The term “players’ coach” too often is misconstrued by many who take it to mean, “easy on the players.”
The actual meaning is “good for the players.” A coach who doesn’t blast the players in public but pushes them out of their comfort zones to achieve more than they knew was within their capabilities defines the term perfectly.
There isn’t an athlete who doesn’t want to become better, and even if their wind is gone and their bodies ache by the end of the practice, as long as they know they’re getting a little better every day, they’ll put up with a lot.
The day after Clint Bowen’s first Tuesday practice as interim head coach of Kansas University’s football team, one played at a faster tempo than the players had ever experienced, plus a heavy dose of hitting, the players moved their sore bodies slowly.
Bowen has not been easy on the players, just good for them, as evidenced by the Jayhawks’ more spirited performances with him at the controls. Sure, Kansas is 1-4 under Bowen, all in Big 12 games. Compare that to Turner Gill’s 1-16 and Charlie Weis’ 1-18 and it doesn’t look so bad.
Also, the betting line determined by oddsmakers who have a knack for looking at the past to project the future is as good an indicator at predicting games as any. Kansas is 4-1 against the spread under Bowen.
Iowa State, which embarrassed Kansas, 34-0, a year ago in Ames, was favored by 31/2 points Saturday in Lawrence and lost, 34-14.
Showing as much desire to remove the word “interim” from his title as if it were the Alabama job, Bowen has acted quickly and decisively in making major changes to more than just the practice tempo and tone.
At quarterback, Montell Cozart lost his job to Michael Cummings after one half. It also took Bowen one half to move red-shirt freshman Joe Gibson in at center in place of junior-college transfer Keyon Haughton.
Bowen moved senior Tony Pierson back from receiver to his best position, running back. He broke the 100-yard barrier in rushing yards Saturday.
Three games into his tenure, Bowen took offensive-coordinator duties from offensive-line coach John Reagan and gave them to wide-receivers coach Eric Kiesau.
The four major changes with the offense resulted in Kansas scoring 10 more points than the previous season-high vs. Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, which came in a 24-10 victory against Central Michigan.
If Kansas hires a coach who has never worked in the program, it runs the risk of getting someone who might recruit based on prototypes that worked for them at big-time programs. They might set a standard for speed at, say, wide receiver and end up with a player who runs like a big-time player but can’t do anything else that translates to playing productive football.
By hiring an experienced head coach who doesn’t have recruiting ties in the areas that Kansas must mine — Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, in that order of importance — the school would run the risk of the new staff needing to take a couple of years to develop the right contacts.
If left alone for five years, Bowen certainly would have the program in better shape than it has been in any of the five years since Mark Mangino was fired. Bowen’s the safe pick. Search consultant Chuck Neinas and KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger will leave their fishing poles in the water while Bowen coaches the team in the final three games, all against prohibitive favorites. If they land what they consider to be a bigger fish, they need to ask themselves if that fish also is a safe selection. He must not only be attractive with a winning background and recruiting contacts that fit. He must be a safe pick who will stay at Kansas and stop the revolving door from spinning.
If Kansas swings for the fences and misses again, it could be in danger of not only being the school that has the greatest back-to-back-to-back basketball coaching hires in college basketball history in Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self, but also the worst back-to-back-to-back football hires in college football history.
Kansas can’t whiff again.