When the Texas Longhorns welcome the Sam Houston Bearkats to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, the visiting team will have a first-year head coach leading their sideline.
Bearkats head coach Phil Longo was named to the position last December after longtime coach K.C. Keeler headed northeast to take over at Temple. Although Longo is a newcomer to the Sam Houston head gig, he is a veteran presence in coaching circles.
A former Division III running back, Longo got his start in the college coaching ranks at William Patterson in 2000 after four successful seasons at a New Jersey high school. By 2004, he had earned himself the head coaching job at La Salle.
After two seasons at the helm of the Explorers, he spent the next decade in offensive coaching roles at four schools, eventually landing in Huntsville as the Bearkats’ offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. From 2014 to 2016, Longo contributed to a Bearkat offense that made two Football Championship Subdivision semifinals and a quarterfinal appearance.
In 2016 specifically, he guided quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe to the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the FCS’s most outstanding offensive player and was named the FCS National Coordinator of the Year. That season, the Bearkats averaged 49.5 points per game.
As a result of his high-powered offense, Longo was hired by Ole Miss in December 2016 to fill the same role. In Oxford, Longo’s version of the Air Raid scheme — which he adapted from legendary coach Mike Leach, according to a Dec. 2016 Rebels247 article — was put on a brighter stage through the Southeastern Conference.
“I’m just a very firm believer that the best odds in the house are taking what the defense gives you,” Longo said in that 2016 article. “There are games we run the ball 70 times to win it and games where we throw 70 times to win it. I’m perfectly willing to do either but that’s never decided going into the game. That’s going to be decided by what the defense is taking away.”
Longo’s scheme made its way from Ole Miss to North Carolina, where Longo coached under former Texas coach Mack Brown. Longo worked with now-NFL quarterbacks Sam Howell and Drake Maye during his four-year tenure in Chapel Hill. He then moved to Wisconsin for the 2023 season, before being fired following the Badgers’ week 10 loss to No. 1 Oregon during his second season.
Longo’s transition from being fired as an offensive coordinator to being hired as a head coach in just one month made his appointment at Sam Houston polarizing.
And so far, it hasn’t been pretty for him in Huntsville. The Bearkats have started the season 0-3. They’ve lost each of their games by 17 points, are giving up 442.3 yards per game on average and have played three different quarterbacks.
But Longo’s past makes him no stranger to the type of environment that DKR will be on Saturday night. His foremost focus is on ensuring his team takes advantage of this rare chance against Texas.
“To me, this is a fantastic opportunity for our players and our staff and our program, and that’s the way we’re treating it right now,” Longo said in his Sept. 16 press conference.
