Clint Bowen Leaving Kansas

Benton Smith at the LJW is reporting that Kansas assistant coach Clint Bowen is leaving the program to take the Defensive Coordinator position at North Texas under Seth Littrell. As of the time of publication, KU has yet to publicly confirm the report.

(UPDATE: Minutes after publication, North Texas confirmed the news with this release.)

Bowen, a KU alum and Lawrence native, just completed his 21st season as a staffer in the football program. He’s been KU’s head coach, a graduate assistant, and just about everything else in between. He has also spent several years at KU as either the defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator. While in Lawrence, he has served under head coaches Beaty, Weis, Mangino, Allen, and Mason.

This comes as a bit of a surprise to me considering Bowen’s KU roots and loyalty throughout his career, but perhaps it shouldn’t be. When Les Miles came in last year, he brought his own defensive coordinator, and Bowen, DC under David Beaty, moved to coach the safeties. Kansas struggled on defense this past season despite an experienced secondary, and no doubt switching from Bowen’s 4-2-5 base to DJ Eliot’s 3-4 base had something to do with that.

‘Tis the season for coaching changes, and now Les Miles has the opportunity to hire a safeties coach for the upcoming season.