Chuck Long loses Heisman 'record,' gains new job

Saturday was an interesting day in the life of former Iowa quarterback/assistant coach Chuck Long.

The best Hawkeye quarterback of all-time saw one of his "records" leave the books Saturday night when he no longer was the closest second-place finisher in Heisman Trophy voting history. That became the possession of Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, who was 28 votes behind Alabama RB Mark Ingram in the 2009 vote.

Long was 45 points shy of Heisman-winner Bo Jackson of Auburn in 1985.

On the more-meaningful side, however, Long became Kansas' new offensive coordinator Saturday, a quick hire by new Jayhawks coach Turner Gill.

Long coached for five seasons at Iowa for Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz, then moved to Oklahoma, where he spent six years on Bob Stoops' staff, working his way up to offensive coordinator. He was head coach at San Diego State for three years, but never got things going there, with a 9-27 record.

With Gill and Long both being former quarterbacks of note (Gill was fourth in the Heisman voting when a Nebraska player in 1983), maybe prep QBs will look upon the Jayhawks program as a good destination.

Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock made it clear he isn't sold on the Gill hire, however. He writes:

The problem is, unlike most of Gill's prominent supporters in the media, I've actually watched his Buffalo Bulls play numerous times. Never once have I been impressed.

Gill is a reach. His overall record is 20-30.

Gill is a great human being. He allegedly won over (Kansas athletic director Lew) Perkins by assembling commitments from some of the top assistant coaches in college football, including offensive coordinator Chuck Long and defensive coordinator Carl Torbush.