing in Big 12 games. That didn’t happen last season and Saturday’s loss confirms its incredibly unlikely to happen moving forward.
Following the loss on Saturday night Beaty was asked for his reaction, and responded, “I’ll say this: The sun is going to come up tomorrow, and this team is going to continue to work towards the goals we’ve set.”
The sun did rise this morning and Beaty is still an unfortunately inept football coach who should no longer be the leader of the program. I’d be curious to know what exactly the goals were this team set? Wouldn’t you think winning the season opener against an FCS opponent would be one of them?
As for why now? I say, why not? Why delay the inevitable?
The other question I get from KU fans, “Who are we going to get that’s any better?”
Really? Is that the attitude to have here? How about this for an answer: You probably can’t get anyone that’s any worse. The numbers would prove that.
And what if Kansas State had that attitude following the 1988 season with Stan Parrish where the program went 0-11 and 0-7 in Big 8 play? At that point Parrish was 2-30-1 overall and 1-19-1 in the Big 12. That’s not too different from where Beaty is. What if the Wildcats kept Parrish around thinking, “well we can’t do any better anyway. He’s a nice guy.”
Then the program would’ve never hired Bill Snyder and changed the trajectory of the football program for a generation to come. Now is Kansas’ Bill Snyder out there? I don’t know. But it’s damn well worth trying.
KU will likely have to overpay anyone to take this job. But that’s their own fault thanks to years of incompetency within the athletic department. I believe in new AD Jeff Long’s abilities to find the right guy, or at least a better guy, to begin even a semblance of a turnaround in Lawrence.
Allowing Beaty to move on signals the beginning of a new era for KU football. It gives Jeff Long plenty of time to begin the process of finding his next head coach.
Beaty added after the game, “We’re going to come out tomorrow getting ready for another good Central Michigan team.”
Frankly, Beaty prepping for Central Michigan is something I’d prefer not to see happening.
It’s time.
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