{"id":702045,"date":"2026-01-24T18:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/702045\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T18:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:07:13","slug":"former-floyd-football-coach-paul-longo-will-return-to-coaching-narrows-down-search-to-a-few-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/702045\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Floyd football coach Paul Longo will return to coaching, narrows down search to a few schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Longo will return to coaching high school football. The only question is where.<\/p>\n

Longo, the longtime William Floyd High School coach who stepped down in December\u00a0after 31 years, said he has narrowed down the search for his next job to a few schools. Longo declined to discuss which schools are in the running.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I had been up in the air about a return to coaching, I want to say thank you to all the school administrators that spent the time with me to discuss my future,\u201d Longo said. \u201cThe interest and conversations that followed really motivated a comeback. The challenge is to find the right fit, meet the challenge with a great plan, and have an impact in that community with the football program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longo, 68, said as many as six schools reached out to him after Newsday reported he would be stepping down at Floyd, where he had a career record of 253-67 and a .791 winning percentage. No Suffolk coach has won more games.\u00a0He led the Colonials to\u00a015 Suffolk Division I titles, the most in playoff history, and five Long Island Class I championships.<\/p>\n

At public high schools, coaches are appointed on a year-to-year basis by the athletic director and then must be approved by the school’s board.<\/p>\n

Longo’s alma mater, St. John the Baptist High School in West Islip, told Newsday it would love to have Longo on its\u00a0staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a first-class guy,\u201d said Ralph Dalton, the director of boys athletics at St. John the Baptist. \u201cWe\u2019re going to honor him in the home opener as a St. John\u2019s alum for all his accomplishments on and off the field. He\u2019s come back here for years to watch our games and support the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dalton said he met with Longo, St. John\u2019s head football coach Phil Alba, and Vincent Albrecht, the school principal to offer him a job. Alba joined from Florida and made a Zoom presentation that blew Longo away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible,\u201d Longo said. \u201cIt was very well thought-out and organized. It made me feel wanted in a warm way to go back and coach at my old high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Alba gave him all the different options they could try as associate head coaches,\u201d Dalton said. \u201cWe really wanted him in the program. He\u2019s an amazing man of character and an educator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longo, who played football and graduated from St. John the Baptist in 1976, was flattered by the offer but said his first preference is to be a head coach, adding, “Coach Alba is doing a great job there and it would be an honor to work with him.”<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Alba was excited about the potential to bring Longo here,\u201d Dalton said. \u201cThat\u2019s how much Phil cares about our kids and program. He wanted to work with a Hall of Famer. Not many coaches would share those responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longo coached Floyd from 1995 to 2025 and\u00a0led the Colonials to 26 playoff appearances in his 31 years. He guided the Colonials on a Suffolk County record 42-game winning streak from 2005-2008. They earned the Rutgers Trophy presented to Suffolk\u2019s most outstanding team three times. He coached three Hansen Award winners in Brock Jackolski (2007), Stacey Bedell (2011) and Ja\u2019Quan Thomas (2025). The Hansen is presented to Suffolk\u2019s most outstanding player.<\/p>\n

Added Dalton, \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want Paul Longo leading their football program?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gregg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tGregg Sarra is Newsday’s high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Longo will return to coaching high school football. The only question is where. Longo, the longtime William…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,8519],"class_list":{"0":"post-702045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hs-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115951413601113342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}