Paul Longo's resignation from Floyd catches Long Island football community by surprise
Floyd head football coach Paul Longo turned the program from doormat to powerhouse. Credit: James Escher
The news hit hard. The announcement Wednesday night that William Floyd football coach Paul Longo had submitted his resignation after 31 years caught many by surprise.
The Shirley-Mastic Beach community, the Long Island coaching fraternity and the scores of current and former Floyd football players could hardly believe the winningest football coach in Suffolk County history was choosing to walk away from the program he developed into a Long Island powerhouse.
“Coach Longo built that Floyd program from the ground up,” Massapequa coach Kevin Shippos said.
“You can’t talk about the Long Island Class I championships without talking about William Floyd and Freeport. Those programs set the standard in Class I football on Long Island. The Floyd teams were always prepared, classy and very physical. They were old-school tough. I’m going to miss coaching against him. He taught me how to handle myself in victory and defeat.”
Even Longo said he couldn’t quite believe the reaction to his decision.
“The outpouring of support and well-wishes is overwhelming,” he said Thursday. “My phone hasn’t stopped and the text messages are endless. It’s been very emotional and I want to thank everyone who’s reached out to wish me well. Hundreds of players, administrators, teachers and coaches. I guess it’s a football life well lived.”
Longo said he received more than 440 text messages and that his phone was overloaded with voicemails within hours of his resignation.
Longo, 68, left an indelible impression on former football coach Tom Combs, who now serves as the executive director of Section XI, the governing body of all Suffolk school sports.
“It’s disappointing to have a class act like Paul Longo leave our coaching ranks,” Combs said. “Paul did things the right way his entire career. He was a wonderful role model in the coaching fraternity and a leader of young people, an educator beyond the game plan.”
Combs’ comments were echoed across Long Island and underscored the impact Longo had on and off the football field.
Combs, who coached at Patchogue-Medford from 1983-1989, saw firsthand how Longo transformed the Floyd football team. “The Colonials have come a long way since Paul started,” Combs said. “He made a dramatic difference when he took over.”
In 1995, Longo took over a Floyd team that had never won a playoff game. The Colonials had 27 winning seasons in Longo’s 31 years and made 12 appearances in the Long Island Championships, winning five times.
So how does a coach lead such a dramatic turnaround?
“From the bottom up,” Longo said. “We changed the culture from the fifth grade through high school.”
In his fourth year, the Colonials played for the Suffolk Division I title in 1998. By 2001, they were Suffolk champions.
“We worked with the young kids in the fifth and sixth grade and taught them football through games and clinics,” Longo said. “We put in the time and effort at the youngest levels to build a strong foundation. We held summer clinics for the middle school players. We played two-hand touch. We got to know the parents. We hired good people who cared about the kids beyond the playing field. It was an all-year effort to help people embrace the Floyd football program.”
The tireless efforts of Longo and his staff started to see results through the 2000s when Floyd went undefeated and ran off three straight L.I. Class I titles. The Colonials had arrived, no longer the doormat in Suffolk I but a perennial juggernaut.
“We were doing a lot of game film study, breaking down what everyone was doing from high school through college programs,” Longo said. “We were consistently learning the game, never wanting to be outprepared by opponents. It was a full commitment to the program.”
While his career at Floyd has come to an end, Longo said he might have more football in him if the right coaching opportunity opens up.
Longo finishes with a 253-67 record and a .791 winning percentage. He led the Colonials to 15 Suffolk Division I titles, the most in playoff history. He guided the team to a Suffolk County-record 42-game winning streak from 2005-08. Floyd earned the Rutgers Trophy — given to Suffolk’s most outstanding team — three times.
Beyond the list of Longo’s accomplishments, his true impact is measured in the mark he left on those who played for him.
Terrell Collum, a 2024 graduate who leaves to join the United States Marine Corps on Jan. 13, played three years on the Floyd varsity.
“I moved out here from Far Rockaway in the fourth grade,” he said. “Coach trained me and we got close over the years. He moved me from quarterback to wide receiver when he saw my potential as a playmaker. After playing for him, there’s nothing I can’t do.”
Brandon Clark graduated from Floyd in 2010 and has worked in law enforcement for the past 11 years. “Coach was my guidance counselor at William Paca Middle School,” he said. “He took me under his wing and taught me football when I came over from a Catholic school. His guidance was important in my life, and I’m proud to have played for him.”
Chris Lovelace, who graduated in 1999 and has worked as a Nassau County police officer for the past 19 years, said: “Coach Longo helped shape me at a young age and that set me on the right path in life. He is a very important part of my life, a positive influence and an amazing role model.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
