SAN DIEGO _ San Diego State on Wednesday announced Rocky Long has retired as head football coach. He will be replaced by the man he replaced nine years ago _ defensive line coach Brady Hoke.
It is a stunning turn of events.
It was actually almost nine years to the day _ Jan. 12, 2011 _ that SDSU announced Long as the Aztecs' head coach after Hoke left to become head coach at Michigan.
Long gathered his staff together Wednesday morning off campus to let them know what was happening.
Earlier this week, Long said it would be the staff's first meeting since the holidays and that "we plan on mapping out where we go from there."
They will be going their separate ways, as it turns out.
"I've decided to retire from coaching at this point," Long said at an afternoon news conference. "I want to thank everybody at this university and this community that has allowed us to be successful.
"The culture at this school and in this athletic department is special. It's time ... it's time. I love coaching but I don't necessarily love all the things head coaches do. It's time for me to leave. ... It's time for a new face, even though it's not a pretty face, and a new voice."
Long was said this week to be actively seeking a defensive coordinator position with a Power Five school. He reportedly interviewed Monday at Syracuse. There are a pair of Pac-12 schools _ USC and Washington State _ looking for defensive coordinators as well.
On Monday, Long would neither confirm nor deny a social media report he was looking to leave when reached by the Union-Tribune, saying "As of now, I'm still the head football coach at San Diego State."
Long said Wednesday he went to Director of Athletics John David Wicker before last month's bowl game and said "I was thinking about retiring. ... After Christmas vacation I said I think I want to retire. He said are you sure, I said yes. It's the right time. So I happened to mention that to a couple friends in the coaching business that I was retiring. All of sudden I got some phone calls. I'm smart enough to listen. Couple of those places I went to visit. Simple as that."
Long did not rule out working elsewhere.
"As of this moment I'm retired," he said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to listen to anything they have to say. I'm tired of being a head coach but I love coaching."
He added: "They tried really, really hard to change my mind. I love this place and I love the players at this place but it's time for someone else to add the excitement with what's going on with the campus and the stadium."
Long said he was grateful to Hoke for bringing him to San Diego in 2010.
"I want to thank Coach Long," Hoke said. "It was fun for me this year. It was fun 10 years ago when Rocky was calling the defense. I want to thank him for giving me the opportunity to come back. It was probably one of the funnest years I've had in coaching."
Added Hoke: "It's a great opportunity. You never get to do something twice that you really want to do in life. I was very fortunate with Coach Long bringing me back. I can assure you we are going to keep going in the direction we are going. We always want to be better every day and that's what we're going to try and do."
Why Long would want to leave at this point was the subject of much speculation, including whether he was asked to make changes on his staff. The Aztecs ranked in the bottom 20 in scoring this season and offensive coordinator Jeff Horton was under fire from fans throughout the year.
But asked Wednesday about reports he was being pressured to make changes, Long said, "We never even discussed that. When I went to J.D. at first and said I was thinking about retiring, we discussed the whole program in general and if there was things that would make me change my mind. I told him I wanted to get through the bowl game and go through Christmas and decide after that.
"He was good. The second time I came in I said 'I've decided,' and he goes, 'OK.' "
So there never was any pressure to change staff?
"No pressure whatsoever," Long said.
Long, who turns 70 on Jan. 27, is the second oldest head coach at the FBS level (Ohio's Frank Solich is 75). He was under contract at SDSU through the 2023 season.
Long has said that his happiest days in coaching were when he served as a defensive coordinator. He reiterated that Wednesday.
He served as DC for three other schools besides SDSU _ UCLA (1996-97), Oregon State (1991-95) and Wyoming (1981-85).
"I am going to be 70 years old, so, obviously, it's in the back of your mind how long you're going to go," Long said Monday. "But I haven't made any decisions yet.
"I haven't thought that deep about it. All I've thought about is how much longer I might go and in the process what might be in store with me along the way."
SDSU enjoyed unprecedented success during the Long era.
The Aztecs have made a school-record 10 straight bowl appearances, nine of them since Long became head coach.
He was 81-38 as head coach at SDSU, which is second only to Don Coryell (104-19-2) in victories at the school.
The Aztecs recently capped a 10-3 season _ their fourth season in five years with double-digit victories _ with a 48-11 New Mexico Bowl win over Central Michigan.
Long, who came to SDSU after going 65-69 in 11 seasons as head coach at New Mexico, is the winningest coach in Mountain West history.
Long was hired as SDSU defensive coordinator in 2009 by Hoke, who came from Ball State to take the job after Chuck Long (no relation to Rocky) was fired following the 2008 season.
Hoke returned to SDSU last year when Long hired him as SDSU's defensive line coach.
Hoke, 61, has had an eventful time between his departure and his return.
He went 31-20 over four seasons at Michigan, but his win total decreased each season, from 11-2 to 8-5 to 7-6 and finally 5-7, prompting his firing following the 2014 season. Hastening his departure was going 1-3 against both Ohio State and Michigan State.
Hoke returned to coaching after a year off when he was hired as Oregon's defensive coordinator in 2016. A year later, he served as Tennessee assistant head coach/defensive line coach and was interim head coach for two games after head coach Butch Jones was fired. At both Oregon and Tennessee, Hoke found himself out of a job after head coaching changes.
He most recently served as defensive line coach for the Carolina Panthers before being fired in December 2018 during a coaching staff shakeup on the team.
SDSU's resurgence a decade ago began under Hoke, who coached the Aztecs to a 4-8 record in 2009 and then 9-4 in 2010. The latter season ended with a 35-14 Poinsettia Bowl victory over Navy, giving the Aztecs their first nine-win season in 33 years. It was SDSU's first bowl appearance in 12 years.
There are certain to be changes among the assistant coaches. Hoke is expected to interview current staff members Thursday.
