Clint Bowen hopes small changes help KU

The changes will be subtle, at least at first. The process will see some tweaks behind the scenes. But nothing wholesale.

That’s how Clint Bowen describes it. On Tuesday afternoon, Bowen has been the Jayhawks’ interim football coach for a little over 48 hours. Enough time for a handful of media appearances, some meetings with coaches, one practice on Sunday and a few days of preparation for Saturday’s trip to West Virginia.

“Couple busy days,” Bowen said Tuesday, his second news conference in as many days.

Nearly 48 hours after replacing a fired Charlie Weis, Bowen has a vision for the Kansas football program. But he’s also dealing with a set of limitations; there’s only so much a new head coach can do, for instance, when it’s already the first week of October.

“You’re at a point where the big things need to be left alone,” Bowen said.

For the moment, Bowen’s main goal will be fostering a culture of energy and toughness, a fresh voice for a program that had grown stale in the third season under Weis. But there are tangible changes taking place throughout the program.

Offensive coordinator John Reagan confirmed Tuesday that he will return to the press box to call plays, a move that comes after a 23-0 loss to Texas on Saturday. Reagan, who arrived in the offseason from Rice, spent spring practice and fall camp installing his own version of the spread offense.

But thus far, the scheme has offered only hints of success. Sophomore quarterback Montell Cozart completed just 12 of 31 passes against Texas, and he’s been successful on just 50.4 percent of his pass attempts this season.

Reagan, who has called plays from the press box before, thinks the change could help aid a young quarterback that is still learning the position. In other words, Reagan will be able to see things from the press box that could help simplify the game for Cozart.

“I think that right now with the nature of where we are on offense … we are a youthful or inexperienced offense,” Reagan said, “and I think I can help us more by being upstairs. I think I can help us more by taking some of the decisions out of the quarterback’s hands.”

Bowen, who will retain his defensive coordinator position, will take a hands-off approach with the Jayhawks’ lagging offense.

“I have no ideas for him,” Bowen said wryly on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m no help.”

Bowen, though, said he does have certain ideas on what makes a successful offense — mostly based on his experience designing defenses to stop the innovative spread offenses that have revolutionized college football.

“We’re right there,” Bowen said. “John Reagan is in that train of thought. He is part of that family of guys that are finding ways to make life difficult for defensive coordinators.”

Bowen also said Tuesday that he will turn over the special teams to assistant coach Louis Matsakis, a former Mark Mangino assistant who returned to the KU program in an off-field role in the offseason. The departure of Weis left an opening for another on-field assistant, and Matsakis was elevated to special-teams coordinator.

“I think they’re going to be blown away by what he has prepared to show them,” Bowen said Tuesday. “Our special teams starting today will be drastically different because of his ideas and his input. We’re not going to be more than a minute into special teams, and think the kids are going to understand there’s a difference.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Clint Bowen hopes small changes help KU."