Advertisement

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Bowen snares top job on ‘D’

By Ryan Wood

Advertisement

It appears that Clint Bowen will become the Kansas University football team's next defensive coordinator.

The Sporting News, citing an unidentified source, said that Bowen - the best guess to replace outgoing coordinator Bill Young - indeed is the guy, and a source confirmed it to the Journal-World on Monday. Bowen has worked as co-defensive coordinator under Young for the last two seasons.

An official announcement by KU could be made this week, but probably has to wait until after Miami officially names Young its new defensive coordinator. That has yet to happen.

Young confirmed last week he accepted the defensive-coordinator position at Miami, but standard paperwork had to be processed before the Hurricanes officially could announce the hiring.

Young's departure opened the door for Bowen, the longest tenured coach at Kansas, to be promoted again.

Bowen, a Lawrence High graduate who finished playing at KU in 1993, joined the Jayhawks' coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 1998. From there, he slowly moved up the totem pole, becoming a full-time assistant in 2001 and the co-defensive coordinator after the 2005 season.

¢On his way: Former KU tight end Derek Fine temporarily has moved to Denver to train in preparation for a possible NFL career.

His desire to attract professional scouts got a huge boost recently, when he received an invitation to next month's NFL Combine.

"I'm really excited," said Fine, who graduated in December. "For me, it'll be great."

Fine, a 6-foot-3, 250-pounder, caught 46 passes for 394 yards last season. He was a three-year starter at Kansas.

Fine said that fellow seniors Marcus Henry and James McClinton also got invitations. In addition, early entries Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins are expected to be in Indianapolis for the Combine, where extensive physical and mental testing is conducted with every NFL team on hand.

¢Almost done: With the addition of running back Jocques Crawford and linebacker Josh Richardson over the weekend, Kansas now has 20 known commitments for the 2008 recruiting class.

As part of an NCAA punishment passed out in 2006, the Jayhawks can sign only 22 players in this class, meaning recruiting is just about wrapped up.

Some potential targets for the last couple scholarships, according to Rivals.com: Weatherford (Texas) defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, Dallas safety Keanon Cooper and Waxahachie (Texas) defensive end Gary Mason.

Signing day is Feb. 6.

More like this

Comments

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

I like making Bowen the guy, we need someone who will continue to do what has been working. He has been the co-defensive coordinator the last couple of years so he knows what works, and what doesn't. Also he's a Kansas guy, more than I can say for our last coach at that position.

I read that Keanon Cooper is visiting Lawrence on the 1st! I hope we can nail him, he looks like a stellar Safety!

January 22, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

I am guessing with the signing of Jocques Crawford, Cyrus Gray is no longer on our radar. It appeared he was fairly solid on going to aTm anyway.

Keanon Cooper does sound like a great prospect. Here is a brief on him with a mention of KU commitment Greg Brown...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedconte...

January 22, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

leikness (anonymous) says...

Good Stuff. I hope he continues to coach from the sidelines. He brings a ton of energy.

January 22, 2008 at 8:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

Good luck, Coach Bowen!

January 22, 2008 at 10:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

wats211 (anonymous) says...

as predicted an assisstant already on the staff...which makes sense..coach mangino is brillant on all fronts...he knew there was a chance that young and otheres would leave...if bowen is indeed the choice...the system will be in familiar hands and the success should and i believe will continue..again mangino delivers...this man is the real deal...too bad most didnt see it...we better lock him up or he will leave...he doesnt forget the doubters ..nor would any of us!

January 22, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sdoyel (anonymous) says...

Should we believe Ryan Wood?

January 22, 2008 at 12:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

i don't know what we're yelling about!

January 22, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

Whenever I read wat211's posts I always imagine him to be talking like jackoffosaurus from South Park.

seriously dude, if you aren't very good at typing and don't want to use the shift key, then simply type in all lower case. it is now a standard that CAPS means you are trying to imply yelling something, and lower case letters look fine and are much easier to read.

I'm sure you're not a bad guy, but seriously, figure it out already.

caps lock off

January 22, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

what are you talking about? i don't see anything wrong with typing in all caps! i'm screaming and i don't know why!

January 22, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...

I can't control the volume of my voice!!!

But seriously, I couldn't be happier for Clint. For what it's worth (probably not much), he was my personal top choice all along. I'm sure he will keep this D moving forward. A very heartfelt congrats to Clint!!

January 22, 2008 at 4:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

frompekka2sasha (anonymous) says...

Who cried when Old YELLar died?

January 22, 2008 at 7:58 p.m. ( | suggest removal )