The Emporia State football team lost one of its assistant coaches on Wednesday, as graduate assistant Jonathan Beasley accepted an assistant coaching position at Division I-AA Montana State.
“It’s a good opportunity — one he can’t pass up,” ESU football coach Garin Higgins said.
Beasley served as quarterbacks coach for five months at ESU after being added to the staff on Feb. 23. He will be the receivers coach at Montana State.
“It just happened. Honestly, he wasn’t applying at other places,” Higgins said. “It happens all the time with young coaches.”
Higgins said his staff will be readjusted with the departure of Beasley. The head coach, who was going to help oversee the quarterbacks even with Beasley on staff, will resume his role as quarterbacks coach.
He was slated to be the quarterbacks coach before Beasley’s hiring.
With the addition of Beasley, Montana State coach Rob Ash came closer to completing his staff.
Ash was hired by the university on June 11 after its previous coach, Mike Kramer, was fired on May 18.
“I’m very pleased that Jonathan has joined our coaching staff,” Ash said. “He has extensive experience in the Big 12 and in professional football, and brings a great knowledge of offensive football and the passing game to our program. He earned the reputation as a great leader as a player, and is known for his class, character and integrity.”
Beasley’s step up to full-time assistant will allow him a salary and also benefits.
At ESU, Beasley was only receiving tuition money to help him work on his masters degree.
“He did a great job for us in his time here,” Higgins said. “Hopefully, he’ll do great things there.”
Beasley played quarterback at Kansas State from 1996-2000, serving as team captain as a junior and senior. He was third team All-Big 12 in 2000, and earned MVP honors in the 2001 Cotton Bowl and 2000 Holiday Bowl. He also earned MVP and team captain honors for the 2001 Hula Bowl, and was team captain for the 2001 East-West Shrine Game.
Before coaching at ESU, Beasley served as a position coach for high school football teams in Kansas and Arizona.
Beasley played professionally for the Wichita Aviators in the APFL (2005), the Wichita Stealth in Arena II (2004) and had tryouts with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003), Detroit Lions (2003), and Green Bay Packers (2001) of the NFL. He also played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (2001-02).
At Kansas State, Beasley finished with 4,642 career passing yards for 30 touchdowns. He led K-State to a Big 12 championship game appearance against Oklahoma as a senior, and led the Wildcats to a win over Nebraska his senior season by throwing a game-winning 12-yard touchdown pass in the final three minutes of the game.