Yahoo Finance Kansas reaches $2.55 million settlement with former coach David Beaty
Kansas and former football coach David Beaty reached a $2.55 million settlement on Friday after Beaty filed a federal lawsuit against the athletic department more than a year ago, according to the Kansas City Star.
Beaty spent four seasons at Kansas, though compiled just a 6-42 record. The Jayhawks didn’t win a single game in his first year with the program, and only won once in 2017, too.
“It brings to closure what has been a tremendous struggle for David personally and professionally,” his attorney, Michael Lyons, told the Kansas City Star. “What Kansas did in promising to pay him and ultimately reneging and then trying to destroy him professionally has taken years off of David’s life and hurt him very deeply personally. So this is redemption for he and Raynee, his wife, and his family.”
Beaty was fired in November 2018 without cause, and was still owed $3 million on his contract. However, Beaty sued the athletic department last March, per ESPN, claiming that the school launched an NCAA inquiry to avoid paying him that buyout. Per the lawsuit, Kansas officials “unabashedly raised the need to ‘find something’ on Coach Beaty such as finding a ‘dead hooker in his closet.’”
"Despite the clarity of the contractual language and the nature of Coach Beaty's termination without cause, Kansas Athletics officials began seeking avenues by which it could forgo the money owed to Coach Beaty or otherwise secure leverage by which it might negotiate a lesser amount," the lawsuit said, via ESPN.
Kansas was hit with an alleged Level II violation regarding the football program, too, something the university attempted to use in arguing that Beaty didn’t deserve his buyout.
The university hired longtime LSU coach Les Miles to replace Beaty. Miles went 3-9 last season, his first with the program.
"Despite the settlement, the University maintains the facts and principles behind its position remain intact," Kansas said in a statement, via ESPN. "For the betterment of KU, and driven by a willingness to move forward during a time of uncertainty in college athletics, the University has now put this matter behind us."
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