Kansas wide-receivers coach Klint Kubiak, right, runs a route with wideout Joshua Stanford, center, during practice Friday at Memorial Stadium.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas wide-receivers coach Klint Kubiak, right, runs a route with wideout Joshua Stanford, center, during practice Friday at Memorial Stadium.

There are two ways to look at the recent departure of three of Kansas University football assistant coaches who spent just one year in Lawrence working for head coach David Beaty.

The first is the glass-half-full approach and it says: “It sure is a bummer to lose these coaches after just one season, but the fact that they’re leaving says an awful lot about Beaty’s ability to put together a staff since, even after going 0-12, other coaches wanted to add KU’s coaches to their staffs.”

The second is the glass-half-empty approach and it says: “What in the heck is going on over there and why is KU losing this many assistants after just one season? Is this a sign that the program is a mess and people who come work here realize that and are bailing for better opportunities before things get even uglier?”

Both are valid viewpoints and certainly worth concerns, and I have heard both uttered dozens of times by the KU fans who still care about football at this point.

However, I’m not sure that either one actually answers the question of what’s going on in the KU football complex.

The reality is this: Each one of the three coaches who left KU did so for a better opportunity. All three got raises. One, linebackers coach Kevin Kane, was promoted from position coach to coordinator. The other, running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell, was promoted from 0-12 in the Big 12 to 8-5 in the SEC. And the most recent, receivers coach Klint Kubiak, was hired by his dad, who just so happens to coach the defending Super Bowl champions.

A fourth, former special teams coach Gary Hyman, initially stayed with the program after being reassigned but now has taken a job at Indiana State.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas linebackers coach Kevin Kane works with the defense during spring practice on Tuesday, March 24, 2015.

Say what you will about how it looks for Beaty to lose all three in a short span. And there’s no denying that, overall, it’s not a great look.

But a closer glance at the circumstances shows that each departure was a no-brainer and neither Beaty nor the current state of the KU program should be considered the sole reason that any of these assistants left.

Beyond that, although it’s clear that continuity is so key at all levels of development in the game of football, the Kansas program remains stable in that the head coach (Beaty) and both coordinators (DC Clint Bowen and OC Rob Likens) — as well as both line coaches (Zach Yenser and Calvin Thibodeaux) who need to help KU make up the most ground — are expected to be back with the program for Year 2 of the Beaty era.

It should be noted here, however, that Thibodeaux’s name has surfaced in Oklahoma, where Bob Stoops is in search of a new defensive line coach. Multiple sources at KU recently told me they were confident Thibodeaux would remain on Beaty’s staff, but heading home to an alma mater of the caliber of OU is an awfully tough thing to turn down, so this is worth tracking.

I know it’s easy for coaches on their way out the door to say flattering things about the place they’re leaving simply because it does them no good to trash the place and also out of a sense of loyalty to the people who just paid their bills. And that’s probably some of what’s going on here.

But in my conversations with all three coaches, as well as others closely tied to the football program, I did not get the sense that this is a case of rats fleeing a sinking ship.

People, both still on board and departing, believe that, in time, Beaty will get things turned around at Kansas. One of the coaches leaving even went as far as to tell me that he almost did not leave, even with the wonderful opportunity sitting in front of him, and said Beaty was the main reason. “The work environment he has created at KU is second-to-none,” the coach said. “Between that and the facilities, it really is a great place to be.”

Time will tell if that holds true. But the most important thing to find out now is if Beaty can do as good of a job replacing these coaches as he did putting together his staff in the first place.

The results of that will determine just how damaging these moves are for Kansas football.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas running back coach Reggie Mitchell has some fun with De'Andre Mann as the running backs work together during the first day of practice on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 at the fields south of Anschutz Pavilion.