A bizarre mini-soap opera erupted around the Kansas University football team Friday, centered on the reported resignation of an Arlington, Texas, high school football coach.
For about 90 minutes Friday, a story on the Dallas Morning News’ Web site quoted Tim Beck as saying he had resigned his position at Mansfield Summit High to accept a job coaching wide receivers and special teams under Mark Mangino.
KU denied any hiring had taken place.
“Coach Mangino has not hired anybody for any position on the football staff,” a KU athletics department spokesman said Friday afternoon.
After the KU statement was released, a story appeared on the Morning News’ Web site saying Beck had rescinded his resignation and wasn’t leaving Mansfield Summit after all.
“I misunderstood the University of Kansas,” Beck told the Dallas newspaper. “It was not an official offer.”
Beck and Mangino have a history. While Mangino was an assistant at Kansas State, Beck served as a graduate assistant under K-State coach Bill Snyder.
At Mansfield Summit, Beck led the Jaguars to a 9-4 record in 2004, stringing together a seven-game winning streak and leading Summit to the 5A regional finals.
Despite published reports that a high school football coach in Arlington, Texas, resigned to take an assistant coaching position at Kansas University, the KU athletic department is denying that such a hiring has taken place.
“Coach Mangino has not hired anybody for any position on the football staff,” a KU athletics department spokesman said in a statement.
It goes against the word of Tim Beck, football coach at Mansfield Summit High in Arlington, Texas, who told the Dallas Morning News on Friday that he resigned his position at the school to depart for Lawrence.
“This is a good place with good people,” Beck said in a story on the Dallas Morning News’ Web site. “This just happened. You always open those doors when people knock. This is a great opportunity.”
A story published on the Dallas Morning News’ site almost two hours after the original report stated that Beck misunderstood KU and was not officially offered a position with the Jayhawks. Beck also stated that he had rescinded his resignation and will remain at Mansfield Summit High.
Beck said he expects to coach wide receivers and special teams at Kansas. Currently, Tyrone Dixon is in charge of wide receivers, while Clint Bowen coaches special teams along with safeties.
