Now
Career arc
Right now
After Missouri State: what changed
What’s left
Chance to win each game, from the CFB Zeitgeist forecast ratings with home field. #N = AP rank in the latest poll.
Week by week: every game this season is on the career arc at the top of the page.
Hot seat
See every job →Hot seat: no longer the head coach · left October 28.
He left the job on October 28; Eric Raisbeck is the interim head coach. How every job is measured.
Poach watch
He no longer holds this job, so there is no number for him here.
Fans
Many stories about him in the last 30 days
from dozens of outlets and r/CFB
Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil Longo
AP News +21 Oct 28 · many outlets
All 28 articles
Job talk is up: several stories in the last two weeks, from none the two weeks before.
What they’re talking about
The headlines for each topic are on the News tab.
Many stories about him this season
from dozens of outlets and r/CFB
Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil Longo
AP News +21 Oct 28 · many outlets
All 28 articles
What they’re talking about
The headlines for each topic are on the News tab.
Could another school hire him? What has he said?
Across his career
19 stories about him across 2 seasons
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Nov 4.
Stats
Big games
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
ATS is his record against the spread: did his team beat the closing betting line, winning by more than it or losing by less? Lines start in 2013; a dash means fewer than 6 of those games had one. One-score games carry no spread record: a big favorite that wins a close game has almost always failed to cover, so that number would say nothing about the coach.
Signature games
These losses tie at the model's current max -- an editorial pick among a real tie, not a clean ranking.
Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.
How he plays
Run/pass mix, by field position
Called about what the situation called for.
729 run and pass snaps at Sam Houston, 2025–2025, his own games, one row per offensive coordinator. Each cell is how much more often he passed than the rest of FBS did in the same situation (field zone, down, distance, score, quarter, same season), in percentage points.
Pass rate, stint by stint
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next, against the FBS-wide average of 41% pass. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
His recruiting, really
His one ranked Sam Houston class of his own finished #126 nationally.
His class — he had the full signing cycleTransition — he was hired mid-cycle
Rank is each signing class’s national recruiting rank (#1 is best). Only a class he had a full signing cycle to build counts as his; inherited and mid-transition classes still show here, faded, but stay out of the average.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
of his 2026 roster arrived on his watch — 91 of 108 players. The other 17 are holdovers from before he was hired.
Of his own players on this roster, 25% came through the transfer portal; the rest are non-portal arrivals (high-school signees, JUCO transfers, walk-ons).
Everyone he has brought in, 2025–2026Counting players who have since left: 28% of the 121 arrivals we can classify came through the portal.
“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.
Where he recruits
is his biggest recruiting state: 23 of 34 signees (68%) across his 2025–2026 tenure, drawn from 9 states in all. Next: CA (3).
74% of his signees come from TX and its 4 border states (LA 1, OK 1).
Off this map: 3 signees to the west (CA 3) and 1 to the east (FL).
- median hometown distance
- 263 mi
- within 100 mi
- 26%
- within 500 mi
- 58%
- beyond 1,000 mi
- 16%
The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.
News
Stories about him
Headlines, grouped by what they are about. Each is the outlet’s own.
This week
Job security talk
- AP News +21Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil LongoOct 28
All 28 articles
KBTX News 3Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil LongoKBTX News 3Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil Longo after 3-17 startYardbarkerSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo amid disastrous 20-game stretchESPNSam Houston fires coach Longo amid 1-7 start to his 2nd seasonESPNSam Houston fires football coach Phil Longo amid 1-7 start to seasonSan Antonio Express-NewsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startYahoo SportsSam Houston fires head coach Phil LongoJsuchanticleerSam Houston fires head coach Phil LongoNewsdaySam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startThe Winchester StarSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startThe Killeen Daily HeraldSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startMankato Free PressSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 start 
CBS Sports +10Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsOct 28All 11 articles
CBS SportsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsFootballScoopSam Houston: Phil Longo is out . Less than two seasons into Longo's run as head coach, the Bearkats have… - FootballScoop.comTHE BIG 1050Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsReutersSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsField Level MediaSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe Lufkin Daily NewsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe New York TimesSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo in less than two full seasons after 3-17 runYahoo SportsSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo after 3-17 record through two seasonsUnderdog DynastySam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo after 3-17 record through two seasonsCBS SportsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe PressSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasons - thepress.net
USA Today +1Sam Houston State football fires coach Phil Longo eight games into second seasonOct 28
Houston Chronicle +1Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo midway through second season after 1-7 startOct 28All 2 articles
- [Vannini] Breaking: Sam Houston has fired head coach Phil Longo, who was 3-17 in the job. Bearkats are 1-7 and lost to Missouri State 24-3 last night. Associate HC Eric Raisbeck and DC Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay will serve as interim co-head coaches.Oct 28
Win
- Badger of HonorPhil Longo's latest 'disasterclass' at Sam Houston won't surprise Wisconsin fans at allOct 22
Springfield News-LeaderMissouri State's win forces Sam Houston football to fire Phil Longo - Springfield News-LeaderOct 28
This season
Job security talk
- AP News +21Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil LongoOct 28
All 28 articles
KBTX News 3Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil LongoKBTX News 3Sam Houston fires head football coach Phil Longo after 3-17 startYardbarkerSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo amid disastrous 20-game stretchESPNSam Houston fires coach Longo amid 1-7 start to his 2nd seasonESPNSam Houston fires football coach Phil Longo amid 1-7 start to seasonSan Antonio Express-NewsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startYahoo SportsSam Houston fires head coach Phil LongoJsuchanticleerSam Houston fires head coach Phil LongoNewsdaySam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startThe Winchester StarSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startThe Killeen Daily HeraldSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 startMankato Free PressSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after 1-7 start - CBS Sports +10Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsOct 28
All 11 articles
CBS SportsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsFootballScoopSam Houston: Phil Longo is out . Less than two seasons into Longo's run as head coach, the Bearkats have… - FootballScoop.comTHE BIG 1050Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsReutersSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsField Level MediaSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe Lufkin Daily NewsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe New York TimesSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo in less than two full seasons after 3-17 runYahoo SportsSam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo after 3-17 record through two seasonsUnderdog DynastySam Houston fires head coach Phil Longo after 3-17 record through two seasonsCBS SportsSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasonsThe PressSam Houston fires coach Phil Longo after less than two seasons - thepress.net - USA Today +1Sam Houston State football fires coach Phil Longo eight games into second seasonOct 28
- Houston Chronicle +1Sam Houston fires coach Phil Longo midway through second season after 1-7 startOct 28
All 2 articles
- [Vannini] Breaking: Sam Houston has fired head coach Phil Longo, who was 3-17 in the job. Bearkats are 1-7 and lost to Missouri State 24-3 last night. Associate HC Eric Raisbeck and DC Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay will serve as interim co-head coaches.Oct 28
Press conference and quotes
NCAA and compliance
- The Lufkin Daily NewsSam Houston coach Phil Longo on the sidelines during the NCAA college football game against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at Middle Tennessee.Sep 23Reported by The Lufkin Daily News
- The Lufkin Daily NewsSam Houston coach Phil Longo on the sidelines during the NCAA college football game against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at Middle Tennessee.Oct 28Reported by The Lufkin Daily News
Win
- Badger of HonorPhil Longo's latest 'disasterclass' at Sam Houston won't surprise Wisconsin fans at allOct 22
- Springfield News-LeaderMissouri State's win forces Sam Houston football to fire Phil Longo - Springfield News-LeaderOct 28
In his own words
Every quote, back to September 2026
In his own words
We came back out and tried to reestablish a little bit of a run game in the second half, but until we get that fixed, it’s going to be tough to play one-dimensional football
As I’ve said before, we will not be a one-dimensional offense
We got to force defenses to respect the run game as much as the passing game
We’ve gotta find a way to make things a little simpler, so these guys can be closer to playing some instinctual football
We struggled on the offensive line early on. It was a bad day for our backs and our quarterback
They played well enough to win
We’ve got to find a way to get the offense going
It’s key for us on offense. If we wanna distribute the ball whether we’re running or we’re throwing, we have to protect Landyn and control the line of scrimmage
We gotta move him off the pocket.
The challenge for Landyn and our quarterbacks this week will be post-snap ID and the passing game in the RPO standpoint, because they do an exceptional job of disguising coverage
We have got to play well up front to have a fighting chance
Those five sacks are a direct result of not being able to run the football consistently
[They’re] a bigger team. A very, very good, effective front four
The best thing about him from an athletic and a physicality standpoint is that he knows what he i s capable of, he does a really good job of trying to steer clear of doing some things that may not be in his wheelhouse, he plays within his own ability and makes rea lly good decisions, and when you are talking about a quarterback and those two things you’ve got a shot to win each game you play
Career
Hires into jobs like this
Hired into programs rated 11 to 11 (Regional Program IV tier). Rough match, not calibrated yet — ranked on what the job inherited alone. Coaches hired into this same job aren’t used as comps.
Coaching career
The arc of his career is on Now.
Followed K.C. Keeler (2023–2024).
| Season | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||
| Record | 2-10 | 1-7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | |
| Coordinators | |||
| OC | Zack Patterson | Zack Patterson | |
| DC | Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay | Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||
| Offense | 6 | 3 | |
| Defense | 8 | 35 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | |||
| 1st-down pass% | 44.1 | 58.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 50.8 | 61.1 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 27.3 | 31.8 | |
Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
AI Narratives — “Sam Houston — stat check”.
How good is he so far?
Coordinator years
Offensive coordinator across 3 programs, 3 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.
How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from our coordinator career records; head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from the staff assignments record. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.