Hudson Valley Community College Director of Athletics Kristan M. Pelletier has announced the appointment of Mike Long as the new head men’s basketball coach. Long, a Siena College graduate was selected from a talented pool of candidates following a national search by the college. Pelletier states, "We have chosen an individual to lead our program whose basketball successes and accolades are prolific. Throughout these successes and his tenure of excellence, he has demonstrated his ability and commitment to instill character and values in student-athletes. The members of our men’s basketball program will be better athletes, better students and most importantly, better men after playing for Coach Long.”
He arrives at Hudson Valley after serving seven seasons as an assistant for one of the most decorated and affluent college head basketball coaches in the country in Brian Beaury at the College of Saint Rose.
"Mike Long is a great choice to take over as the next head men’s basketball coach at Hudson Valley Community College. He is a man with great values and impeccable integrity whose only flaw is he’s loyal to a fault. On the court or off the court, he has passion for what he does and wants each team member to grow as a person, a student and player”, says Beaury, who has more than 500 career victories as a head coach and is a member of the Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame and the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame. “He’s spent years coaching college basketball at a very competitive level and no doubt will have the success Hudson Valley wants for its student-athletes, both on and off the court.”
Long brings to Hudson Valley more than 40 years of coaching experience, starting with his head coaching career at Saint Rose from 1973-86, where he compiled a 164-156 record. Prior to this first head coaching appointment, Long was an assistant coach for the Ft. Sheridan Post Team and then later became the JV coach at his alma mater, Siena College, for a season.
After his tenure at Saint Rose, Long became the head coach at Sage College of Albany from 1990 to 2003. He boasted an impressive 220-143 record in his 13 years, and was named Region III, Division II Coach of the Year by the National Junior College Athletic Association following the 2001-02 season when Sage finished 27-4. Long also spent time as an assistant coach at the Junior College of Albany from 1986 to 1990 and as the assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Christian Brothers Academy, prior to his return to Saint Rose in 2006.
Long is a member of three different halls of fame, Saint Rose Hall of Fame (1992), Bishop Maginn Hall of Fame (2006) and the New York State Capital District Hall of Fame (2010). The Saint Rose basketball court is named “Mike Long Court,” as he is considered “the father of Saint Rose basketball” after developing a program there that dominated the Northeastern Athletic Conference (NAC) from 1977-84, winning five NAC titles, and posting two consecutive undefeated seasons (1978-80) in conference play.
Most recently, Long was the 2013 recipient of the Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame Sam Perkins Sportsmanship award.
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