The silliest notion that started to gather steam before Kansas chancellor Dr. Doug Girod made it clear David Beaty will be back for a fourth season was the one expressed by many who claimed no good coach would want the job.
False. Every time the job opens, good coaches pursue it. Consider a few not mentioned in [Tuesday’s Lunch Break.][1]
Gus Malzahn, then offensive coordinator at Auburn, aggressively went after the opening that ultimately went to Charlie Weis.
His wife Kristi Malzahn’s embarrassing interview in which she, among other things, said that Auburn head coach Gene Chizek did not want to recruit Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, and if not for her husband he never would have come to Auburn, stopped Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger from pursuing Malzahn.
Asked about Newton, Kristi said, “He’s cute. Mmmm.”
Later in the interview, she whispered into the microphone and said of Newton: “I love him, but don’t tell Gus.”
Zenger scratched Malzahn off his list. That didn’t stop Arkansas State and then Auburn from hiring him as head coach. He only stayed at Arkansas State one year and maybe he would have bolted KU as quickly, it still would have been better than hopping on the Weis train.
Glen Mason could have been had and would have had the tools to turn around the program, doing it with a run-first philosophy that would have stood out as unusual in the Big 12 and his Big 10 region recruiting ties could have come in handy.
Might Mike Leach have chosen to work for his friend Zenger instead of Washington State? We’ll never know. Zenger had to wait for an opening in Bernadette Gray-Little’s schedule to arrange a meeting with Leach. Washington State AD Bill Moos had the authority to interview Leach without including the chancellor and made it clear Leach would be working for the AD, not the AD’s boss.
The great Terry Donahue, former UCLA coach who has always had a strong feelings for KU since his days as a young assistant coach, could have been talked out of retirement had Lew Perkins thought of him.
Oh well, at least once Girod decided Beaty would return he had the good sense to announce it this week instead of waiting until after the season, which would have been bad for recruiting.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/keegan-lunch-break/2017/nov/14/impressive-football-coaches-have-wanted-/