Kansas coach Beaty plans to draw on Dallas-area roots,
New Kansas coach was at Dallas-area high schools.
Dallas native David Beaty returned home for Big 12 media days, and if things go as planned, the new Kansas coach will be back here often to recruit the area.
Beaty said Baylor’s Art Briles is one of his “coaching heroes.” Like Briles, he will construct his program based on relationships he forged as a high school coach in the state. In the 2000s, Beaty headed programs at North Dallas and Irving MacArthur.
“I will never relinquish that title,” Beaty said. “I may be the head coach at Kansas, but I’ll always be proud of being a Texas high school football coach. It’s a brotherhood.”
Beaty comes by way of Texas A&M, where he coached wide receivers the past three seasons. At Kansas, he encounters a headache, as the Jayhawks have won only three conference games in the past five years and haven’t been to a bowl game since 2008.
“We’re trying to create that same brotherhood up there in Kansas,” he said. “The way we do that is one school at a time. We went (to) all 474-plus high schools this spring. Every one of them.”
Bowlsby on Fenves: Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby smiled when told that new UT President Gregory L. Fenves claims he doesn’t know much about athletics. “Well, he knows a lot more than he lets on,” Bowlsby said.
Bowlsby said he and Fenves have spoken several times via phone, and they’ll have face-to-face meetings later this summer. Bowlsby said it’s all part of the process of getting new university presidents up to speed on league issues.
“My experiences with him so far have been terrific,” Bowlsby said. “He’s a very accomplished administrator, really a good leader. I think he’s going to be terrific for the University of Texas.”
Quick decision at Tech: Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said he doesn’t anticipate needing much time to sort through the team’s quarterback competition between DavisWebb and Patrick Mahomes. Kingsbury said he’s planning to name a starter “fairly early in camp.”
Mahomes, a sophomore, would appear to have the edge after starting the final four games of 2014 and accumulating 589 passing yards in a close loss to Baylor to end the season.
WVU’s burner: West Virginia must replace a couple of wide receivers who were drafted by the NFL. The most intriguing option is sophomore Shelton Gibson, who Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said “is probably the fastest player I’ve ever coached.”
Holgorsen doesn’t believe in timing his players in the 40-yard dash, but he did pass along a couple of anecdotes illustrating Gibson’s uncanny speed.
“I thought (quarterback) Skyler (Howard) overthrew him by 10 yards in the bowl game, and he somehow caught it,” Holgorsen said.
In the spring, Holgorsen estimates that Gibson beat the defense 10 times. Compare that with a year earlier when White and Mario Alford didn’t do it once between them.
Gibson had just four catches for 60 yards last year, but his role is about to increase.