DALLAS -- Although Chuck Long never won the Heisman Trophy, he jokes that finishing second in the closest-ever voting makes him more famous than some of the winners.

Sixteen years after being the runner-up to Bo Jackson, Long is back in a prominent place in college football.

The former Iowa quarterback is now calling plays for the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners, having been promoted to offensive coordinator when Mark Mangino was hired to coach Kansas on Dec. 4. Long will make his debut Tuesday in the SBC Cotton Bowl against Arkansas.

"I'm glad it's a bowl game because if it wasn't, I'd have to wait six months for the season opener," said Long, who technically had the job on an interim basis until officially being named on Dec. 19. "It's a lot better to get a game under your belt."

Long is still getting used to some of his new duties, like making out schedules and planning meetings. With three days until kickoff, he wasn't sure whether he'd be watching from the sideline or the press box. He seemed to be leaning toward staying upstairs, where he's worked the previous two seasons as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

The difference, though, is that before he suggested plays to Mangino, who had the final say on whether to use it. Now, others will give input to Long.

"Coach Mangino was great about liking a lot of my suggestions and going with him, and at times he'd call his play or have other ideas," said Long, who called his own plays during part of his NFL career with the Detroit Lions. "That's part of being a coordinator."

Don't expect to get a good feel for Long's tendencies from his debut. For the most part, he plans to stick with the plays that got the Sooners here.

"In time I'd like to add some things I've been accustomed to and things I think will fit well in this offense," Long said. "You won't see it all in one bowl game with only three or four weeks preparation, but you will see some of it."

The biggest change will be in the running game.

Kevin Wilson was hired from Northwestern to oversee that part of the offense and already has begun tweaking the way Oklahoma runs out of the spread formation -- or, as cynics might say, the way they haven't been able to run out of it.

"As a staff, we planned to visit Northwestern in the offseason because they run out of the spread very, very well. Now that he's come to us, we don't have to waste the airfare," Long said, laughing.

Yet Long made it clear that running will remain only a complement to the passing game, continuing the 180-degree turn from the formula that first made OU a perennial power.

"There are things that have been around football for 100 years that still work and we're going to have those things," Long said. "But we're also going to have new wrinkles to stay on the cutting edge."

Long's penchant for passing goes back to his days as a record-setting quarterback at Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl following the 1985 season.

While he won the Maxwell Trophy and the Davey O'Brien Award that year, he finished 45 points behind Jackson for the most coveted piece of college football hardware. There hasn't been a tighter race before or since.

"I get calls about it every year," Long said. "I thought the last few years it would get broken. Even my wife thought so."

Long played eight years in the NFL with Lions and Los Angeles Rams, then spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Iowa. He left following the 1999 regular season, being lured to Oklahoma before the Independence Bowl by Sooners coach Bob Stoops, Long's former college teammate.

Stoops had a job open because offensive coordinator Mike Leach left to be head coach at Texas Tech. With Mangino also leaving to be a head coach, there's already speculation that Long will eventually do the same.

"I do aspire to be a head coach some day, but I'm not in a hurry for it," Long said, adding that his former college coach Hayden Fry advised him to be an assistant for 10 years so he can better appreciate their roles once he's in charge.

"This job that I have right now is a lot better than some head coaching jobs in the country. So I'm excited about this opportunity."