New to the Staff: Bowen, Blasko, and then Some

Source: LJ World

Former player and assistant coach, Clint Bowen, is back in crimson and blue after a short stint with North Texas. Bowen moved on from Kansas after Mangino's firing in 2009, but rejoins Charlie Weis and staff. There are no hard feelings, though; Kansas welcomes him back with open arms (Bowen has an excellent reputation as a defensive backs coach and is a Jayhawk through and through). What's not to like?

Additionally, Charlie Weis's right hand man at Florida, Jeff Blasko, also joined the Kansas staff today. So with the two names today, Kansas is that much closer to filling up its entire staff. 

Although their roles aren't quite set, it is believed that Bowen will serve on the special teams and somewhere on the defense (I hope defensive backs) and Blasko will help coach the special teams and tight ends.

We'll get into those hires soon enough, but first, let's welcome in two more names. Adam Sitter and Scott Vestal have also joined the Kansas Football staff. Sitter will serve as KU's director of high school relations, while Vestal will work at Kansas in the role of assistant director of football operations.

Just to clear the potentially murky waters, the director of high school relations serves as a liaison between high school coaches/parents and KU and the director of football operations handles program budgets, assist the head coach, help plan road trips, etc. So although these guys aren't going to fix the depleted front line or the abysmal route running, they are still an important part in turning this ship around.

Sitter spent the past three football seasons on the staff at Florida. Sitter was the quality control coach for the Gators offense during the 2009-10 seasons and then was a graduate assistant for the UF offense under Weis during the 2011 campaign.

Vestal also joins the Kansas program from the tradition-rich Florida program. He was the quality control coach for defense for the Gators in 2011 and Texas during the 2010 season.

Vestal was a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech, North Texas and SMU. 

So, how much can we take from these hires? Not a whole lot, so let's get back to Bowen.

Last season, Bowen served as the Mean Green's defensive coordinator and the year before he held the same position at Western Kentucky.

Now cover your eyes...

North Texas Defensive Statistics 2011 (Forced 34 Turnovers)




Scoring: Points/Game: 30.7

Scoring: Games - Points: 12 - 368

First Downs: Total: 258

First Downs: Rushing - Passing - By Penalty: 99 - 147 - 12

Rushing: Yards / Attempt: 4.68

Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD: 419 - 1962 - 18

Passing: Rating: 138.94

Passing: Yards: 3190

Passing: Attempts - Completions - Interceptions - TD: 429 - 257 - 9 - 27

Total Offense: Yards / Play: 6.08
Total Offense: Plays - Yards: 848 - 5152
Time of Possession / Game: 27:34.00
3rd Down Conversions: Conversion: 42.94%
3rd Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions: 170 - 73
4th Down Conversions: Conversion: 35.29%
4th Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions: 17 - 6
Red Zone: Success: 80%
Red Zone: Attempts - Scores: 40 - 32
Field Goals: Success: 71.4%
Field Goals: Attempts - Made: 14 - 10

Western Kentucky Defensive Statistics 2010 (Forced 24 Turnovers)

Scoring: Points/Game		33.2
Scoring: Games - Points		12 - 398
First Downs: Total		232
First Downs: Rushing - Passing - By Penalty		110 - 108 - 14
Rushing: Yards / Attempt		5.00
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD		427 - 2137 - 34
Passing: Rating		133.77
Passing: Yards		2425
Passing: Attempts - Completions - Interceptions - TD		336 - 209 - 8 - 16
Total Offense: Yards / Play		6.0
Total Offense: Plays - Yards		763 - 4562
Time of Possession / Game		26:57.00
3rd Down Conversions: Conversion %		40.14%
3rd Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions		142 - 57
4th Down Conversions: Conversion %		50%
4th Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions		20 - 10
Red Zone: Success %		89.36%
Red Zone: Attempts - Scores		47 - 42
Field Goals: Success %		63.6%
Field Goals: Attempts - Made		11 - 7

Kansas Defensive Statistics 2009 (Forced 18 turnovers)

Scoring: Points/Game		28.4
Scoring: Games - Points		12 - 341
First Downs: Total		242
First Downs: Rushing - Passing - By Penalty		104 - 119 - 19
Rushing: Yards / Attempt		4.02
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD		413 - 1659 - 23
Passing: Rating		129.80
Passing: Yards		2940
Passing: Attempts - Completions - Interceptions - TD		423 - 260 - 7 - 17
Total Offense: Yards / Play		5.5
Total Offense: Plays - Yards		836 - 4599
Time of Possession / Game		29:11.00
3rd Down Conversions: Conversion %		39.89%
3rd Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions		178 - 71
4th Down Conversions: Conversion %		50%
4th Down Conversions: Attempts - Conversions		20 - 10
Red Zone: Success %		87.23%
Red Zone: Attempts - Scores		47 - 41
Field Goals: Success %		88.9%
Field Goals: Attempts - Made		18 - 16

Now just by eyeballing the stats, you can tell that all of Bowen's defenses have been taken to the woodshed their fair share. In some cases, his best year was at Kansas where he gave up his fewest total points and yards per play, but like Oklahoma State proved to us this past year and like what College Football guru, Phil Steele, has been saying all along, the key to a turnaround is to force turnovers. With that in mind, Bowen got better and better in increments from year one to year three, when North Texas forced 34.

The Kansas defense struggled with a lot of things this year, but one thing that they really could not do was force a turnover. Yes, they forced 30 on the year, but almost all of those came in the few games where Kansas was competitive. Kansas forced one versus Texas Tech (lost 45-34), three versus Oklahoma (lost 47-17), two versus Texas (lost 43-0), three versus Iowa State (lost 13-10), four versus Baylor (lost 31-30 in OT), one versus Texas A&M in garbage time (lost 61-7), and three versus Missouri (lost 24-10). Kansas got its doors blown off for 3/4 of the season (forcing just 20 turnovers), but in close losses to Iowa State, Baylor, and Missouri, Kansas forced 10. 

Hopefully Clint Bowen will not be the defensive coordinator, and if that is the case and he he is coaching the defensive backs and special teams, then we can treat his past like we did Coach Ianello's, like it never happened. But if worse comes to worst, and Bowen is back to calling the shots, then at least we can hope that the Jayhawks secondary will be more opportunistic and won't play thirty five feet off the wide receivers.

Bowen is a very proud recruiter with good ties from Kansas to Texas, he coached up a very good secondary and a handful of good Jayhawks...

2009

COMMITMENTS

Name

Pos

Stars

Ht

Wt

40-yard

Visit

Hometown

Prinz Kande

DB

5-11

182

4.5

Euless, TX

Darian Kelly

DB

6-2

195

4.5

Girard, KS

Huldon Tharp

LB

6-0

208

4.65

Mulvane, KS

Quintin Woods

DE

6-6

245

4.65

Bakersfield, CA

Kevin Young

DE

6-4

227

4.78

Olathe, KS

2008

COMMITMENTS

Name

Pos

Stars

Ht

Wt

40-yard

Visit

Hometown

Tanner Hawkinson

TE

6-6

230

4.8

1/25/2008

McPherson, KS

D.J. Marshall

DE

6-4

230

4.75

11/30/2007

Mesquite, TX

Darius Parish

DT

6-3

325

5.08

12/14/2007

Wichita, KS

Daymond Patterson

WR

5-8

165

4.43

12/7/2007

Mesquite, TX

Lubbock Smith

DB

5-11

182

4.4

12/14/2007

Dallas, TX

Duane Zlatnik

DE

6-4

260

Rossville, KS

2007

COMMITMENTS

Name

Pos

Stars

Ht

Wt

40-yard

Visit

Hometown

Carmon Boyd-Anderson

RB

6-1

200

4.5

12/8/2006

Jacksonville, TX

Kendrick Harper

DB

5-10

187

4.45

12/1/2006

El Dorado, KS

Chet Hartley

OL

6-4

310

5.07

12/15/2006

El Dorado, KS

Brian Murphy

RB

5-8

163

4.57

12/1/2006

Lawrence, KS

Ryan Murphy

DB

5-10

171

4.4

12/1/2006

Lawrence, KS

Patrick Resby

DB

6-2

195

12/8/2006

Corsicana, TX

Nearly had Christian Ballard that year…

2006

COMMITMENTS

Name

Pos

Stars

Ht

Wt

40-yard

Visit

Hometown

Blake Bueltel

DB

6-1

180

4.4

12/16/2005

El Dorado, KS

Marc Jones

TE

6-4

240

4.6

12/2/2005

Kilgore, TX

Mike McCoy

DB

5-11

175

4.5

San Bernardino, CA

Jake Sharp

RB

5-10

173

4.5

12/9/2005

Salina, KS

Most importantly though, he loves everything about KU.

I don't think we can take this for granted, folks. Sure, Reggie Mitchell came back, David Beaty came back, and Darrell Wyatt came back (and left at the drop of the hat for Texas the next year), but there aren't that many coaches that are dying to come to KU without a substantial stipend.

Bowen was in a pretty good position at North Texas, so he could potentially take a cut in pay and job status  in coming to KU. Why? Maybe he feels that something is really cooking? Maybe he knows the defensive coordinator-to-be-named, and is chomping at the bit to work with him? Whatever the case may be, this bodes well for Charlie Weis.    

Source: Coaching Tree

More to come on Blasko.