Sam Houston has hired Phil Longo as its next head football coach, sources tell Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Longo was the offensive coordinator at Sam Houston from 2014-16 under former head coach K.C. Keeler, who left the Bearkats for the head job at Temple earlier in the month. 

Longo, 56, played quarterback and running back at Rowan College, where Keeler was as an assistant during Longo’s time. Longo began his coaching career at the high school level in New Jersey before stops at William Paterson and La Sale. He was the head coach at La Salle from 2004-05. 

Longo has spent the rest of his career as an offensive coordinator at stops ranging from Minnesota Duluth to North Carolina. He was most recently at Wisconsin. Longo left Sam Houston to be the Ole Miss OC and quarterback coach ahead of the 2017 season. In his last year at Sam, the Bearkats averaged 547 yards per game and finished with a 12-1 record. 

Sam Houston has only had three coaches since Ron Randleman took over in 1984. Longo follows esteemed predecessors in Willie Fritz and Keeler. The Bearkats went 9-3 and are playing in the New Orleans Bowl this week in Year 2 as an FBS program.