Men’s basketball head coach Mike Long earns 500th career victory
By: Abigail Nawrot
Sports Editor
“I accredit my success to longevity,” said men’s basketball head coach, Mike Long, regarding his 500th career victory. “When you’ve coached as many years as I have, if you’re lucky enough to have some decent players, you’ll accumulate wins.”
Long earned his 500th career victory on Saturday, Nov.16 in the McDonough Sports Complex.
“I try to approach this game as any other game,” Long said before the victory. “Certainly, it has some significance, but this is more important to my son than to me,” he continued. “He’s been my biggest fan, [but] I’m not even going to mention it to my players though, I want this win to happen for their sake, not for mine,” Long added. “What matters is they play hard and get it.”
Long has worked at a slew of colleges in his lifetime, as well as Christian Brothers Academy, the 3-year anomaly in his career. Long has worked at Siena, St. Rose (‘73-’86) and the Sage Colleges (20 years) preceding his time at Hudson Valley.
Long has been in the coaching business for a number of years, during which period he learned a lot about keeping a team functioning and balling on the court.
I’ve been a head coach 34 years out of my years coaching: one at Siena, 13 at St. Rose, 13 at Sage and now seven at HVCC,” Long said. “So if you average a decent amount of wins, you might come up with some numbers.”
Long said that he played while in college.
“I have a Bachelor of Science and Economics at Siena, and while I was there, I played basketball,” Long said. “After I graduated, I spent two years in the Army [and] I was in Vietnam,” he continued. “After that, I worked for the county, and then got a state job– which was great, because I was able to work and coach at the same time.”
Long discovered his passion for basketball when he spent a 2-year period serving for the Army in Vietnam.
“When I was in the Army, I got to play on the Army post, and became an assistant coach, then came back and coached at Siena,” Long said. “I coached the JV team, and that’s when I realized that’s what I really want to do, I had a passion for it,” he continued. “I was fortunate I had these opportunities in these other places.”
Despite the season having a series of new players, the team has had incredible on-court chemistry.
Long said he has learned to navigate the challenges surrounding a “new” team.
“This year was a lot like junior college, we only had two returning players, and the rest of the guys are new, so you have to start with the basics, with offense and defense, and teaching them the plays,” Long said. “You really have to start from scratch [and] I have a really good group of young men, and they’ve been working hard,” he continued. “Helping them learn is a process, and over the years I’ve learned to be patient.”
Notable player, and individual studies student, Brandon McKenly said he owes the team victories to Long’s coaching.
“He’s been doing an amazing job as coach, we couldn’t have asked for anyone better, McKenly said. “He really pushes the team to perform the best they possibly can [and] I really feel like my potential is valued here,” he continued. “At the game, we were in the locker room, and what made us come back were the coaches saying we shouldn’t have fallen behind.
Mckenly continued, “We were winning and next thing you know we’re behind 15 points. We got too much in our heads [and] they were saying we’re better than that, and the victory should be ours: that’s when we stepped up our game in the last two minutes.”
The men’s basketball team has been undefeated, with the exception of one game against Herkimer College. They currently have a 3-win streak, and will be playing again on Wednesday, Nov. 20.