Long promoted; Northwestern assistant replaces Mangino

<br>NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops promoted Chuck Long to offensive coordinator on Wednesday and hired an assistant coach from Northwestern to replace the departed Mark Mangino. <br><br>Long

Thursday, December 20th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops promoted Chuck Long to offensive coordinator on Wednesday and hired an assistant coach from Northwestern to replace the departed Mark Mangino.

Long was named interim offensive coordinator when Mangino left Dec. 4 to become head coach at Kansas. Long has served as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator since 1999.

``I have a lot of confidence in Chuck's ability to lead us in a way that will keep us in contention for championships,'' Stoops said. ``His work here has been very effective and we look forward to his contributions in this new role.''

The new staff member is Kevin Wilson, who has been at Northwestern the past two years. He was assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this year, and will serve as OU's offensive line coach and run game coordinator.

Northwestern averaged 442.9 yards per game this season and has been the Big Ten total offense leader each of the past two years.

Before coaching at Northwestern, Wilson spent four years at Miami of Ohio, three of them as offensive coordinator.

``A lot of people recognize the success he's had at Miami and Northwestern with Randy Walker, especially with a strong running attack,'' Stoops said. ``That style will mesh well with what we want to do here. We'll see how quickly we can implement some things and maybe we'll even have a new twist or two for the bowl game.''

Wilson will join the Sooners on Thursday. They play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1.

``I think and hope that my strengths can be an advantage,'' Wilson said. ``I feel that I have some strengths in running the ball that could be beneficial.''