MORGANTOWN — The one thing you can say about David Beaty, who enters his second year of trying to lead hapless Kansas out of the football darkness is that is he’s not afraid to put a little bit of pressure on himself.
Talk about turning a nothing game into one upon which you are almost gambling your career, and that’s just what Beaty did Monday at Big 12 media days in Dallas when discussing his team’s season opener against Rhode Island, which comes after an 0-12 season.
Beaty had no trouble dubbing this “the most important game in the history of our program.”
Now that may be overstating it just a bit, but here was his reasoning and, listening to him, your heart has to go out a little bit to the situation he is in.
“Last year, my biggest ache was for our fans, our coaches and our players because they deserve more, they really do,” he said. “The Jayhawk Nation deserves better than what we were able to give them and what they’ve gotten in the recent past.
“It pains me but we were doing foundation work and it’s hard, but it’s necessary,” he continued. “We could probably have cut some corners and maybe taken a few guys that might have got us one or two. But at the end of the day that wouldn’t have been worth it because our foundation is so important and we wanted to make sure it was something that was going to be long-lasting.
“That’s why we’re here so we have to win football games and we are completely and totally focused on the most important game in the history of our program, which is the next one, Rhode Island.”
• • •
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy had the privilege in his days of quarterbacking the Cowboys of having Thurman Thomas to hand the football to.
On Christmas Day in 1987, he was behind center for the Sun Bowl game in El Paso, facing a West Virginia team that was pretty good itself. But Thomas wound up making the difference with 33 carries, four of them for touchdowns, and 157 yards in a 35-33 victory.
If you think that made Gundy fortunate, Thomas had a backup running back who was pretty good himself.
In fact, at Big 12 Media Day in Dallas on Monday, Gundy unequivocally said that Thomas’ backup was “the greatest running back in the history of college football.”
That running back’s name was Barry Sanders. You may have heard of him. He’s in both the College and NFL Hall of Fame.
Gundy’s good fortune continues this year. This year, he’s the man who sees the ball gets into Barry Sanders Jr.’s hands.
Not wanting the pressure of following in his dad’s footsteps at Oklahoma State, Sanders Jr. went to Stanford, but after graduating last year with eligibility left and with Oklahoma State coming off a dreadful season trying to rush the football, he has transferred in and offers a good chance to help change things.
In three years at Stanford, he rushed for 672 yards on 115 carries with five touchdowns.
Gundy said he hasn’t yet had much of a chance to be around Sanders.
“So I know that he’s a college graduate,” Gundy said. “I know that he’s mature, that he’s dependable, seems to be durable. He came from a winning program and from an offense that obviously runs the football. So we’re excited about him being a part of our team.
“We hope that he will make a contribution that will help us be a better running football team. But his personality, his attitude has been really good up to this point from the people inside the program that keep me up with what’s going on. I’m excited about getting out there with him in August and seeing just what he can do for our football team.”
• • •
Matt Campbell is the new Iowa State coach, and at 36, he is the youngest head coach in Division I football.
He was a big time winner over five years at Toledo and now steps into a difficult situation replacing Paul Rhoads, but does so with some talented returning players who are eager to straighten things out.
“Right or wrong, any time change happens or occurs, it’s difficult at times. A lot comes with that. I can tell you this: I think our team and our football players within the program have really started to buy into the change,” he said.
“Our concentration points didn’t have much to do with scheme, I’ll be honest with you. A lot of it had to do with some core values that I believe in and attitude and effort, really understanding the ability to perfect your craft and the opportunity to come every day and a chance to get 2% better every day.”
He also is taking an interesting approach to the type team he wants to develop at Iowa State, knowing he is coming into a wide open, offensive-minded league.
He said he saw a lot of similarities between the style of player there and the Mid-America Conference, although on a smaller scale there, but he had to figure out just what Iowa State must become.
“Again, we have to be us,” Campbell said. “We can’t try to be somebody else. We’re going to work hard at that. I don’t know if we will be able to be that right away. But our starting point will revolve around our players and what they do really well and what gives us the best chance to be successful.”
Post a comment as Anonymous Commenter
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.