It is now a matter of NCAA prosecutorial fact that the Jeff Long administration at Kansas ginned up an investigation into former Jayhawks football coach David Beaty in order to avoid paying his $3 million buyout.
Beaty was formally cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA, notified by the organization it found no evidence of wrongdoing amid a swooping probe of KU athletics, mostly Bill Self's basketball program.
"After nearly three years of this debacle, there has been no finding by anyone that David has ever violated any NCAA rule, and as we sit here today we now have a confirmation that there's not even an allegation that David has ever violated an NCAA rule. This is vindication for David Beaty, for Raynee Beaty, for the entire Beaty family," attorney Michael Lyons said at a press conference from his firm's Dallas office on Thursday.
But Beaty was not the only coach cleared by the NCAA.
You see, if you're going to make a fall-guy of your head coach, the head coach has to have his own fall-guy, an accomplice under him. And so Jeff Love was chased out of college football as well, collateral damage for a $100 million athletics department looking to save 3 percent by reneging on its contractually-agreed-upon contract.
At the time working as KU's video coordinator, the Long administration said Love broke NCAA rules by providing coaching instruction to Jayhawk players, thereby taking Beaty's staff above the allowable limit of 15 hands-on coaches.
The NCAA notified Love it found no such evidence.
“We love Kansas. And that’s why this was just like, ‘Gah-lee, you serious? You’re gonna treat us like this?’” Love told the Kansas City Star on Thursday. “And again, it wasn’t Kansas. It was the leadership at that time.”
Love had worked in college football for a decade and a half until Beaty and his staff were fired. He declined an option to remain on Les Miles' staff as video coordinator, a demotion, and soon found himself unable to work in the college game after KU filed its notice of allegations in 2019. He has worked in high school football the past three years, currently as the offensive coordinator at Fort Myers Riverdale in Florida.
Without a $3 million payday to chase, Love did not lawyer up, choosing instead to believe the truth would reveal itself in time.
“I feel like if that’s what you’re about, you’ll be OK, and your name will get cleared in the end and the truth will come out,” Love said. “And that’s what I hope to continue to do in my career, at whatever the level is, is help kids go from high school to college and beyond.”