LAWRENCE, Kan. — Fourteen years before David Beaty got to Kansas, there was North Dallas High School. When Beaty was hired away from Garland High in 2001, North Dallas was referred to in Texas coaching circles as the Bermuda Triangle: Coaches go in, but they don’t come out. The school had two footballs, both deflated. There was no dirt or grass on the practice field.
To make the area usable for drills, Beaty would leave water hoses on certain areas of the field when he left at night, wake up at 2 a.m. to switch their positions, and move them again before taking his daughters to school in the morning.