Jeff Long

Background

About Jeff Long

Jeff Long has had a highly successful career in intercollegiate athletics, serving as a coach and administrator for more than four decades at the Division I level. Long has experience as an Athletic Director at Eastern Kentucky University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Arkansas, and the University of Kansas. He gained additional experience at 8 other FBS institutions during his career, which included experience in four of the Autonomy conferences — the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC and SEC. He has also worked in the Big East, Southwest and Atlantic 10 conferences. Long distinguished himself as one of the most well-respected individuals in college athletics and was selected as the first-ever chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee. Long served as the chairman of the committee in 2014 and 2015 and remained a committee member through 2017. In 2015, Long was recognized as the Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily Athletic Director of the Year. He has been active in NCAA governance, having previously served on the NCAA Management Council, the NCAA’s Sports Wagering Task Force, and the NCAA Championships/Sports Management Cabinet. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association. An Ohio native, Long was a two-sport athlete at Ohio Wesleyan University, earning seven varsity letters in football and baseball before completing his degree in economics in 1982. He earned his master’s degree in education at Miami University (Ohio) while serving as a graduate assistant football coach. He then moved on to football staff positions at N.C. State, Duke, Rice, and Michigan prior to joining the athletics administration at Michigan. Long’s wife, Fanny, graduated from the University of Michigan. They have two daughters, Stephanie, a PhD graduate of the University of Arkansas in cognitive neuroscience, and Christina, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.