It just might be the 10th-year coach of the University of New Mexico.
After all, Long likes to know what's going on in prep football, too. And some of his best talent has come off New Mexico's football fields.
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All but Urlacher was recruited to come to UNM by Long, and Cook and Byrd were walk-ons who ultimately showed they had the right stuff and were awarded scholarships.
Former Highland standout Jarrod Baxter also was a walk-on who made it to the NFL.
"We're interested in six, seven or eight of (the state's prep players)," Long said during Tuesday's media luncheon. "We've already offered three (scholarships)."
Long said it'd be remiss to overlook talent in the state.
"It's just the philosophy that I have," Long, a former assistant at Eldorado High School (1974-75) , explained. "I think any state university or major university within a state ought to, if at all possible, base their foundation on local kids."
(New Mexico State University's 22-man recruiting class for 2007 contained zero New Mexico athletes.)
"I think it's more difficult in our state because of population than it is in some other states, but I think any kid in our state that shows the ability to possibly be a Division 1 athlete, you ought give him a chance to play."
There are NCAA restrictions that outline how often Long or any of his assistants get to see high school football players in action.
"We get seven evaluation days during the season. Now we can have seven guys out, so that's 49 possible games we can watch," he said. "We don't usually use all seven, because we use our evaluations when we have a bye week, and we send coaches on the road," he said.
"Some will see a game Thursday night, they'll see two games on Friday, they'll see a game on Saturday, so that's actually three days of evaluations," he continued. "So we don't get to see as many local games as we want, but when we play home games, I try to go two or three times a year to see a local high school game. You have to keep track of all that."
Without prompting, Long talked about a big high school game on Thursday, the first of the season for La Cueva and Cibola.
"Cibola's supposed to be the best team in town; La Cueva has the tradition," he said. "I can't be there. Some of our coaches are going to be there." (The Lobos are interested in Cibola QB Jon Mader.)
Both schools have current Lobos: Cibola has offensive lineman Erik Cook, Ryan Cook's "little" 9as if 6-6, 312 pounds is little) and La Cueva has eight alums on the roster, including starting "lobo" Clint McPeek, his back-up, Frankie Baca, and the number-two middle linebacker, Zach Arnett on defense.
Other New Mexicans on the Lobos' depth chart on defense are No. 2 nose tackle Phillip Harrison (Highland), No. 3 defensive end Jeremiah Lovato (Rio Grande), Ian Clark (Highland), the No. 3 "lobo," and defensive backs Tyson Ditmore (Las Cruces) and Abdullah Konte (Eldorado), back-ups at left safety and left cornerback, respectively.
Offensively, former Manzano running back Rodney Ferguson (see related story, this issue), is the team's No. 1 tailback.
Also, Erik Cook is a back-up center, while Anthony Kilby (Manzano) starts at left guard and Chris Hernandez (Mayfield) is No. 2 at one of the three wideout positions.
There are 94 "numbered" players on the 2007 roster, going into the season opener Saturday at UTEP, and 26 of those guys are from New Mexico. Eight of the 11 Albuquerque Public Schools high schools are represented, as is St. Pius X.
There also are players from Rio Rancho, Carlsbad, Los Lunas, Taos, Portales, Gallup, Hobbs, Kirtland and Santa Fe.
La Cueva almost seems like a minor-league team for the Lobos: There are eight former Bears on the roster in '07.
Such wasn't always the case.
Thirty years ago, of 65 players on the roster, 18 were from New Mexico, with 11 of them from Albuquerque schools.
In 1987, of the 81 players on the roster, 19 were New Mexicans, including 14 from Albuquerque.
In 1997, coach Dennis Franchione's final season and the year before Long got the job, of 90 players on the roster only 10 hailed from New Mexico, with just three from Albuquerque, including Baxter.
Wit and wisdom from coach Long:
On the new Indoor Practice Facility: "It took me three weeks to figure out what IPF meant." (The Lobos were using their indoor facility last week with "crowd noise" pumped up to simulate what they would be hearing at the Sun Bowl last night. "Two years ago that was the loudest crowd we've ever played against," he said.
On playing in front of a loud, hostile crowd: "A lot of problems on offense. It's hard to 'check' plays, you have to go on silent counts. ... It's hard for offensive linemen to look out of the corner of their eye at the ball and there are guys moving and shifting and stunting and sliding. And if the quarterback makes a change in plays and not everybody gets it, it causes all kinds of problems. I know it was a factor there last time we played down there." (21-13 loss to the Miners)
How to get players to focus more when playing in noisy stadiums: "Some coaches like the 'whisper' deal, where you don't pump loud music ... and the quarterback whispers, to make people concentrate, make the linemen transfer the checks down the line, etc. And other people like the loud noise. They're both effective as long as the players focus in and realize what's going to happen."
On the new rule, moving kickoffs back to the 30: "Coaches think the kickoff and kickoff return's the most-dangerous play in football. I tend to agree with them, because people are running full speed into each other -- with a running start, too. They pick up momentum before they run into each other. ... There are a lot more tangles, too, where guys roll up on legs. And you're going to get a lot more kickoff returns, too, which is to lead to the excitement of the game."
On rules changes, in general: "Every rule that they've made in the last 15 years has helped the offense. Every single rule is to help the offense; they do it in the NFL, too. They have great cornerbacks, (so good) that the wide receivers couldn't get off the line of scrimmage. 'Let's put a rule in, so they can't touch them.' ... They put one rule in last year that did not help the offense and it went right back to the original rule. (The rule regarding time between plays.)"
Tougher NCAA rules regarding preseason practice: "The rules every year make it softer and softer on players and make it harder and harder on coaches to get the same desired results. We can't even practice two-a-days two days in a row. We can't put pads on for four days. And then they say it's all for the protection of the player, and they move the kickoff back to the 30 yard line - because that's 'for the fans.' I can sit here and talk about that stuff for hours ... I have no influence, I can't change it, but it's a bunch of whatever."
How good will the offensive line be this fall? "Some days we look pretty good, and then some days we don't block anybody. We won't find out until we play a game; we've been playing against each other, so you really have no idea. I think they'll be fine; that's purely a feel."
Do you like the ongoing series with UTEP? "I think we ought to play all 'rivalry' games, until we don't have a ticket to sell at home football games, where they have to put double-decker on the stadium or expand the capacity, I think all the games ought to be rivalry game - New Mexico State, UTEP< Arizona, Texas Tech - so people can travel to the game. Maybe you can get Colorado in there, Arizona State. Other than TV exposure, I don't know why you go off someplace ... unless they're going to pay you $1 million. Then you ought to go anywhere they tell you for a million bucks. I'm for that, a one-time shot. It costs you 100 grand to go and put $900,00 in the football budget."
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