Any hole left by the departure of assistant coach Tim Beck may have been filled nicely.

Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino announced Friday the hiring of David Beaty to replace Beck. Beaty, 37, served as wide-receivers coach at Rice for the last two seasons.

“We are extremely excited to add David to our coaching staff,” Mangino said in a statement. “David is an excellent technician and is always focused on making his players better.”

Most importantly, Beaty seems to fit exactly what Kansas needed in the opening left by Beck, who went to Nebraska:

¢ Texas ties. Beck was a solid recruiter in talent-rich Texas, and Beaty certainly has his ties, as well. Besides working in Houston the last two years, Beaty was a successful high school coach at MacArthur High in Irving, Texas. He has been coaching football in Texas since 1994 and originally is from Garland, Texas.

¢ The spread offense. Rice has an offensive attack similar to what Kansas thrived in last season, and Beaty’s role could be crucial.

This season, Beck’s game-day job was to signal in plays to quarterback Todd Reesing from the sideline.

¢ The wide receivers. Kansas is returning a fine pass-catching fleet in 2008, led by senior Dexton Fields and sophomore Dezmon Briscoe.

Beaty worked with a solid group at Rice, led by All-American Jarett Dillard. In 2007, Dillard had 79 catches for 1,057 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Though the Owls finished just 3-9 last season, it certainly wasn’t the fault of the offense or its receivers. The Owls averaged 31.4 points and 404 total yards per game. Almost 75 percent of the offense was through the air.

Kansas still has one vacancy on its coaching staff. Defensive coordinator Bill Young left for Miami, and Clint Bowen was promoted to the coordinator role earlier this week.

Bowen will continue to coach the safeties, as well, meaning the Jayhawks still need to find an assistant to take the defensive line, which Young had coached since 2002.