Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player currently working as a defensive analyst at

Fort Lewis College Fort Lewis College (FLC) is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado, and the only four-year and graduate studies institution in the Four Corners region. FLC's historical evolution spans its origins as a U.S. military fort, an Indian ...

. He was previously the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. He was a head coach at New Mexico and then

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

. He played professionally with

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and the

Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League. Founding Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting ...

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

(WFL). Long is known for his successful adaptation of a modified 3–3–5 defensive scheme.

Playing career

Long was the starting

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

New Mexico Lobos football The New Mexico Lobos football team is the intercollegiate College football, football team at the University of New Mexico. The Lobos compete as a member of the Mountain West Conference. Their official colors are cherry and silver. The Lobos play ...

team from 1969 to 1971, recording consecutive winning seasons and earning player-of-the-year honors in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) in 1971. His professional career began with the

of the

(CFL) in 1972, with which he played 68 games in total. In 1974, he departed to the

of the

(WFL). That year, he intercepted three passes for 38 return yards, and returned 20 punts for 217 yards and 14 kickoffs for 402 yards. He returned to the Lions for three years and had one of his best years in 1975, when he intercepted a team high eight passes for 88 yards. A Western All-Star in 1977, Long also led the team in punt returns in his last three years, and is still the fourth leading all-time returner, with 1946 yards on 192 punt returns, with one touchdown.

Coaching career

Long began developing his version of the 3–3–5 defensive scheme during his stint as the

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

. Long returned to New Mexico as the head football coach on December 20, 1997. His overall won-loss record was 65–69 in 11 seasons. His 65 wins are the most of any head coach in program history. Long surpassed Roy W. Johnson's mark of 41 wins during the 2005 season. Long led the Lobos to three straight

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

s from 2003 to 2005, a first in program history. The Lobos were bowl-eligible for seven straight seasons, from 2001 to 2007, another program record. This streak continued into the 2007 season as the Lobos accepted a bid to the

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium (Albuquerque), University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New M ...

, where Long garnered his bowl win with a victory over the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

. After an 11-season career, Long resigned on November 17, 2008, two days after the Lobos' regular game season ended. Long cited that he was not the right person to lead the program to newer heights. He added that he had no plans of retirement, and that he wanted to continue to coach as a coordinator. In 2011, he was promoted to head coach at San Diego State after two seasons as their defensive coordinator. In 2020, Long resigned from San Diego State, and Brady Hoke was named as his replacement. He left San Diego State with 81 wins, second all time in wins behind

Don Coryell Donald David Coryell ( ; October 17, 1924 – July 1, 2010) was an American American football, football coach. He coached in high school, college, and the professional ranks; his most notable NCAA post was with the San Diego State Aztecs footba ...

. Soon after his resignation from SDSU, the University of New Mexico announced Long would be returning to the Lobos to take over as their defensive coordinator under new coach

Danny Gonzales Daniel Ray Gonzales (born January 13, 1976) is an American football coach and former player. He is the defensive coordinator at the University of Arizona, a position he has held since 2024. He previously was the head football coach at the Univ ...

, a former player and assistant coach under Long at UNM as well as SDSU. In 2022, Long was hired at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

as the defensive coordinator under

Dino Babers Dino Sean Babers (born July 19, 1961) is an American college football coach. He was most recently the offensive coordinator for the University of Arizona. He was previously the head coach at Syracuse University from 2016 until 2023. He has also s ...

Personal life

Long and his wife, Debby, have two daughters, Roxanne and Hannah, who are also coaches. Roxanne is the former women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

program

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Rogers State University Rogers State University (RSU) is a public university in Claremore, Oklahoma, United States. It also has branch campuses in Bartlesville and Pryor Creek. History The institution that is now RSU has gone through several stages, from its founda ...

Claremore, Oklahoma Claremore is a city in and the county seat of Rogers County, Oklahoma, Rogers County in northeastern Oklahoma, United States. Its population was 19,580 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, a 5.4% increase over the 18,581 recorded in ...

, and Hannah is the women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

program

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It has approximately 1,900 undergraduate and graduate students. Established in 1857, the university offers 50 undergraduate majors, 58 minors, ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

San Diego State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Rocky 1950 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks BC Lions players Detroit Wheels players New Mexico Lobos football coaches New Mexico Lobos football players Oregon State Beavers football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches High school football coaches in New Mexico Players of American football from Provo, Utah Syracuse Orange football coaches Players of Canadian football from Utah