Third-year Kansas football coach David Beaty lost some followers with Saturday’s loss to Central Michigan, but his team hasn’t lost him as a believer. Beaty remains bullish on the Jayhawks.
“We’re still a good football team,” Beaty said Tuesday at his weekly presser. “That’s the thing I’m excited about. We’re still a good football team. Nothing’s changed.”
Nothing has changed, but Kansas hasn’t been a good football team since last decade. In fact, nobody in the FBS has been worse than KU this decade in terms of W’s and L’s.
Staring at 10 games in which it will be the underdog, unless favored against Baylor in Lawrence, the Kansas football program doesn’t stand a chance of climbing out of last place among all FBS schools this decade any time soon.
Two games into the eighth season of the decade, KU has a .174 winning percentage. New Mexico State is next worst with a .207 mark.
If KU (1-1) somehow still can squeeze two more victories out of the schedule, it will remain in last place, even if New Mexico State goes winless for the rest of the season.
Turner Gill (.217 winning percentage at KU), hired by Lew Perkins to replace ousted Mark Mangino (.510), coached the first two seasons of the decade. Sheahon Zenger hires Charlie Weis, interim Clint Bowen and third-year coach David Beaty have combined for a .161 winning percentage.
These are facts, which makes them slanted neither positively nor negatively. Cold, hard facts.
Here’s how the 20 losingest FBS football programs of this decade have fared:
| School | Record | Pct. | Current HC (rec.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1- Kansas | 15-71 | .174 | David Beaty (3-23) |
| 2- New Mexico State | 18-69 | .207 | Doug Martin (11-39) |
| 3 – UNLV | 23-67 | .256 | Tony Sanchez (8-18) |
| 4- Florida Atlantic | 23-63 | .267 | Lane Kiffin (0-2) |
| 5 – Eastern Michigan | 24-63 | .276 | Chris Creighton (12-27) |
| 6- Idaho | 25-62 | .287 | Paul Petrino (16-34) |
| 7 – Tulane | 26-62 | .295 | Willie Fritz (5-9) |
| 8 – Purdue | 27-61 | .307 | Jeff Brohm (1-1) |
| 9 – Akron | 27-60 | .310 | Terry Bowden (24-38) |
| 10 – Iowa State | 29-59 | .330 | Matt Campbell (4-10) |
| 11t – Miami (Ohio) | 30-59 | .337 | Chuck Martin (12-27) |
| 11t – New Mexico | 30-59 | .337 | Bob Davie (28-37) |
| 11t – Buffalo | 29-57 | .337 | Lance Leipold (7-19) |
| 14 – Colorado | 31-59 | .344 | Mike McIntyre (22-31) |
| 15 – Virginia | 30-57 | .345 | Bronco Mendenhall (3-11) |
| 16 – Army | 31-57 | .352 | Jeff Monken (16-23) |
| 17t – Indiana | 32-56 | .364 | Tom Allen (1-1) |
| 17t – UTEP | 32-56 | .364 | Sean Kugler (18-33) |
| 19t – North Texas | 36-58 | .383 | Seth Littrell (6-9) |
| 19t – Hawaii | 36-58 | .383 | Nick Rolovich (9-8) |
Georgia State (10-40) and Massachusetts (10-53) did not qualify for this list because they moved up from the FCS in mid-decade. UAB (19-43) also was not included because it discontinued its football program for a couple of seasons.
