KU is in no mood to fire a football coach. Since 2009, the Jayhawks have fired three – Mark Mangino, Turner Gill, Charlie Weis – with a total of three Big 12 victories to show for it.
But KU is in a mood to quit caring. It comes naturally to a basketball school, but especially when football success is so scarce. The Jayhawks were 5-19 overall under Gill, 7-29 under Weis and interim coach Clint Bowen, and now are 1-16 under Beaty.
The Kansas program is virtually dormant. No excitement. Little hope.
A victory changes that a little – a victory over someone more prestigious than Rhode Island, Beaty's only victim – but chances for victory rarely come Kansas' way.