Kansas coaching search: Les Miles and 5 candidates to replace David Beaty

David Beaty will mercifully be gone after the season, and here are five candidates to be the next football coach at Kansas, including Les Miles.

At 3-6 so far this season, the Kansas Jayhawks have equaled their win total from David Beaty’s first three seasons as head coach. But the last straw apparently came last Saturday, with a 27-3 loss to Iowa State, and Beaty will be gone effective at the end of the season.

The Jayhawks could win out and earn bowl eligibility, but after Kansas State this weekend Oklahoma and Texas are on the slate. So they won’t be getting to six wins, and athletic director Jeff Long is trying to raise the bar for the Kansas football program.

Long is considered certain to seek candidates with head coaching experience after Beaty came to Lawrence after being the wide receivers coach at Texas A&M. Bret Bielema is an easy candidate for Kansas since Long hired him at Arkansas, but there are indications Bielema would not be interested in the job.

It will be a multi-year project to bring Kansas football back to consistent respectability, let alone the peak of Mark Mangino’s tenure in 2007 when the Jayhawks went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. But Long brings credibility to the search, and he offered confirmation of the kind of coach he will be seeking.

The appeal of the Kansas job isn’t great, but it would be a nice mark on someone’s resume to get the program on a good track. A wide array of options are out there, but here are five candidates to be the next Jayhawks coach.

5. Tracy Claeys, Washington St. Defensive Coordinator

Claeys’ tenure as head coach at Minnesota ended badly and oddly, as he supported Gophers’ players who were accused of sexual assault and threatened to boycott a bowl game in 2016. Overall he seemed to be in over his head as a head coach after taking over for Jerry Kill, who he was an assistant under.

Under Mike Leach this year at Washington State, it’s safe to say Claeys has full autonomy as defensive coordinator. The Cougars are a top-10 team right now with an 8-1 record, and quarterback Gardner Minshew is leading the country in passing yards. But the defense is holding up its end, sitting in the top-50 of the country in total (23rd), passing (33rd), rushing (31st) and scoring defense (tied for 45th) along with 27 sacks (tied for 14th in the country).

Claeys is a Kansas native (though he’s a Kansas State alum), with a past tie to the region as a coach when was under Kill as an assistant at Emporia State. Long probably has a list of bigger fish in mind, but Claeys may enter the conversation for head coaching jobs with a learning experience at Minnesota on his resume,