Rocky Long

Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Bayfield High School in Bayfield, Colorado. He was previously a defensive analyst at Fort Lewis College and was a defensive coordinator at Syracuse and New Mexico. He was a head coach at New Mexico and then San Diego State. He played professionally with BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Detroit Wheels of World Football League (WFL).

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

Playing career Long was the starting quarterback for the New Mexico Lobos football team from 1969 to 1971, recording consecutive winning seasons and earning player-of-the-year honors in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1971. His professional career began with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1972, with which he played 68 games in total. In 1974, he departed to the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League (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 defensive coordinator at Oregon State. 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. 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, a former player and assistant coach under Long at UNM as well as SDSU.

In 2022, Long was hired at Syracuse to be the defensive coordinator under Dino Babers.

In January 2026, Long was hired as the head football coach at Bayfield High School in Bayfield, Colorado.

Personal life Long and his wife, Debby, have two daughters, Roxanne and Hannah, who are also coaches. Roxanne is the former women's basketball program head coach at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma, and Hannah is the women's volleyball program head coach at Queens University of Charlotte.

Head coaching record