Mindful of Charlie Weis’ shortcomings, KU athletic director looks to future

As interim Kansas football coach Clint Bowen met reporters Monday morning, nothing was more evident than this: KU courses through him, and he is of this land and this history.

That’s why he spoke with heart and energy and sincere pride in a program that has inspired little of that recently and seldom in any sustainable form.

That’s why he blurted out that anyone who thinks of the Kansas job, his dream job, as a steppingstone is “an idiot.”

And why he reckons he won’t be able to contain his animated sideline demeanor just because he’s moving from defensive coordinator to being the face and guardian of the program.

From his vantage in the back of the room, athletic director Sheahon Zenger was buoyed by what he heard and called it “fun to watch him.”

“We see things a lot the same way, and I couldn’t have spoken the words better myself than he did today,” he said of Bowen. “That’s just a good KU guy speaking from the heart …

“Clint bleeds this program, and that’s obvious, and I appreciate that about him.”

All of this may or may not ultimately make Bowen a compelling candidate for the permanent job.

That notion at least symbolically surged Monday when he stepped behind a podium that bore his name simply as “Kansas Jayhawk Football Head Coach Clint Bowen.”

By contrast, though, Bowen’s appearance does help illuminate why Charlie Weis was fired Saturday after 28 games at KU, where he was 6-22 overall and 1-18 in Big 12 play.

The Jayhawks were demonstrating negligible tangible on-field progress under Weis, of course.

But Weis also had no real cushion since he never quite connected or gained traction here in any other ways, either.

That was in part because his brash personality just didn’t fit, and few warmed to his tendency to overstate matters, pick petty battles with the media and occasionally make crass remarks.

In an interview with The Star, Zenger spoke more in generalities than specifics, but it all added up if you read between the lines.

“Any time you hire a coach, the evaluation begins immediately,” Zenger said. “So the evaluation wasn’t really about these four games. It’s really about 28 games. And the better part of three years.

“And in this role, you have to read all your constituencies: from the players to the coaches to the support staff to the fan base to your donors.

“So that’s a constant and never-ending evaluation.”

By the end of the numbing 23-0 loss to Texas on Saturday, the data for change had overwhelmed Zenger.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a moment. The critical mass occurs over time, and, as you said, your antenna are up,” he said. “I believe particularly, as a native Kansan, I think we’re good listeners.”

As such, Zenger hears the question about back-to-back KU football coaches being fired after two years (Turner Gill) and little more than that with Weis.

Those weren’t both his hires, but they were both his fires. And the pattern of relatively quick triggers could give pause to potential candidates.

Zenger understands that sentiment, but he doesn’t fret over it.

“I see why that would be a question. People will certainly ask that,” Zenger said. “As Clint just indicated, this is a good job.

“If people recognize it and understand it and they’re the right fit for Kansas, then time shouldn’t be an issue.”

Now the question is recognizing the right fit for Kansas, a process that is in the embryonic stages.

Right now, this is about the eight games ahead, starting Saturday at West Virginia, the lone Big 12 team that KU has beaten the last three seasons.

“People are going to reach out and say, ‘I want the job,’ and all this,” Zenger said. “That’s great, but that’s not really where we are right now. There will be time for that. … but the energy behind that will be later in the season.”

Even so, the energy behind identifying the next man is forming now, too. And it will be informed at least in part by what went awry last time.

Then, Zenger’s priority was hiring a former or sitting head coach and a disciplinarian who could clean things up (and Weis “certainly did that,” Zenger said).

He also liked Weis’ reputation as an offensive guru and he hoped that Weis’ NFL past might be a major attraction to recruits.

Logical as the last two aspects might have been, his downfall was that neither materialized.

If they had, if he’d been so much as able to develop a quarterback, maybe Weis’ failure to endear himself to influential boosters wouldn’t have mattered as much.

But with none of the above taking … that was that.

Now, Zenger said, “there are several profiles that would work.”

“Any time a position opens, it’s almost an organic way in which that profile emerges,” he said.

Even so, he has a notion of a renewed priority.

“The number one thing we’re going to be looking for is just a great fit with the University of Kansas,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they have to have been here before, but someone who understands who we are, how we’ve gotten where we are and where we’ve been in the past.

“And I’m talking about the good things as well.”

There’s no way to know if this will lead to Bowen, whom Zenger said will be part of the next staff “in one way or another” even if he isn’t the head coach and so chooses.

It also would be hard to find someone who better encapsulates that element of the profile.

The Lawrence native has never known a time when he wasn’t a KU fan, and Kansas supporters from fans to childhood friends to former teammates and coaches already have deluged him with congratulations.

He was steeped in the Glen Mason turnaround as a player, and he was immersed in the Mark Mangino revival as an assistant coach.

He’s seen the blueprints for winning here, and he’s also witnessed what the pitfalls are.

Bowen wants the permanent job, has wanted it for most of his young life, actually.

For now, though, he’s doing his best to compartmentalize that and trying to zoom in on the task at hand:

Just trying to stanch the bleeding of a program he bleeds for, a program that one way or another needs someone who feels that way and understands it better than his predecessor.

This story was originally published September 29, 2014 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Mindful of Charlie Weis’ shortcomings, KU athletic director looks to future."