Fans embrace Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing after the Jayhawks 49-3 win over Northern Colorado Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 at Memorial Stadium.

At Big 12 media days earlier this week in Dallas, one of the more popular inquiries thrown at first-year Kansas University coach David Beaty had to do with how much it helped him to have been at Kansas as an assistant in the past when the Jayhawks were rolling.

Never one to push his true thoughts below the surface, Beaty spoke openly about what he remembered of the Todd Reesing era, when KU shattered attendance records and lit up the scoreboard on a weekly basis.

“When you fill Memorial Stadium, it is a real place,” Beaty said of KU’s 94-year-old football venue. “There’s not many like it in the country. That’s how I know it. That’s how I remember it.”

And now Beaty is at least partly responsible for making it that way again.

Doing so figures to be as difficult a challenge as any task facing the first-year head coach during his first season at Kansas. But Beaty has been working on building momentum since the day he took over and he’s hoping his approach will pay off this fall.

“The only way you do that, in my opinion, is you humble yourself and you go out there and you extend your hand to them and you tell them how important they are to the success of this program,” he said of the KU fan base. “We want them to be proud of their seat. We want that ticket to be something they’re extremely proud of. And I know it can be that way because I’ve lived it and seen it. We created that when we were there before it.”

Whether it has come through appearances at booster functions, community outreach programs or inviting fans and students into spring practice for a behind-the-scenes look at the program, Beaty at each stop has made sure to emphasize that the road to success for Kansas football includes more than just the players and coaches on the field.

With fan apathy at an all-time high, convincing KU supporters that showing up on Saturdays this fall will be worth their time can be difficult. But Beaty is not allowing himself to operate with a light deck. And he’s not letting the skepticism surrounding the program — which he deems understandable — keep him from showing passion for the product.

“We can either moan, gripe and complain about it,” Beaty said. “Or we can take the first step and stick our hand out to (the fans) and say, ‘Listen, we can only do this with you. This is your university. We’re just stewards of it.'”

This approach with the fan base is the same one Beaty is taking with some of KU football’s most notable former players. Instead of hoping the guys who won games here in the past will want to be a part of the imperfect present, Beaty is reaching out to them, as well.

“I want our guys to see as many of those guys that bled, sweat and cried on that field,” Beaty said. “Because it’s really hard to give up when those guys are always in your face and they’ve been there before you.

“They’re the ones who built that stadium. We’re simply getting to enjoy it. They had to live in the dungeon. We’re living in the Taj Mahal right now. And my big deal is for (our current players) to respect it. It’s not about us. It’s about our fans, the great people of Kansas, and I want them to know that in order for us to recruit well, you’re the magic.”