Rocky Long
Defensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.
Rocky Long
Rocky Long raised San Diego State from Regional Program III to National Program II.
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.
Reached National Program in his 16th career season — faster than 0% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #672 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).
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.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
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.
11–8 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Bronco Mendenhall.
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.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
3rd-best San Diego State tenure of 11 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and outperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
| Season | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||
| Record | 8–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 11–3 | 11–3 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 10–3 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | #73 | #70 | #82 | #77 | #79 | #91 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | 40.3 | 27.2 | 28.7 | 30.5 | 37.5 | 42.6 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | Bob Toledo | Jeff Horton | Jeff Horton | Jeff Horton | Jeff Horton | Jeff Horton | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | Rocky Long | Danny Gonzales | Zach Arnett | Zach Arnett | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | 33 | 80 | 72 | 87 | 34 | 16 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | 79 | 99 | 93 | 73 | 57 | 97 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | 33.2 | 16.0 | 23.3 | 24.6 | 25.3 | 31.9 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | 27.9 | 27.4 | 23.2 | 34.0 | 31.3 | 26.5 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | 16.3 | 20.5 | 24.4 | 13.8 | 29.8 | 31.6 | |
19 NFL Draft picks: Vincent Brown (2011), Demarco Sampson (2011), Ronnie Hillman (2012), Miles Burris (2012), Ryan Lindley (2012), Jerome Long (2012), Gavin Escobar (2013), Leon McFadden (2013) + 11 more
1st-best New Mexico tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Followed Dennis Franchione (1992–1997) · succeeded by Mike Locksley (2009–2011).
14 NFL Draft picks: Ramos McDonald (1998), Scott McGarrahan (1998), Brian Urlacher (2000), Casey Tisdale (2000), Joe Maese (2001), Jarrod Baxter (2002), Claude Terrell (2005), Nick Speegle (2005) + 6 more