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After spending the 2006 and 2007 seasons as co-defensive coordinator, Clint Bowen took over the Kansas defense serving as the coordinator in 2008. He will continue in that role in 2009 while also coaching safeties, as he has since the 2003 season. A former Kansas standout player, Bowen is entering his ninth year at his alma mater, the longest stint of any current KU coach. He was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in February 2006 and to defensive coordinator in January of 2008. Prior to his promotion, Bowen spent five years as KU's special teams coordinator. The 2008 Jayhawk defense forced 25 turnovers and recorded 29 sacks as nine different players recorded interceptions and 14 different Jayhawks registered sacks. Five players on the defensive side of the ball earned All-Big 12 recognition at the end of the year, including first-team selection Darrell Stuckey, one of Bowen's safeties. Under Bowen's direction KU has had a safety earn All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors or better every year since 2003. Stuckey, a national honors candidate in 2009 and an All-Big 12 First Team selection in 2008, recorded 98 tackles, five interceptions and seven passes broken up in 2008. Justin Thornton, who started the first half of the season at free safety and the last half of the year at cornerback, was fifth on the team in tackles. The 2008 KU defense ranked third in the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense and fourth in rushing defense. The Jayhawks ranked 28th nationally against the run, allowing just 123 yards per game on the ground. As co-defensive coordinator in 2007 the KU defense produced one of its best seasons in recent history. Kansas held its opponents to just 94.8 rushing yards per game, the second-fewest allowed in KU history (83.2 in 2005). In addition, the defense held six opponents (all Big 12 foes) to less than 80 yards rushing. Another impressive statistic was that KU's defense held the opponent to fewer than 200 yards passing in six different games during the 2007 season. And finally, the 317.3 total yards per game were the second fewest allowed in the last 26 years (303.2 in 2005) by the Jayhawks. During the 2005 season, Bowen guided KU's kickoff coverage unit which ended the season as the top coverage team in the Big 12. In addition, KU's kick return (5th Big 12, 20.3 yards per return) and punt return (4th Big 12, 12.1 yards per return) units both ranked near the top of the conference. In 2004, Bowen directed the team's kickoff return unit, which ranked third in the Big 12, averaging 21.8 yards per return. KU's kickoff coverage unit also ranked third in the league after allowing just 17.2 yards per return. Bowen, who worked with the running backs during 2002, is no stranger to Kansas football. A former defensive back with the Jayhawks in the early 1990s, he paid his dues as a graduate assistant on the KU football staff. A native of Lawrence and a prep star at Lawrence High School, Bowen worked as a defensive graduate assistant coach at KU in 1998 and 1999. He served as assistant director of football operations during the 2000 season. In addition to his experience at KU, Bowen served one season (1997) as a graduate assistant at Minnesota with his college coach, Glen Mason. Bowen was a hard-hitting defensive back for the Jayhawks in 1992-93 following one season at Butler County Community College. He led the KU defense in total tackles in 1993 with 114 total stops. That figure ranks as the third-most tackles by a Jayhawk defensive back in school history. Bowen was instrumental in helping the Jayhawks to an 8-4 final record, a No. 22 national ranking and a win over Brigham Young in the 1992 Aloha Bowl. He was the recipient of the school's Willie Pless Tackler of the Year Award following his senior season in 1993. He is the product of a football family. His father (Charley Bowen) was a two-time high school All-American at Lawrence High School and his older brother (Charley, Jr.) was a four-year letterwinner as a defensive back for the Jayhawks and played in the Arena Football League. Bowen and his wife Kristie have two sons, Baylor and Banks. |
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