Mandatory Credit: KU Sports

As if the season couldn’t have gone any worse for Kansas Football, the Jayhawks were completely outmatched against in-state rival Kansas State, 45-14, to finish out the 2015 season.

Even worse for KU is the fact that Bill Snyder didn’t field one of his better teams at K-State this season, which means the Jayhawks likely fought off some quit in many of its players, particularly after the Cats jumped out early.

It’s hard to blame them, however, after a year of mostly downs and a roster which was as depleted of talent as any roster in the country, and increased the aesthetic age of head coach David Beaty by several years.

Beaty, a tireless worker and a ball of energy just didn’t have the answers needed to squeak out a win over any of his Big 12 opponents.

The Jayhawks came close on several occasions, but also floundered against the” lesser opponents,” in conference, such as Iowa State and Kansas State.

In fact, Kansas’ best game may have come against one of the top dogs in the Big 12, TCU, where the Jayhawks had a chance to tie or take the lead at the end of the game.

In the end, however, the season came to a close with a very disappointing 0-12 record and many fans feeling downright sorry for a team full of players that played hard all season long to try and make progress towards what appears to be a bright future for the football program.

Beaty is the right coach of the job, and it became evident that his players play for him, which is a great sign for the future as the football program attempts to get back to its winning ways from the latter portion of Mark Mangino’s years as head coach.

The job won’t be easy, and the athletic department will need to give Beaty his chance and numerous years to take some lumps for the sake of rebuilding a program.

Kansas has blown through coaches since Mangino’s departure, so now it’s time to hunker down with Beaty and support his efforts.

The Jayhawks will still need to win, though.

At some point, progress has to mean wins in order for Kansas to continue its support for Beaty and his staff. The other pressing issue is the amount of money KU is missing out on by not being able to compete and win with the rest of the Big 12. College sports has become an arms race, and the football program is looking at the barrel as opposed to holding the gun.

Like it or not, KU needs to bring in revenue from football and become less reliant on the money coming in from the basketball program–which is plentiful.

Memorial Stadium is in need of a dramatic face lift. In fact, there are high school stadiums that, to some level, outclass what Memorial has to offer in terms of game-day experience.

Kansas has to change that, and sooner rather than later. One of the most important keys to having a successful program is for your program to be taken seriously. Donors, fans, and the like need to believe there is a viable product there. Kansas fans are among the most loyal, but actual in-game attendance is on a downward tick. Games have become more of a party and tailgating atmosphere, with the actual game itself become an afterthought. Those two things need to balance out.

Luckily for Kansas, David Beaty is the just the man to get the job done.