AztecSportsReport.com - Long attempts to downplay facing New Mexico

October 26, 2009

Tom Shanahan
AztecSportsReport.com Senior Writer

Inside the Aztec Athletics Center's football offices, San Diego State defensive coordinator Rocky Long's associates say you'd never know he is preparing to face New Mexico Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium.

That might sound hard to believe since not only did Long elevate New Mexico to the top of the Mountain West Conference in his 11 seasons as the head coach -- including five bowl trips the last seven years -- the Albuquerque school is his alma mater, where he played quarterback for the Lobos.

But SDSU cornerbacks coach Tony White, whom Long recruited to play at UCLA and hired on his New Mexico staff before new SDSU head coach Brady Hoke brought Long and White to SDSU, insists it's true.

"The way Coach Long sees it, this is just another game for San Diego State," White said. "It's a big game in the sense that we're coming off a hard-fought victory, and we want to keep the momentum going. But Coach Long wants to get a win for Coach Hoke and San Diego State's players and fans rather than for Coach Long against New Mexico. It's not like that to him."

But there is one way to know this game is much different for Long from the other 11 games on the Aztecs' schedule when New Mexico (0-7, 0-3 MWC) and SDSU (3-4, 1-2 MWC) meet.

Long, normally accessible and candid with the media, isn't doing any interviews this week. He apparently doesn't want to be quoted all week about leaving New Mexico and facing the Lobos.

When Long stepped down last year, his explanation was the program needed new direction to get to the next level. There were rumors Long was tired of ungrateful New Mexico fans that wanted more success out of his program, although he has dismissed that thought.

Long has stated, since arriving at SDSU, that he's enjoying to getting back to coaching X's and O's and motivating young men rather than dealing with all the administrative and media work that comes with being a head coach.

"I guarantee this week is going to be about the defense getting better just like every other week," said senior linebacker Jerry Milling. "That's the way Coach Long will approach it."

The motivation, Milling added, is being supplied by Hoke reminding his players of recent history, including last year's humiliating 70-7 loss at New Mexico that that was the beginning of the end for former head coach Chuck Long.

"For us, this game is all about New Mexico," Milling said. "They've beaten us eight straight years. They beat us last year 70-7.

But whatever approach Rocky Long takes to this week's game, SDSU fans know all too well how effectively his methods work.

In addition to Milling's references to 70-7 last year and eight straight losses, SDSU was embarrassed by the Lobos in 2005 at Qualcomm. The loss essentially sealed former head coach Tom Craft's fate in what became his final year. The Aztecs were routed, 47-24, to drop to 3-5 en route to a 5-7 final record.

"New Mexico and San Diego State is one of those quirky games that is hard to explain," White said. "Some schools just have a way of playing each other. At New Mexico, we could always play BYU tough, but we never played TCU tough. It's weird how things fall into place."

But they should fall differently this year with Long running SDSU's defense and New Mexico tumbling to the bottom of the MWC under Mike Locksley, the embattled first-year coach that returns to the sidelines this week. Locksley was suspended 10 days by the university for hitting an assistant coach and missed last week's 34-17 loss at home to UNLV.

Under Long, only Utah and TCU, with six, made more bowl trips among Mountain West Conference schools since 2002. Long's defenses were ranked in the top 40 for the last nine years.

In his first season at SDSU, Long has taken over a defense ranked among the worst in the country to being ranked as high as 33rd earlier this year. SDSU stands at No. 50 in the nation and fifth in the MWC; New Mexico is 110th in the nation and last in the MWC.

"I've learned lot about football from him," White said. "Everybody thinks football is about X's and O's, but it's more so attitude and getting guys ready to play. That's one thing Coach Long has done with all of his teams. He's done a lot with a little.

"He has a way of making guys understand the importance of every play of every game. He gets the most out of his players and the rest of the staff here."

Contact Tom Shanahan at shanny4055@aol.com.

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