Chuck Long (QB 1981-1985)

Top 5 Key Takeaways & Most Interesting Parts

• The Unmatched Emotional Peak of 1985: Chuck Long discusses the 1985 victory over Michigan (No. 1 vs. No. 2) as the greatest on-field moment of his lifetime, even surpassing experiences in the NFL and winning a National Championship as a coach. The resulting elation and emotion from the crowd were never matched again in his 20 years of coaching or 8 years in the NFL.

• The Shocking Recruiting Call that Changed Everything: Long’s journey to Iowa started with a phone call in the middle of December 1980 from the great Bill Snyder, who was Iowa’s offensive coordinator at the time and went on to become the all-time winningest coach at Kansas State.

• Throwing Up on Hayden Fry’s Shoes (and getting benched): Long recounts his miserable first start at Nebraska, where he was getting beat 42 to nothing. When he called a timeout, a livid Coach Fry approached him, asking why he stopped the clock. Long then threw up all over Fry’s white pants and white shoes.

• The Historic Coaching Staff: Long details that his initial staff under Hayden Fry was perhaps the greatest coaching staff ever assembled, with five members going on to become Hall of Fame coaches or all-time winningest head coaches at different universities, including Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz, Barry Alvarez, Dan McCarney, and Bob Stoops.

• The Surreal Heisman Race: Long finished second to Bo Jackson in the 1985 Heisman Trophy voting. The full reality of the race only hit him when he was flying to New York. He reveals that he didn’t prepare a speech.

Podcast Summary

The Journey to Iowa

• Chuck Long grew up a “Boomer Sooner” because his family (four generations) attended the University of Oklahoma. His high school team in Wheaton, Illinois, was a running football team that focused on defense, where he ran the option as a 175-pound quarterback.

• In the 1979 state championship game, he went one for four passing for minus three yards.

• Iowa’s recruiting call came in December, late in the process, while he was playing basketball. He was offered a scholarship because Hayden Fry liked multi-sport athletes and the staff saw him as a “take a chance kid” whom they could afford to offer a scholarship, as they had already secured their top 25 recruits.

• They evaluated him by putting all of his passes (about 90 attempts for the year) on a single reel. Barry Alvarez, who was recruiting the Chicago area, recommended him to Fry.

Early Struggles and Program Building

• Long was initially overwhelmed at Iowa, finding Hayden Fry’s offense (the equivalent of today’s RPO game) ahead of its time. He confessed to his father mid-camp that he didn’t know how to read basic defenses like a “cover two”.

• His father encouraged him to trust the process, knowing about the quality of the coaching staff. Long responded by studying harder, staying up late to review 16-millimeter reels of film.

• Iowa broke a 15-year stranglehold by Michigan and Ohio State on the Big Ten title by going to the Rose Bowl during Long’s freshman year (1981).

• The program had struggled for 20 years before Fry arrived; Fry was the athletic director’s third choice for the job.

• Long said he did not feel comfortable as a Big Ten starting quarterback until after their 1982 Peach Bowl victory over Tennessee, which was Iowa’s first bowl victory since the 1950s. This win was a significant building block for the program and led to a campus buzz, drawing students to the university.

The Fry Era Success and Coaching Relationships

• Following the Peach Bowl year, Iowa beat No. 3 Ohio State. They later went 9-2 and played in the Gator Bowl.

• The 1984 Freedom Bowl victory, a 55-17 win against Texas (a team Fry wanted badly to beat), served as the springboard for the success of the 1985 Big Ten Championship team.

• Hayden Fry was like a second father to Long but always kept their relationship professionally focused on coach and player. Fry never showed favoritism, even when Long later joined the coaching staff, demanding the same level of performance and sometimes chewing him out in front of the staff.

• Long learned from Fry how to recruit, treat families, and use a personal touch. Fry always emphasized ending interactions with players on a positive note, regardless of a loss or bad practice.

Final Thoughts and Advice

• Long attended the 40-year reunion for the 1985 team, which was an emotional experience for the players, making the time feel like “yesterday”.

• Long’s advice for aspiring athletes is to have passion and desire. If an athlete has that passion, there is a place for them to play (Division I, II, or III), even if it’s not the dream school they envisioned.

• He advocates for living day by day and adopting the philosophy taught by Bill Snyder: “Be where you are,” meaning working hard wherever you are currently located, and good things will follow.