Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK Wed, October 28, 2026 at 9:02 PM UTC About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sam Houston State has fired head football coach Phil Longo, the university announced on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Longo was in his second season at the school, going 3-17 in that time. The move came one day after a 24-3 loss to Missouri State dropped the Bearkats to 1-7 on the season.
"Phil has contributed to Bearkat football as both an offensive coordinator and head coach, and we appreciate his work with our student-athletes," said Sam Houston State athletic director Bobby Williams said in a statement . "Our responsibility is to evaluate the program's performance and direction. After careful review, I believe a change in leadership is necessary to position Bearkat Football to compete consistently in Conference USA and meet the expectations of our student-athletes, university and supporters."
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Associate head coach Eric Raisbeck and defensive coordinator Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay will serve as interim co-head coaches for the final four games of the regular season.
Longo had previously been an offensive coordinator at the Huntsville, Texas-based school from 2014-16, a stretch in which the Bearkats made the FCS semifinals twice. After moving on to offensive coordinator roles at Mississippi, North Carolina and Wisconsin, Longo was hired in Dec. 2024 to replace K.C. Keeler, who had left the program after a 9-3 regular season to become the head coach at Temple.
Under Longo, Sam Houston State got nowhere close to the heights Keeler had guided them to in his final season. In Longo's debut season in 2025, the Bearkats went 2-10, their fewest wins since 2003. This season, Sam Houston State has no wins against FBS opponents and is among the bottom 10 scoring offenses in the FBS, averaging just 18 points per game.
The Bearkats had been an FCS powerhouse before making the jump to the FBS level in 2023. Since making that transition, they've gone 16-29, with 10 of those wins coming during the 2024 season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sam Houston State football fires coach Phil Longo eight games into second season
Source: Sports
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