Print edition: 
LAWRENCE — Kansas plots its football future with pieces of influence from Tom Osborne's Nebraska, Bob Stoops' Oklahoma and Mack Brown's Texas.
Not bad models as the Jayhawks look to become consistent winners in the Big 12.
"That staff that will be here is second to none," new KU coach Turner Gill said Monday as he unveiled some of his plans.
In Chuck Long and Carl Torbush, the Jayhawks have coaches who were more successful as coordinators than head coaches, and that's what Kansas needs as it looks ahead to 2010 with a team that loses three senior starters plus junior Dezmon Briscoe on offense and five seniors on defense.
Along with Long and Torbush, Aaron Stamm will join the staff from Buffalo. Stamm was the Bulls' special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.
Gill announced Kansas would operate from a spread offense, which was a familiar style through the Todd Reesing years, but would line up in some two-back sets. Look for the fullback to return to the Kansas playbook.
"Putting that fullback in it creates a physical nature to it," said Long, KU's offensive coordinator.
The Jayhawks figure to feature running back Tobin Opurum, a bruiser who led the team with 554 yards with nine touchdowns. But Steven Foster, who arrived as a fullback but was moved to linebacker, could be moved back to his original position.
Gone is Reesing, Briscoe and Kerry Meier, the most productive pitch-and-catch combo in school history. Kale Pick, the top reserve quarterback, is seen as more of a dual threat.
At Oklahoma, Long worked with some of the greatest offensive talent in Big 12 history.
He arrived from the staff at Iowa, where he had been an All-America quarterback, in 2000 and was the position coach for Sooners quarterback Josh Heupel when Oklahoma won the national championship.
In 2002, Long replaced Kansas-bound Mark Mangino as the Sooners' offensive coordinator and oversaw an offense led by running back Quentin Griffin.
Quarterback Jason White won the Heisman in 2003 after leading the Sooners to a 12-0 start with a sophisticated passing attack. The next year, Adrian Peterson broke onto the scene with 1,925 rushing yards, an NCAA record for freshmen.
"I'm an old quarterback," said Long, who was the Heisman runner-up at Iowa in 1985. "We're going to throw the ball, (but) if you look over time you win championships with the run game."
Long left after the 2005 season to become the head coach at San Diego State, where he went 9-27 before he was fired in 2008. Long didn't coach last season.
Gill said Kansas will operate from a 4-3 base defense, which is what Torbush operated as Mississippi State's defensive coordinator this season.
The Jayhawks had played a 4-3 through their Orange Bowl season but switched to a 4-2-5 last season because of the loss of three starting linebackers and to help combat spread offenses.
Linebacker play was spotty this season and one starter, Huldon Tharp, returns. The right side of the line, end Jake Laptad and tackle John Williams, are set to return, as are three in the secondary who started against Missouri.
North Carolina had some of the nation's top defenses in the mid-1990s and it helped Torbush get the head coaching job when Brown left for Texas after the 1997 regular season.
Torbush was fired after three years with a 17-18 record, and then joined Dennis Franchione's staff at Alabama. Torbush went to Texas A&M with Franchione in 2003 and had some of his most difficult years in the profession. Torbush was fired after two seasons in College Station.
"I've been in it long enough to understand that when you lose somebody has to go and it's usually the coordinators who go first," Torbush said before the season.
