Role models: KU reps to Big 12 Media Days reflect Beaty’s mantra

By Matt Tait     Jul 19, 2016

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart responds to questions during Big 12 college football media days, Monday, July 18, 2016, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

? When David Beaty put pen to paper to sign his contract on Dec. 8, 2014 — big D, big B, all letters clearly legible — Beaty affirmed his intention to “devote his full time and attention and give his best efforts and skill exclusively to the duties required of him as the KU head football coach.”

Those duties, detailed in the subsequent 24 pages of Beaty’s first collegiate head-coaching contract, included everything from supervision and evaluation to recruitment and training, along with an agreement to adhere to all KU and NCAA rules while also maintaining a professional and ethical existence as the face of the KU program.

All of that black ink was necessary to make the agreement legal, but the thousands of words within the document amounted to little more than a long-winded version of the greater directive: Do your best to win.

But there’s nothing in that employment agreement that references what Beaty says he believes is as important as anything else, a mantra he has said over and over since he arrived.

He and his staff want to help create good young men who will go on to become good fathers and husbands well after their days as good football players are behind them.

“The way he says things, it really resonates with you,” said junior linebacker Joe Dineen, one of three Jayhawks who joined Beaty at Monday’s Big 12 Media Days at the Omni Hotel. “He talks about his daughters all the time and how important they are to him, and he tells us he loves us, too. Honestly, he could’ve picked almost anybody on the team, and they would’ve done a great job. I’m just blessed that he picked me. I’m having a great time.”

Joined by senior safety Fish Smithson and junior quarterback Montell Cozart, the KU quartet spoke proudly about the state of Kansas football for seven hours Monday. The fact that they could do that on the heels of a winless season in 2015 showed their mental make-up. And although huge win totals may not reside in the immediate future, Monday’s activity showed that the first step in the rebuilding process is behind them.

This is the new face of Kansas football.

“That’s why those guys are here,” Beaty said. “I wanted the world to see what type of good men we have there. And the crazy thing is, man, it was hard to choose (who to bring), because we’ve got a team full of them right now. And that’s how I know more than ever that we’re gonna get this thing done.”

Beaty, a Garland, Texas, native, knows it sounds a bit cheese-ball-Texan of him when he emphasizes character and make-up as much as touchdowns and tackles, but he holds strong in his belief that teams cannot be truly great unless they are made up of great men.

“They’re gonna make mistakes,” Beaty admitted. “But I’m talking about genuinely good people that you can trust who you know are going do their part when asked. I’ve been a part of a lot of teams that you didn’t know what you were getting. With these guys, every week, we’re going to get everything they’ve got.

“Our championships, when they come at KU, are gonna be a by-product of being great men from the time we wake up from the time we go to bed.”

That’s a heavy philosophy for such young people to fully comprehend, but this group of Jayhawks makes it seem simple.

The players peg it as the biggest reason — right there with the enthusiasm and energy of the coaching staff — they were able to keep fighting in the face of colossal failure a season ago.

“That’s definitely part of it,” Smithson said. “You’ll never see dysfunction on our team, coaches just yelling at players or players yelling back at coaches. You didn’t see that. And I think that’s something that’s gonna help us make the transition from where we’re at to jumping the ranks.”

Of course, at the core of it all is Beaty’s belief that relationships make the world go ’round. He first learned this from his father, the former Dallas police officer who passed away when Beaty was just 5 years old, and, later, from his mother, whom he called “a tough lady.”

“She never hit us with her hand,” Beaty said. “But she grabbed the nearest broom, the nearest glas,s and we stayed in line. … I think all of us kind of revert back to what we know and what we’ve been raised on.”

So that’s the way Beaty plans to raise this program that was desperately in need of consistency, direction and, yeah, even a little love when he arrived.

Producing better results on the field will not happen overnight, but now that it’s Year Two, Beaty and the Jayhawks believe they are closer to getting there. And a big reason for that is the culture that Beaty has created.

“Exposing people is not a bad thing, because you expose a lot of good a lot of times,” Beaty said. “It’s just the truth, and, until you spend time with them, you don’t know who they are over a long period of time, and, when the fire gets hot, who are they then?”

Who they were was on full display on Monday in Dallas, and Beaty could barely contain his pride.

“That’s one of the best compliments you can give a man,” Smithson said. “Five, ten years from now I’ll go back to Coach Beaty and tell him, ‘You made me a better man.’ And I think that’s something he’s trying to instill in us.”

Added Dineen: “The responsibility aspect behind everything is just so important, like keeping your head on straight and paying attention. Simple stuff like that is huge, and it makes people better football players.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.