photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach David Beaty applauds a defensive stop during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 at Memorial Stadium.

Officially cleared by the NCAA of any wrongdoing during his tenure as the head football coach at the University of Kansas, an at times emotional David Beaty on Thursday said he’s eager to finally return to the profession he loves.

Beaty spoke to reporters in a video press conference from Dallas along with his lawyer Michael Lyons. They said the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process had sent them a letter saying that Beaty was no longer involved in the NCAA’s case against the KU athletic department.

“Today’s a great day, because when you get your name back, man, you only get one of those. So getting your good name back, I’m very fortunate, because a lot of times it doesn’t happen,” Beaty said.

Beaty had previously been accused of a low-level violation — using more coaches than permitted under NCAA rules. But in a 15-month legal battle with KU, he accused then-Athletic Director Jeff Long of “concocting” the allegation so he could fire Beaty without paying him a $3 million buyout that was included in his contract.

Lyons said that “what David wants to make crystal clear after three years of an ensuing debacle (is that) there is no finding that David has violated any NCAA rule. There’s not even an allegation that David has violated an NCAA rule. This is vindication for David Beaty.”

Lyons said that since Beaty’s firing in 2018, the former head coach has been unable to get a job in football “because of what Kansas set in motion.” He said that now that Beaty is “free from this saga,” he hopes to rejoin the coaching ranks soon.

Beaty thanked some of his friends in the coaching community — including former Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt, whom he called “a great confidant of mine” — for helping him get through the past few years. During that time, he said he has done some consulting in college football, and was offered “a lot of opportunities,” but those didn’t pan out. He said he wants to “get back on the sidelines and help young men become better men one day at a time.”

During a deposition in the lawsuit, Beaty had said that he nearly joined former Texas coach Tom Herman’s staff, but that it fell through because of the NCAA’s investigation.

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The allegations against Beaty had centered on then-video coordinator Jeff Love, who the NCAA said had worked for KU in a coaching role despite being a noncoaching staff member.

In the Notice of Allegations that KU received in September 2019, the NCAA said Beaty didn’t demonstrate that he monitored the KU football staff. It alleged that Beaty knew that Love spent time with the quarterbacks on the team — both in position meetings and during practices — from December 2017 through October 2018. It also alleged that Beaty observed Love “alone” with the quarterbacks during a film session.

Long said at the time that the athletic department had self-reported the football violations to the NCAA.

Beaty was fired in November 2018. He sued KU in March 2019, claiming that his firing should have been without cause and that the university should pay him the $3 million buyout in his contract.

The legal fight ended in June 2020, when KU and Beaty settled for $2.55 million — nearly half a million dollars less than Beaty had originally sought.

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Despite the lengthy court battle and NCAA investigation, Beaty said he and his family remain “so grateful for our time at the great University of Kansas.”

“Man, the Jayhawks have been some of the finest people we’ve ever come across in our lifetime,” he said.

The once-embattled coach said that ever since he was fired, the KU fans he has met have “been nothing but classy and terrific to our family.”

“And we know what we’re getting into when we get into this business. Sometimes things don’t work out,” he said. “But it’s very rarely about the people of the school. Sometimes it has to do with maybe the leadership.”

Beaty’s time at KU began when former Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger hired him in December 2014. He went 6-42 as the Jayhawks’ head coach from 2015 through 2018. His best season at KU was his final one, when the Jayhawks went 3-9. At the time Beaty was fired, he had three years remaining on the contract extension he had signed in 2016.

Two weeks after firing Beaty, Long filled the head coaching vacancy with Les Miles, the former head coach at LSU and Oklahoma State. But by March of 2021, both Miles and Long had parted ways with KU after sexual harassment allegations from Miles’ years at LSU had come to light.

When asked about Long at Thursday’s press conference, Lyons said, “I’m not going to make this about Mr. Long. I would say, I’ll answer that with a question: Is Jeff Long the athletic director at Kansas?”

During his downtime the past few years, Beaty said some consulting opportunities allowed him to be around high-level programs and “stay up with the times” about where the best recruits are located, and he thinks that will serve him well moving forward.

“I’m excited about getting back on the sidelines and doing what I love. It’s a privilege, not a right,” Beaty said, trying to restrain his emotions. “I just can’t wait to do it again.”

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The violation that Beaty was accused of was a part of the university’s larger infractions case, which centers primarily on the men’s basketball program. That case against KU, which includes allegations of five Level 1 infractions in men’s basketball, a charge of head coach responsibility and a tag of lack of institutional control, was accepted by the IARP on July 1, 2020, and is ongoing.

Dan Beckler, a spokesman for KU Athletics, told the Journal-World on Thursday that because KU’s IARP case was still in progress, the department wouldn’t comment on the news that Beaty had been cleared.