As the ace of V.I's pitching staff, Long was briefly scouted to play Major League Baseball.
After throwing out his arm his senior year, Long decided to attend Siena College to play basketball.
Long served in the Army during Vietnam and upon return obtained the JV coaching job in 1972 at his alma mater, Siena College.
He is affectionately nicknamed "The Father of Saint Rose Basketball" and on November 15, 2008, the court at the college was named in his honor.
The school disbanded all of its athletic programs after the 2002/2003 season, one in which Long guided his team to a 19–9 record and a finish in the semi-finals of the NJCAA Division II Region III tournament.
Following his career at JCA, Long went to Christian Brothers Academy to help out with the varsity boys basketball team.
In the summer of 2006, Long was offered to go back to Saint Rose as an assistant under former player Brian Beaury.
Long accepted and became the interim head coach in December, when Beaury was forced to take a medical leave.
On December 8, 2013, the Vikings beat Corning Community College, improving their record on the season to 4-3 and giving Long his 400th career victory as a collegiate head coach.
In the 5th game of the season taking on Herkimer, who was ranked 5th in the country, the Vikings trailed by 18 at the half and rallied to lead by 2 with five minutes left before falling by 7.
Due to the team exceeding expectations, Long was selected as both Mountain Valley Conference and NJCAA Region 3 Coach of the Year.
After beginning the 2016-2017 season 1-4, the Vikings responded with a 16-4 mark over their next 20 games, including a pair of 6-game win streaks.
They went on to lose in the quarter-final round of the NJCAA Region 3 Tournament to Mohawk Valley, the nations 2nd highest ranked team.
Forward O'Nandi Brooks garnered First Team All Region and First Team All Conference selections and Long was nominated for Region and Conference Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, joining Herkimer's Matt Lee and Mohawk Valley's Matt St. Croix as the only coaches to be nominated in more than two consecutive years.
The Vikings lost to the second nationally ranked team, Mohawk Valley, in the NJCAA Region 3 Final Four to end their season at 23-8.
They earned a first round bye for the NJCAA Region 3 tournament and beat Herkimer in the quarter finals.
Trevor Green finished his career 4th all time in HVCC's scoring records and become only the 5th player to reach the 1,000 point plateau.
Despite a paltry 9-18 final record, the team went 6-2 in their last eight regular season games and clinched the 8 seed in the NJCAA Region 3 playoffs.
They hosted their opening round game against Columbia Greene Community College and won, securing a spot in the Quarterfinals.
In 1999, Long was persuaded by a friend to take the helm of an AAU team he wanted to create for his son.