Sooner aide Mangino hired at Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Mark Mangino, who helped coach Oklahoma to a national championship last year, was named Tuesday as head coach at Kansas.

Mangino, 45, the Sooners' offensive coordinator, will take over for Terry Allen, who was fired on Nov. 4 with three games left in the season. The Kansas Jayhawks have had six straight losing seasons, five in a row under Allen.

"I'm extremely excited about being here at the University of Kansas, Mangino said Tuesday at a news conference in Lawrence, Kan. Before joining head coach Bob Stoops at Oklahoma three years ago, he was an assistant coach for weight years at Kansas State.

"He is a very intelligent and a good worker. Mark knows what it takes to develop a successful program, having been part of that both at Kansas State and at Oklahoma," said Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder, in a statement.

Mangino was the Sooners' offensive coordinator the past two years. Last season, he won the Frank Broyles Award as the nation's best assistant after Oklahoma went 13-0 and claimed its first national title since 1985.

"Mark is a very disciplined and thorough coach who has the fire and the emotion you need to motivate a team," said Bob Stoops, Oklahoma's head coach. "His track record at Oklahoma and Kansas State is one of great success."

Kansas athletic director Al Bohl, who was hired by the university last summer, fired Allen, 45, with three games left in the season and replaced him with interim head coach Tom Hayes. The Jayhawks finished 3-8, losing 59-0 to Texas and 49-7 to Iowa State under Hayes before closing out the season with a 27-14 win over Wyoming.

"Mark Mangino has been associated with football programs that have experienced phenomenal success and he has been the key ingredient in building that success," said Bohl "We wanted to hire a coach who understands and executes the process for winning championships."

Kansas, which has one of the most storied basketball programs in the nation, has experienced little success in football. The Jayhawks' last winning season came in 1995 when they went 10-2 with a win over UCLA in the Aloha Bowl. Kansas has not had a coach with a winning record since J.V. Sikes went 35-25 from 1948-53.