Finding enjoyment in shared journey

FLORENCE — Inside his father’s office, Banks Bowen scooted his chair closer and leaned forward for a better look.

Clint Bowen, North Alabama’s new defensive coordinator, has only occupied the space for two weeks and it still — understandably — needs to be fully organized. There’s a box or two on the floor. An assortment of papers covers one end of the conference table. There’s a white-board wall behind Banks, one of the Lions’ new quarterbacks, with some plays sketched out.

But it’s a photo on a phone that required Banks’ attention.

“Oh, man,” Banks said with a grin, the type someone can’t help but show when remembering an old memory. “I was probably in second grade.”

It’s of Banks and Clint together after a youth football game in their hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. Banks dressed in the full works — a black and red Lawrence Canes jersey over shoulder pads, white pants, black socks and cleats, and a helmet that looked like the same size of his leg, hip to knee. Clint was in a blue Kansas Jayhawks quarter-zip fleece and sunglasses.

Both are smiling. Plenty has changed since then for both Banks and Clint. Teammates and colleges have come and gone. UNA will be the third where they’ve been together.

But at its core, the main things haven’t. The journey of a father and son and finding enjoyment in a shared experience.

“I’d be lying and be crazy to say that being able to walk into a weight room and see your own son there, being able to walk to a workout and seeing your son and those kinds of things, a lot of fathers, you would never get this opportunity,” Clint said. “So, it’s something I don’t take for granted.”

‘It changed my priorities’

A bowl game and a plane ride helped changed that.

The 2020 college football season — the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — was miserable for everyone. Health precautions meant interactions were limited. There was a constant worry if the virus would spread across locker rooms. Games were postponed or canceled. Fan attendance was limited.

North Texas, where Clint was entering the first season of his second stint as the Mean Green’s defensive coordinator, wasn’t immune. If anything, it made a difficult situation even more challenging. Still, North Texas managed to string together an eight-game schedule over the course of three months and go 4-4 to qualify for the Myrtle Beach Bowl in South Carolina.

But there was a problem. The Mean Green had trouble getting players to go, Clint said, and he figured he had 18 defensive players travel. Appalachian State’s 56-28 win proved to be a breaking point.

“My oldest son (Baylor) was getting to be a senior in high school, and I felt like I wasn’t being a good dad,” Clint said. “I didn’t see him play a high school football game his sophomore and junior years. So, I’m sitting there and we’re flying back from this Myrtle Beach Bowl, and I’m going, ‘I’ve ignored my son to spend time investing in a bunch of kids who I can’t even get to go play a bowl game.’ It was just one of the moments when I was like I’m not doing it anymore.

“I resigned right then. I took a high school job.”

Football, especially college football, had always been an important part of Clint’s life. He grew up 10 minutes from Kansas’ football stadium and snuck into games growing up. He played defensive back for the Jayhawks in the early 1990s, which included starting at safety next to his older brother Charley in 1992. Kansas finished that season 8-4 and ranked No. 22 in the final AP poll.

And after his playing career, Clint did what many coaches who get into the business try to do — climb the ladder in search of a more prestigious role, better pay and to see how high they can go.

He began as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 1996 and took the same role at Minnesota a year later before returning to Kansas from 1998-2009 and again from 2012-19, working with everything from tight ends, running backs, safeties, linebackers, special teams, led the defense twice under six head coaches. He served as the Jayhawks’ interim head coach for the final eight games of 2017 after Charlie Weis was fired.

There was a stop at Western Kentucky (2011) and those two stints North Texas (2011 and 2020), too.

It meant plenty of early mornings and late nights, sometimes arriving at the facility by 5:45 a.m. and leaving close to 11 p.m. That’s what Clint’s bosses required.

“As a kid, you never really think about how many hours he’s gone and hanging out with your mom as much as we were,” Banks said. “Looking back, you definitely realize the amount of time and how late he would get home. But growing up, he was still making every game he could and doing the best he could, so it was never really an issue.”

Baylor, now 22, and Banks, 19, of course, got to spend some of that time at Kansas’ facility. Sometimes, they’d go out when the Jayhawks were practicing and throw a football to each other. Other times, they’d watch. There was also an occasion or two when they’d sneak into the coaches lounge to procure a soda.

But it wasn’t always enough time. Clint took the head coaching job at Lawrence High.

“The honest story of it, coaching high school football is amazing,” Clint said. “High school coaches, people don’t give them enough credit. I didn’t. You talk about having to serve a ton of jobs. One, you got to raise all the money for your program. You’re a fundraiser, number two. You’re probably giving three kids a ride home after practice. You’re probably buying half your team tennis shoes. At lunchtime, you got 10 of your kids who can’t afford to go to the cafeteria and can’t go anywhere. So you’re finding ways to feed kids.

“You are truly, on a day-to-day basis, just serving kids and it’s beautiful because the kids like each other, they’re friends, they’re buddies. Everything is about the team. It’s everything you want it to be.”

The teaching aspect was a little different.

“If kids today don’t want to do something, they’ll let you know,” Clint said.

It was a fair trade-off. Clint coached Baylor his senior season. Banks, meanwhile, got four years, including his final two as the team’s starting quarterback.

In 2023, the youngest Bowen completed 103 of 230 passes for 1,676 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions, per 247Sports. He ran for 1,017 yards and 13 scores. As a senior, Banks was 174for-280 passing for 2,368 yards, 23 touchdowns and six picks. He rushed for 860 yards and nine scores.

Banks, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, developed into a threestar recruit with several Division I offers.

“There were some people who were like, ‘Oh, all right, it’s the coach’s kid,’” Banks said. “But in terms of having him there and developing me for the prime years of recruitment and figuring out what you actually want to accomplish with the journey of being an athlete, and getting to the next level, it was phenomenal. It really was.”

And when there is a little too much of a coachplayer interaction instead of father-son, Kristie — Clint’s wife and Banks’ mom — is always to settle any differences.

“My mom is super amazing and I cannot do it without her,” Banks said. “There are days where my dad is being too much of a coach and I’ll rant to my mom and she’s the perfect in-between between me and him. She’s amazing.”

By the end of 2024, it looked like the Bowen clan was ready to split in different directions. Baylor was enrolled at Arkansas. Banks had signed with Tulsa. Clint, meanwhile, figured he’d go back to the college game. He joined Mike Gundy’s staff at Oklahoma State as a defensive analyst.

“I don’t chase the same things I did when I was at Kansas when all that mattered to me was logo, money and success,” Clint said. “I know that sounds funny in a goofy way, but it changed my priorities in terms of what I value.”

And then things changed. After spending the spring at Tulsa, Banks entered the transfer portal and signed with Oklahoma State.

It made a trying season a little — key word — easier.

Amid a 1-2 start, the Cowboys fired Gundy. The defensive coordina- tor was gone a game later with Clint taking on the new role.

The Cowboys finished their year 1-11, ending on an 11-game losing streak, and hired North Texas coach Eric Morris on Nov. 22.

But there were some moments of levity. Like when Banks connected on a 40-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Freeman in practice. The quarterback made sure his dad got in on the celebration.

“He’s standing at midfield out by the safeties and we all ran down to the end zone,” Banks said. “As we’re running back to the line of scrimmage, I might have ran by him and gave him a little slap on the butt.”

No trash talk for dad? “That would have been a little too risky,” Banks said with a laugh.

Although Kristie certainly heard about it at home.

Yet it was Oklahoma State’s Nov. 1 game at Kansas that sticks out the most. At least for Clint.

“I’m talking to the defense and I hear the loudspeaker, ‘In at QB for Oklahoma State, Banks Bowen,’” Clint said. “I didn’t know they were putting him in. It was just kind of like one of those moments I was like, ‘Hold on, fellas.’ I got up and watched the first play. I wasn’t going to miss it. Honestly, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

‘A special expereince’

Both have the chance to share a couple more.

Their arrival at UNA wasn’t planned. It more or less happened organically. By happenstance might be the better way to put it.

After Oklahoma State hired Morris and it looked likely he would bring along Drew Mestemaker, his quarterback from North Texas, Banks entered the portal again. UNA was one of the schools he visited. Clint and Lions coach Brent Dearmon have a connection after spending time together on Les Miles’ Kansas staff. Banks signed first — Jan. 8.

Clint, who had been fielding other job offers, committed to UNA second.

When Brock Caraboa, UNA’s defensive coordinator the first three seasons of Dearmon’s tenure, left to take the same role at Texas A&M-Tekarkana, a new program set to play in the Division II Lone Star Conference, Dearmon’s first call went to Clint.

It seemed like a good idea. Banks was OK with it. Clint liked the thought. More importantly, so did Kristie.

“She is ecstatic,” Clint said. “We talked about it at one point in time, I was going to take a different job and he was going to go to a different school and she was struggling with that. She’s quite happy now.”

It means most of the family is together in Florence. Just like in Lawrence. Just like in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

And it’s something each one appreciates.

“If we go through this week, we went golfing together, me and him, and then (Tuesday), we went to Texas Roadhouse and ate dinner together,” Banks said. “When you just think of having and being able to actually like each other and get along, and also him being a coach and being around 24-7, I truly couldn’t be more grateful.”

Especially when you get to beat dad.

“I’m definitely a better golfer,” Banks said. “I shot an 81. He shot an 84. We had a pretty good match.”

“He beats me one time,” Clint said later with a laugh while shaking his head. “He can hit it a mile, but his short game?”

Yes, their real jobs will be important. Clint as UNA’s defensive coordinator. Banks as one of the quarterbacks.

But they’ll see what they can do together. And really, that’s what this time is about.

“I followed him on this one,” Clint said. “Of course, it’s a bonus. … To be able to spend time with him here is a special experience that does mean a lot. So yeah, us being here together was a big deal.”