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San Diego State Extends Rocky Long Through 2022

Aztecs football will be in good stewardship for the foreseeable future.

“Offering Rocky an extension may be the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make.” -SDSU Athletic Director J.D. Wicker

Contact/Follow @tedmcgovern & @MWCwire

This is the Rocky Long era at San Diego State University, and it’s going to last for as long as Rocky Long wishes to coach the Aztecs.

Long is the all-time winningest head coach in Mountain West history, and the only three-time Mountain West Coach of the Year.

Coming off his seventh season as head coach of the Aztecs, and 10th overall, Long has helped SDSU reach a bowl game for eight straight campaigns. It makes San Diego State one of 17 schools nationally and one of just two Group-of-5 programs to play in a bowl game in each of the last eight seasons.

Long and the Aztecs have achieved elite Group of 5 football status.

Soon to be 67, Long wants to coach for at least five more years. He signed a contract extension with San Diego State now taking him through the 2022 season. The new contract was officially announced by Athletic Director J.D. Wicker in a news conference on Wednesday at San Diego State.

A snapshot of how the Aztecs doing lately: over the past three seasons, the Aztecs are 32-7. The 2016 season ended with the Aztecs ranked 25th in the nation, after toppling Houston in the Las Vegas Bowl. It was the first time the Aztecs finished ranked in 30 years.

As head coach, Long maintains a 54-26 record (.675 winning percentage). The legendary Don Coryell (104-19-2, .840) and Claude Gilbert (61-26-2, .697) are the only coaches in school history with more victories and higher winning percentages. Long could surpass Gilbert in wins and win percentage this coming 2018 season.

Long had this to say about the extension: “I think it’s good for the program that there’s some stability, and as my contract was coming to an end it was nice that everybody wanted me back. For everybody we’re recruiting, now we can say that our staff should stay the same the whole time they’re here, even though I know I’ll lose a coach here and there because of what we’ve done over the past and what we plan on doing in the future.”

Long will receive a modest increase in salary from $815,048 to $826,304 per season. A new incentive in the extended contract: $150,000 for a New Year’s Six bowl appearance.

During the 2016 season, SDSU’s success earned Long some sweet incentive bonuses totaling $190,000 ($75,000 for MW title, $25,000 for playing in MW title game, $50,000 for bowl berth in Las Vegas Bowl, $25,000 for final ranking in the top 25 and $15,000 for academic results in the APR).

Long’s salary is ranked just sixth among the 12 Mountain West coaches, but he is OK with it. He says he is well compensated and is more concerned about getting raises for his assistant coaches

SDSU officials stated the Aztecs assistant coaches also will be receiving raises.

As for Athletic Director J.D. Wicker’s thoughts: “Offering Rocky an extension may be the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make. Rocky is a great football coach. He is a great mentor to our assistant coaches and student-athletes and, most importantly, he’s a great person. He truly cares not only about the success of the football program but San Diego State as a whole.”

San Diego State University and Aztecs fans all over applaud the extension.

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