SDSU FOOTBALL'S ROCKY LONG AGREES TO CONTRACT EXTENSION

Long is the Mountain West’s all-time winningest coach

Source: goaztecs.com

Quotes and photo by Liz Alper

January 19, 2017 (San Diego) - Rocky Long, the all-time winningest coach in Mountain West history and the three-time conference coach of the year, has agreed to a contract extension that will extend him as the San Diego State head football coach through the 2021 season, SDSU Director of Athletics John David Wicker announced Thursday.

The five-year extension takes effect immediately and replaces the previous agreement that was set to expire shortly after the completion of the 2017 football season.

Long recently completed his sixth season as head coach and eighth year overall on The Mesa. Long has helped guide the Aztecs to a bowl game each of the last seven campaigns, making SDSU one of only 21 schools nationally and one of just two programs in the Group of 5 to play in a bowl game in the past seven seasons.

In 2016, San Diego State defeated Wyoming 27-24, in the Mountain West Championship for its second straight league title and downed Houston, 34-10, in the Las Vegas Bowl to finish 11-3, culminating in a No. 25 ranking in both the AP Top 25 poll and the Amway Coaches Poll. It is just the second time that the Aztecs have been ranked in the final AP poll in program history (also 1977). The 11 wins tied a SDSU single-season record and Long became the first coach in program history with consecutive 11-wins campaigns.

San Diego State now owns three MW football titles since 2011, the most in the league over that span. The Aztecs are also one of just six programs in the country to win at least three conference titles in the last five seasons.

Long joined TCU’s Gary Patterson (2009-11), Brigham Young’s Bronco Mendenhall (2006-07) and Utah’s Urban Meyer (2003-04) as the only coaches in MW history to record consecutive outright league championships. Additionally, Long is one of only 11 active coaches and one of just two from the Group of 5 to lead their current school to a bowl game in each of the first six years as head coach.

Since Long took over as head coach for the Aztecs in 2011, SDSU’s 54 wins are tied with USC for the 18th-most over that span. San Diego State has seven consecutive seasons with at least seven victories.

In his career, Long has gone 119-95 (.556) over his 17 seasons, including a 54-26 (.675) record as head coach with the Aztecs.

"This was a no-brainer," Wicker and Long both said.  "Extending Rocky may have been the easiest decision of my career to make," Wicker said.

"It's nice that everyone wanted me back.  I hope we get a lot more fans now that the Chargers are gone," Long said. "College football has a lot of elements that pro ball does not.  There's a lot more emotion.  If you come to one of our games, you're gonna see kids playing with their hearts out on their sleeves."

Prior to joining SDSU in 2009 as a defensive coordinator, Long had a school-record 65 victories at New Mexico from 1998-2008, where he led the Lobos to five bowl game appearances over his final seven seasons. To put that accomplishment in perspective, consider that since 1984; UNM is 83-174 (.323) with only five six-plus win seasons in 22 campaigns without Long at the helm.

Before accepting the head coaching position at New Mexico, Long served as defensive coordinator for 12 seasons at three different schools (UCLA from 1996-97, Oregon State from 1991-95 and Wyoming from 1981-85). He also was an assistant coach at TCU, with the CFL's British Columbia team and started his career as a graduate assistant coach in 1972.

Rocky Long Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record at San Diego State

Year              Record           League          MW Finish     Bowl Game

2011                 8-5                   4-3                   4^th                     New Orleans Bowl vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (L, 30-32)

2012                 9-4                   7-1                   T-1^st                  Poinsettia Bowl vs. Brigham Young (L, 6-23)

2013                 8-5                   6-2                   2^nd (MW West)    Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs. Buffalo (W, 49-24)

2014                 7-6                   5-3                   T-1^st (MW West)  Poinsettia Bowl vs. Navy (L, 16-17)

2015                 11-3                 8-0                   1^st                     Hawai’i Bowl vs. Cincinnati (W, 42-7)

2016                 11-3                 6-2                   1^st                     Las Vegas Bowl vs. Houston (W, 34-10)

6 Years         54-26 (.675)  36-11 (.766)