Lawrence native and former Kansas player Clint Bowen was named defensive coordinator at KU, replacing Bill Young, who's headed to Miami

Kansas University’s football coaching staff officially made another transition Wednesday, when the poorly kept secret of Clint Bowen’s promotion to defensive coordinator was announced.

Bowen will replace Bill Young, who will be defensive coordinator at Miami. KU coach Mark Mangino, as familiar with Bowen as anybody, was quick to give the 35-year old Lawrence native a promotion.

“Clint has played a big role in the success of our defense,” Mangino said in a statement. “He has a great rapport with the players and is an outstanding teacher of schemes and fundamentals. There is no doubt Clint will continue to develop our defense.”

The question is, how much more shuffling – or hiring – will need to be done this offseason?

Bowen will continue to coach the safeties, meaning Kansas has an opening for a defensive-line coach, which Young vacated. In addition, the loss of assistant Tim Beck earlier this month to Nebraska means that there is an opening for a wide-receivers coach on KU’s staff.

Losing assistants is nothing new to Mangino. He had to hire four new assistants last year – offensive coordinator Ed Warinner, linebackers coach Steve Tovar, cornerbacks coach Je’Ney Jackson and special-teams coordinator Louie Matsakis. Linebackers coach Dave Doeren left for Wisconsin after the 2005 season, and several changes were made after the ’04 campaign, too.

Published reports indicate that both Beck and Young will make more money at their next stops, and both are going to programs with significantly more tradition.

But unique factors contributed to their departures, as well:

¢ Young, who spent six years at KU, spoke of his desire for a new opportunity to re-energize the twilight of his long career. At 61, he likely won’t be coaching much longer.

“It’s a new challenge,” he told the Journal-World last week. “Sometimes as a coach, you need that.”

¢ Beck, meanwhile, will work under new Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and alongside defensive coordinator Carl Pelini. Beck actually grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, just down the street from the Pelinis.

“Knowing (Bo) and growing up with him, it’s something I’m excited about,” Beck told the Omaha World-Herald. “We’ve talked about it ever since he was at Nebraska the first time.”

This time of year, many coaching staffs are experiencing turnover. In fact, Missouri is one of the few Big 12 programs that has kept its entire staff together so far, though the Tigers’ situation is rare because it hasn’t experienced any turnover in Gary Pinkel’s seven years in charge. All aides were given raises recently after the Tigers won the Cotton Bowl.