KU settles lawsuit with former coach David Beaty. Here are the ramifications
Former Kansas football coach David Beaty and KU Athletics have reached a settlement for $2.55 million that effectively ends Beaty’s lawsuit against the athletic department, KU announced in a release on Friday.
The agreement comes 15 months after Beaty first filed his lawsuit, where he alleged that KU Athletics sought to concoct a reason to fire him for cause to avoid a $3 million payout.
KU, as part of Friday’s release, said the pact would end all litigation and disputes with Beaty. The department, however, said it maintained all facts and principles from its position with the case, where it attempted to argue that Beaty did not deserve his buyout because of an alleged Level II football violation.
“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,” KU’s release said.
Meanwhile, Beaty’s lawyer, Michael Lyons, told The Star this was a “tremendous victory for David and his family.”
“It brings to closure what has been a tremendous struggle for David personally and professionally,” Lyons said. “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.”
Though KU settled for less than Beaty’s original $3 million buyout in his contract, the department likely did not come out ahead financially. In a Jan. 31 memo that was later unsealed, KU blamed Beaty for violations that “resulted in several hundred thousand in legal fees for Kansas Athletics.” This accusation came four months before the case settled Friday, meaning KU’s lawyer fees were likely to have exceeded the half-million mark on Beaty’s lawsuit alone.
Big picture, though, this appears to be a sound move for KU Athletics in regards to risk management. Beaty’s legal team was still going through discovery, and had already sent out a subpoena to former Adidas representative T.J. Gassnola. That could have been disastrous for KU’s looming NCAA case, as anything said in Gassnola’s deposition could have been used against KU, with that new information also coming out late in the process.
A Kansas judge also had approved an order for Beaty’s lawyers to receive practice footage from Les Miles’ first year as coach, along with un-aired footage from KU’s “Miles to Go” documentary that was broadcast on ESPN+ each week.
KU athletic director Jeff Long originally fired Beaty in November 2018, initially promising the coach $3 million due to him under his contract. The payment was later withheld after KU Athletics reclassified Beaty’s firing as for cause after an investigation alleged one of Beaty’s non-coaching staffers engaged in impermissible coaching activities outside of NCAA rules.
KU also received some unwanted publicity while Beaty’s lawsuit played out, which included the release of deposition testimony from former employee Matt Baty that alleged crass comments of sexual nature by Long about a staff member and donor.
In a statement, KU described Baty’s testimony as “full of outright fabrications, lies and false attributions.”
Long, in his deposition, also said he warned against Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte hiring Beaty for an analyst position in the offseason, recalling that he told Del Conte that “David Beaty is involved with serious violations under investigation by the NCAA.”
Separately, Long also was questioned extensively by Lyons in the Feb. 27 deposition about potential NCAA violations taking place in video footage under current coach Miles.
“This is a victory for college coaches like David everywhere,” Lyons said of the settlement. “This trend, that is starting to matriculate in college athletics where, ‘We’ll make a promise to pay you if we fire you, and then we trump up something, and come up with something to try to get out of a contract,’ which is what Kansas has done here ... I think this case is a great example of why that’s a bad idea.
“They ultimately damaged their reputation, subjected themselves to more exposure in their athletic department and before the NCAA, and spent more money than they ultimately would have had to had they simply just paid him and honored their commitment.”
KU stated that the $2.55 million for Beaty’s settlement would come from an escrow account that had previously reserved the funds.
“I think this should be a lesson for institutions everywhere that this is not the way to do business,” Lyons said. “If the ultimate decision is that we’re going to fire our coach, fire him, pay him your obligation and move on. Because if you decide to roll out the Kansas game plan, do so at your peril. You’re going to potentially expose yourself in every program that you have, and you’re going to potentially make yourself worse off than had you simply honored your commitment. That’s the lesson to be learned here.”
