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Kansas assistant leaves program for job in oil industry

Kansas head coach David Beaty during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
Kansas head coach David Beaty during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Todd Bradford had a choice to make.

The Kansas safeties coach was entering his third season on David Beaty’s staff with the Jayhawks, but he was presented with an opportunity in another field: the oil industry.

Bradford told JayhawkSlant.com that the opportunity to move back into oil, where he has previous experience on top of his 25 years as a collegiate assistant, was ultimately too good to pass up.

“A guy that I was involved with and had business dealings when I was in the oil world before I was helping with my mom reached out to me,” Bradford said. “He told me he had some companies that were doing really well and he needed someone to come in and help me run them. He asked if I was interested and I told him I was happy coaching.

“Then he called two more times after that and offered me the job after signing day. I turned it down twice. But each time the offer was getting a little bit better and by the third time financially it was oil world money.”

The Jayhawks have won a combined three games over last two years, but Bradford thinks Beaty has the program’s massive rebuild trending upward.

“Kansas is on the right path. It breaks my heart to know that I won’t be there when it happens,” he told JayhawkSlant.com.

Bradford has been a college assistant since 1987, including stints at Wisconsin, BYU, Oklahoma State, Maryland, among many others, before landing at Kansas. That’s a long time enduring the year-round grind of coaching at the FBS level. According to USA Today, Bradford’s salary at Kansas was $245,000 — so that “oil world money” he mentioned has to be a pretty significant chunk of change.

Even with more money coming his way, Bradford said he wasn’t too eager to leap toward the cash, but in the end it was the smartest play.

“I actually went about three weeks because I didn’t want to do it,” he said. “I looked at every reason not to do it. It is a situation from a family standpoint and economically for someone my age I feel like I had to do.”

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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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