SPORTS
SPORTS ROUNDUP >>
YOU NEED TO KNOW
DISTRICT SERVICE
New York City
New York City Court is located at University of the
State of New York.
☑ University of NY
☑ John F. Kennedy Library
☑ John F. Kennedy 2013
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | THURSDAY, SEPT. 3, 2015
COACH DAVID BEATY is building his empire through creating relationships on social media and using it to recruit across Kansas. >> PAGE 13
FOOTBALL GAMEDAY. Check out the key contributors for both Kansas and South Dakota State ahead of Saturday's game. PAGE 15
>> PAGE 15
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG. Football writer Shane Jackson discusses captains, potential redshirts and more. > PAGE 13
KANSAN.COM >>
FOLLOW NEWS ONLINE
ZOE LARSON/KANSAN
CROSS COUNTRY RECAP The men's and women's cross country runners placed in top 10 in their opening meet this weekend in Lawrence.
>> Kansan.com/sports
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK Women's soccer midfielder Parker Roberts nabbed the award after performances against SMU and North Texas. Kansan.com/sport
ENGAGE WITH US »
ANYWHERE
@KANSANSPORTS
/THEKANSAN
KANSAN.NEWS
@UNIVERSITY
DAILYKANSAN
Junior quarterback Montell Cozart prepares to pass against Iowa State on Nov. 7, 2014
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
In nine months time, Kansas football coach David Beaty has invoked a new culture — themed around his catch phrase "Earn It", he recruited a strong class, and he's been praised through it all. His record is clean — it's been nothing but positive.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
But on Saturday, Beaty's true record — his record as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks — officially begins. And Beaty knows that Saturday is a new start, despite all he's already done.
"It's a great opportunity for us obviously to get this thing started in the right direction." Beaty said. "The big thing for us as coaches, we have to look at it realistically. We've seen these guys operate in a controlled environment... But there's nothing like the big field."
Almost this entire Jayhawks squad will be hitting the big Division 1 field for the first time. Although there's no official depth chart, only four starters are returning for Kansas. The team is attempting to replace over 90 percent of its receiving yardage, and only one running back — DeAndre Mann, who will serve as a backup — got action last year.
"I almost don't believe (that we only have four returning starters)" junior offense tackle Jordan Shelley-Smith said. "You go through spring ball with guys, you play with them, you get used to them, and it's hard to think that some guys weren't here last fall."
That said, the team has taken serious strides since the cupboard was left barren after
Charlie Weis was fired.
"I don't think there's going to be a moment where any of the guys out there and go, 'oh gosh.' We've done all of that," Shelley-Smith said. "We've got through the butterflies in your stomach. Yeah, you're going to have butterflies because it's the first time and you're doing something that you love, but it's not going to be the nervous unprepared butterflies."
And Beaty agrees: his team has made progress beyond where he thought the team would be when he started implementing his system.
"If you would have told me it would have been this way from the very beginning, I would have said there's no way." Beaty said.
This first game, according to Beaty and offensive coordinator Rob Likens, is still going to be used for evaluations and
subsequent adjustments. the biggest challenges for the personnel will come on the defensive end, where the Jackrabbits return 6-foot-4 wide receiver Jake Weineke, who averaged 100 yards and a touchdown per game in his true freshman season.
But the largest mismatch will be at the head coach position. South Dakota State's John Stiegelmeier is the winningest coach in the program's history through 18 years with the team. He's reached the FCS playoffs four times, including last year, where they lost to the eventual national champions, North Dakota State.
"This kid is certainly somebody that we know where he is on the field at all times, make sure we have a plan for him," Beaty said of Weineke. "We don't want to put him in a situation where he has an advantage with the matchup."
Beaty declined to release a depth chart because the team isn't quite sure what it's going to look like past the starting squad, and many of the situations on the team are fluid as of now. Finally, on Saturday, Beaty will get to see all of those players — whether they have played at an NCAA level or not
and, in addition, see how they fit into Likens' version of the air raid system.
"A lot of them haven't played a lot of ball. You've seen a lot of them on tape," Beaty said. "Zero of them have played in our system.
"That's why I say this is a great opportunity for us moving forward because it's the beginning of our team's new beginning here."
— Edited by Maddie.Farber
Beaty dismisses Boateng for violating team rules
EVAN RIGGS
@EvanRiggsUDK
Cornerback Matthew Boateng has been dismissed from the Kansas football team for violating team rules. While Boateng was a back-up cornerback, he was still expected to contribute.
Just yesterday, Clint Bowen said that Matthew Boateng would contribute at CB. Today, HC David Beaty has dismissed him from the program.
- @ByHardy
Boateng is the third player that new head coach David Beaty has dismissed from the program (Rodriguez Coleman
"Matthew has been dismissed from our program for a violation of team rules," Beaty said in a release. "We wish him well in his future endeavors."
In eight games last season, Boateng's five pass break-ups were third on the team behind JaCorey Shepherd and Dexter McDonald, who were both selected in the 2015 NFL Draft. Boateng also added nine tackles and one interception.
and Corey Avery were the first two), and he's declined to talk to the media about the rules he sets for players.
No details have been released on the rules violation, but Boateng's dismissal figures to be a big blow to a thin secondary that doesn't return any starters from last season.
Options to replace Boateng... Collin Spencer — Converted WR, only played special teams last yr. Chevy Graham — Walkon expected to play NB.
It's still unclear who will replace Boateng, but it will be somebody with much less experience.
- @ByHardy
The Jayhawks, who are already limited in numbers, are down to 63 scholarship players left on their roster. The FBS limit is 85 scholarships.
This comes four days before the home opener.
- Edited by Miranda Davis
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Sophomore cornerback Matthew Boateng attempts to deflect a pass against Oklahoma State on Oct. 10, 2014.
Blog: Somehow, Self is (still) underrated
SCOTT CHASEN
@SChasenKU
After 11-straight Big 12 titles, a couple of Final Fours and a National Championship, Bill Self still isn't a top offensive or defensive coach in the nation, at least according to his peers.
Over the summer, CBS Sports writers Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander and Sam Vecenie conducted a survey with almost 100 Division I coaches in which they asked the coaches who the best of offensive and defensive coaches in college basketball were.
When it came to the offensive side of the ball, Self did not receive any votes; 22 others did.
I'd like to feign some outrage and tell you I don't get this rating one bit, but truth be told, I kind of understand
The Jayhawks ranked 138th in the nation with a field goal percentage that was more than five percentage points lower than the year before. Additionally, the team ranked just 78th in the nation in points per game, despite ranking in the top 55 in tempo, according to kenpom.com.
it. I think Self is a very good offensive coach, but there's no denying his offensive efficiency fell last year.
In four of the five seasons before last year, the Jayhawks had ranked in the top 10 in the nation in field goal percentage. The team had also posted a points per game total in the top 50 every year, peaking in the 2009-10 season, when it finished in the top five.
With the team falling off that much in a single year, it's not hard to see why the coaches didn't select Self for his
Self was the last coach to receive votes on the list — he came in at 13th. To me, that's the ranking that is downright absurd.
the entire NCAA.
Over Bill Self's 12 seasons in Kansas, the Jayhawks finished in the top 10 in field goal percentage defense nine times and finished in the top three in the same stat four times, according to sports-reference. com.
Last year the Jayhawks ranked in the top 10 of defensive efficiency, and they did so without their only real rim protector — Cliff Alexander — for parts of the year. However, that doesn't even tell the whole story.
offense. However, he'd surely get some love for his defense right?
Wrong.
Now, field goal percentage defense obviously isn't the end-all-be-all, but a team that
Self has developed some of the better individual college defenders in the nation over the last few years — players ranging from Jeff Withey to Andrew Wiggins — and as a team, the Jayhawks have constantly hung around the top of
has boasted the nation's top score in that category twice in the last decade certainly has a great defensive coach. It's almost unarguable.
Lists like these are far from an exact science. However, for Self to fall outside the top 10 in both categories, especially on defense, is hard to see.
@RobDauster The @MattNorlander CBB coaches polls took a major credibility hit when Bill Self failed to make the top 5 defensive coach list.
- @SchoonerJohn
It's absolutely fair to criticize how some of Self's teams have performed recently in the NCAA Tournament. After all, in each of the last two years the Jayhawks have been knocked out of the tournament in the Round of 32. And it's absolutely fair to criticize how some of the individual players have panned out, both at the college and NBA level, although I think the perception of Self's inability to develop pros is widely misrepresented.
However, you can't criticize the results.
i
Looking at the last decade and looking at the state of college basketball as a whole. Self has been one of the most successful coaches in the nation. Now it's time for the rest of the coaches to figure that out.
- Edited by Rebecca Dowd
+