At a small Colorado high school, Rocky Long is a head coach once more 

By the time it got to Bayfield High School, Rocky Long’s resume more than spoke for itself.

Three Mountain West titles. A 146-107 career record as a head coach at New Mexico and San Diego State. A long history of defensive innovation and success, fortifying a reputation as one of the best football minds anywhere, at any level.

What more could a small Class 2A school (last reported enrollment: 420) in southern Colorado ask for?

Still, Long wanted to put his best foot forward. When the 75-year-old arrived to interview as Bayfield’s head football coach, athletic director Andy Duffy remembered Long packing something extra.

“He brought (his) Wikipedia (page),” he said.

A printout? 

“Yeah,” Duffy chuckled.

To nobody’s surprise, it worked. Long was named the head coach at Bayfield last week, his first head coaching gig at any level since he stepped down after nine seasons at SDSU in 2020.

And after 50-plus years of coaching, the three-time Mountain West Coach of the Year can add something new to his resume: high school head coach.

Just don’t tell him there isn’t a learning curve – even after 20 seasons leading college programs.

“I’m still learning how to be around the age group that’s in high school,” Long told the Journal. “Because they’re different than the guys that are in college. I mean, they have a little different attitude about it.

“They have some big-time energy, but they’re just like I was when I was their age – they think they know a lot more than they really do,” he chuckled.

Scratching the itch

If this season represents Long’s first as a high school head coach, don’t mistake it for his first experience in the prep ranks.

After spending one season as Syracuse’s defensive coordinator in 2023, Long and his wife, Debby, retired to their condo in Durango, Colorado. Long admitted he had too much time on his hands – “I didn’t know what to do with myself,” he said – and ended up volunteering as an off-field defensive analyst for nearby Fort Lewis College, an “easy transition” to full retirement.

At the same time, Hunter Holmes was in his first season as Durango High School’s special teams coordinator under an interim coach. When he stepped away, Holmes landed the head job – and needed a defensive coordinator.

Turns out, Long was interested. A full retirement could wait.

“He didn’t take too much convincing,” Holmes said. “He really wanted to coach, be a DC, get on the field. … That itch is still there.”

So, 50 years after his last stint as a prep assistant at Eldorado High School, Long joined the Demons’ staff last summer – introducing himself only as ‘Coach Long.’ Holmes estimated maybe one or two players knew about his background: “It’s not one of those towns where the kids are like, ‘eat, sleep, ball,’ you know what I’m talking about?”

(Of course, others did: When the team did a walk-through at Adams State, Long and the rest of Durango’s coaches introduced themselves to the Grizzlies’ staff. “One of their coaches was like, ‘THE Rocky Long?’” Holmes remembered. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, I only know one of ‘em.’”)

Whether they knew or not, it didn’t take long for players and coaches alike to realize they were working with perhaps the most accomplished defensive coordinator in all of high school football. But even the three-time Mountain West Coach of the Year admitted he made a “huge mistake” last season, initially installing a game plan too complicated for players to execute.

The result? In a season-opening 35-14 loss to Montrose High School, Durango allowed a staggering 450 rushing yards. Running Long’s famed 3-3-5 – a scheme plenty of college players have struggled to run – he eliminated “about 75%” of the defense shortly thereafter.

The Demons only gave up one touchdown over their next five games.

“I think our third-string quarterback fumbled it on, like, the 2-yard line,” Holmes said of the one score. “It’s just a testament to him being able to teach those guys ball and a whole new defense that probably none of these kids had ever even thought of … The defense, I think, was probably the best in the state by the end of the year.”

Durango finished 9-3, losing in the 6A state quarterfinals. Despite that success, Holmes ended up leaving at the end of the season, citing frustrations with the school’s athletic administration.

Long, however, wasn’t done.

“I had a good time,” he said. “It was fun being around high school kids again.”

‘All brand new’

In five years as Bayfield’s AD, Andy Duffy has hired three football coaches. There’s been promising applicants in every search, to be clear, but many would have had to move from far away to take the job in the first place.

“And it just doesn’t work out,” Duffy said. “Really, I never know what to expect. But I certainly did not expect that Rocky Long was going to apply.”

After Holmes left Durango, Long had the option to stay – only to look and see what else was out there. Bayfield (population: 2,838) is a 25-minute drive east from Durango, and the Wolverines were looking for a new head football coach after a fourth straight losing season.

So Long applied. Bayfield didn’t take long to get him in for an interview.

Or to get him on board.

“We just really jumped on the opportunity,” Duffy said.

It’s still early. So early, in fact, that Long’s Wikipedia page hasn’t been updated with his new role at Bayfield. Coaching is coaching at any level, but he’s less concerned about any on-field scheme than he is implementing an offseason program to get the three-time state champion Wolverines back to that level.

“It’s all brand new,” Long said.

Most importantly, Long’s trying to get the program’s numbers up after only “22 or 23” players arrived for his first team meeting. He hopes word of mouth helps, especially after Bayfield went 3-6 last season.

It seems like it already has.

“They understand that he’s gonna require a lot from them,” Duffy said. “They’re gonna have to work hard in the offseason. And when I saw students yesterday, every kid that I spoke to that was at that meeting, they were just jacked up about the opportunity to be coached by someone like him.”

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.