San Diego State pivots to Brady Hoke as easy replacement for Rocky Long
Rocky Long stepping down is not ideal, but San Diego State was fortunate to be able to land on Brady Hoke as his replacement.
With a report earlier this week that he was shopping himself to Power 5 schools as a defensive coordinator, Rocky Long’s future as head coach at San Diego State was cast into doubt. On Wednesday he stepped down, and the school quickly announced Brady Hoke will be the new head football coach.
Long’s departure is being framed as a retirement, and at nearly 70 years old it might very well mean he’s done coaching. But Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that the administration wanted Long to consider some staff changes, which he was unwilling to do. Changes to the offensive coaching staff may have been of particular note, as the Aztecs have finished 120th and 112th in the country in scoring offense in the last two seasons.
Long leaves San Diego State after nine seasons, with an 81-38 record (.681 winning percentage) and three Mountain West titles. He is the second-winningest coach in school history, behind Don Coryell (104 wins).
Hoke previously spent two seasons as Aztecs’ head coach, 2009 and 2010, with a 13-12 record. A 9-4 campaign in 2010 started a current 10-year bowl streak for the San Diego State program, and led to Hoke getting the head job at Michigan.
Hoke spent four seasons at Michigan (2011-14), with a 31-20 record. He has since served as defensive coordinator at Oregon (2016), defensive line coach at Tennessee (2017, with two games as interim head coach) and defensive line coach for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL (2018). He returned to San Diego State as defensive line coach in 2019, and he’ll now get a second run as the head coach replacing the man who replaced him.
Hoke is a three-time conference Coach of the Year, winning the awards in the MAC (Ball State, 2008), Mountain West (San Diego State, 2010) and the Big Ten (Michigan, 2011).
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Entering into a coaching search this late can be an issue for a college program, with prominent candidates already spoken for if they went to greener pastures and the early recruiting period. But San Diego State didn’t have to have a search to land on the right guy to keep things rolling in the wake of Long’s departure, as Hoke’s winding path in recent years put him back on the coaching staff this past season.