The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Phil Longo

2–10
2025–now · 1 stint
← all coaches

In his own words

The best thing about him from an athletic and a physicality standpoint is that he knows what he i s capable of, he does a really good job of trying to steer clear of doing some things that may not be in his wheelhouse, he plays within his own ability and makes rea lly good decisions, and when you are talking about a quarterback and those two things you’ve got a shot to win each game you play

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerSAM HOUSTONRegional Programthe building-block levelSam Houston, 2025: 2-10, Regional Program V2025Sam Houston, 2026: in progress, Regional Program V2026-1.8One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Sam Houston, 2 seasons (active)
−1.8
Regional Program V → Regional Program V.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

50%60%Sam Houston2025–2026▲ 8.3pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

One-score games
1–3
25.0% · margin ≤8
Buyout owed
$2,868,750
bigger than 30% of FBS buyouts
Performance by opponent class
Power Program
0–1 0.0%
Regional Program
1–11 8.3%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
-0.37
#274 of 319 · less than most
Defense marginal impact
-0.19
#264 of 325 · less than most

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2025–now
Sam Houston
too new to grade yet

3rd-best Sam Houston tenure of 3 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent
-28.6 pts
#198 of 208 · less than most
Defense vs. talent
-27.6 pts
#194 of 208 · less than most
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Followed K.C. Keeler (2023–2024).

Season20252026Trend
Record & result
Record2–100–0
Postseason
Recruiting rank#122#126
Style — pass rate
Pass rate51.359.6
Coordinators
OCZack PattersonZack Patterson
DCFreddie Aughtry-LindsayFreddie Aughtry-Lindsay
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense667
Defense867
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%44.166.7
Red-zone pass%50.866.7
4th-down go%opp. territory27.3
Roster construction · portal era

A portal-built roster.

Portal arrivals
46
2.9★ avg rating
Portal departures
48
left via the portal
Net portal flow
-2
#31 of 187 FBS stints
Who they bring in

Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.

Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.

Avg. size (raw)
6′2″, 239 lbs
across 34 of 46 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix
Size vs. position-typical
+2.2 lbs
#177 of 255 · a typical amount
Avg. class year
Jr
#252 of 255 · less than most
Top states: TX (9), GA (4), FL (4), NC (2), NJ (2)
Who won the portal our read
Talent added
51.5
position-weighted
Talent lost
53.5
position-weighted
Net
-2.0
arrivals minus departures
Best addition: Mabrey Mettauer (QB) from Wisconsin
Biggest loss: Jase Bauer (QB) to UT Martin
Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.
Where the roster comes from, by position
Buys Tackle via the portal
75%
#11 of 223 stints
Buys D-line via the portal
83%
#13 of 239 stints
Grows Quarterback from high school
80%
#178 of 206 stints

AI Narratives — “Sam Houston — stat check”.

2–10
How to read this. Bands and archetypes come from the Zeitgeist List’s season-by-season stature model, and only apply once a stint clears 3 coached seasons in our ledger — a newer stint shows its real record with no stature judgment yet.