Ithaca Head Coach Jeff Long Retires After 36 Seasons

Ithaca College men’s lacrosse head coach Jeff Long announced Thursday that he is retiring after 36 seasons.

Long is the winningest coach in program history and boasts a record of 362-182 — which ranks 11th all time across all divisions of college lacrosse.

“This has simply been an incredible journey that has lasted more than half of my life span,” Long said in a statement. “The quality of life that my family and I have experienced South Hill and in the Ithaca Community is second to none. With 31 seasons of women’s soccer and 36 seasons of men’s lacrosse under my belt, I could not ask for anything more from Ithaca College. I walk away with fond memories, forever relationships, extremely proud of being a Bomber and with no regrets.”

Long became Ithaca’s head coach in 1988 and transformed the Bombers into a top contender. His teams had 19 seasons of 10 or more wins, including a program-record 20 victories in 2016. That season, the Bombers reached the No. 1 ranking in the USILA Top 20 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Long was named the Empire 8 coach of the year six times (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2014 and 2016) and was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009. He was inducted into the Ithaca College Hall of Fame in 2010.

Ithaca won four Empire 8 championships and made 10 NCAA appearances under Long.

Before Ithaca, Long worked as an assistant coach at Virginia. Long’s first head coaching job was at Navy, his alma mater, where he worked one year with the “B” team and another season with the preparatory school unit. Long was then an assistant at Norfolk Academy for a year before moving to Alfred, where he worked as a graduate assistant.

Long was a three-time All-American at Navy and is still Navy’s career points and assists leader and played in four NCAA tournaments with the Mids. Long played on U.S. national teams in 1978 and 1986.