Former KU Jayhawks staffer Jeff Love also cleared in NCAA case. Here’s his response

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Jeff Love has previously moved his family twice to Lawrence.

He worked as a video coordinator for Kansas football coaches Mark Mangino, Turner Gill and David Beaty over two stints, spending six years there in total. His wife, Antoinette, was once an assistant coach on the Jayhawks’ soccer team, and some of Jeff’s best friends remain at the school.

All this history, Love says, is what made the last three years so difficult, as some in the athletic department pushed an internal investigation while self-reporting an NCAA violation against him.

“We love Kansas. And that’s why this was just like, ‘Gah-lee, you serious? You’re gonna treat us like this?’” Love told The Star on Thursday. “And again, it wasn’t Kansas. It was the leadership at that time.”

Some of that pain was relieved last week; like Beaty, Love received a letter from the Independent Accountability Review Process’ Complex Case Unit that removed him as an identified individual in KU’s ongoing NCAA infractions case, which centers around major allegations against the men’s basketball team and coach Bill Self.

That announcement brought some comfort, with Love saying it “feels like my name is back.”

“It’s a good day for everybody, and again, forget about me. The guy who’s one of the best in the business also is vindicated if you will,” Love said of Beaty. “Because the court of public opinion really, in our business, is all that matters.”

Originally, Beaty and Love were cited in the NCAA’s notice of allegations sent to KU in September 2019, as KU self-reported violations following its own investigation while Love — as the team’s video coordinator — participated in “technical and tactical instruction” with players under Beaty’s watch. Specifically, KU said it found, Love met with the quarterbacks six to 10 times and provided instruction, including the sending of educational videos through text messages.

NCAA rules prohibit non-coaching staff members from instructing players; KU declared two Level II violations: one for Love’s involvement, and one for Beaty not properly monitoring his staff. The NCAA classifies violations on three tiers, with Level I being the most severe. KU still faces five Level I allegations related to men’s basketball, which the university and Self dispute.

Love says one of his biggest disappointments with what came out was that KU “misrepresented all as a part of a scheme.” He also believed there was some insinuation by KU that he and Beaty were working together maliciously to commit infractions.

All that, Love says, after he devoted himself in an attempt to help KU rebuild its football program.

“To put that kind of effort into something only for it to end like this is kind of like, ‘Man.’ It kind of hurts you a little bit personally,” Love said. “But you just move on and play the next play.”

Beaty said during a press conference Thursday that the NCAA investigation had impacted his ability to get hired in college football the last three years, and for Love, it appears to have done the same.

Love had worked 14 consecutive years on college football staffs before 2018, when he was promoted midseason to be Beaty’s quarterbacks coach.

Jeff Love is shown during his tenure on the Kansas football staff. He was with the Jayhawks from 2016-18 and before that from 2008-10.
Jeff Love is shown during his tenure on the Kansas football staff. He was with the Jayhawks from 2016-18 and before that from 2008-10.

After that year, Love said he resigned from KU after the department wanted him to move back to video coordinator for new coach Les Miles.

Shortly after, Love said, he was made aware of the investigation and subsequent allegations against him and Beaty, which were the reason then-KU athletic director Jeff Long cited for withholding Beaty’s $3 million buyout after he was fired.

“You had some interesting decisions made in leadership that, for whatever reason, were trying to go after one of the good guys in the profession,” Love said, “and then I got roped along with it.”

Love couldn’t comment on the case publicly then, but he soon believed he felt its consequences.

On a few instances, he said he made it into the interview process for a college football position right before “it just kind of dropped off the face of the earth.” This all came as his name showed up in news articles linking him to potential KU violations.

“I’ve never not been in college football,” Love said, “and all of a sudden, this was the reason for that.”

Over the last three years, Love transitioned to high school football. He was assistant head coach at Santa Margarita HS in California in 2019; head coach at Oasis HS in Cape Coral, Florida in 2020; and now is offensive coordinator at Riverdale HS in his hometown of Fort Myers, Florida this season.

Love — he and Antoinette have two children — said he made a conscious decision not to dwell on the KU matter. He didn’t hire a lawyer for the case, and he has enjoyed his stops at the high school ranks where he’s been able to educate and work with kids.

“I feel like if that’s what you’re about, you’ll be OK, and your name will get cleared in the end and the truth will come out,” Love said. “And that’s what I hope to continue to do in my career, at whatever the level is, is help kids go from high school to college and beyond.”

And while Love says he doesn’t always understand why the KU situation happened the way it did, he can at least take comfort with the closure he received last week.

“It’s over now,” Love said, “and again, there’s another good dude out there that’s also got his name clear.”