Raised in Wheaton, Illinois, Chuck Long attended Wheaton North High School and played football, basketball, and baseball. He led his team to the 1979 state title in football as the starting quarterback and was named to the all-state championship squad. Long also gathered all-state honors in 1980.
Still, Long was not heavily recruited out of high school, as Long averaged only five to six pass attempts per game. As a result, he did not receive his first recruiting call until Thanksgiving of his senior year. Just three schools looked into offering him a scholarship: Northern Illinois, Northwestern, and Iowa. Long eventually accepted a scholarship to play at Iowa for future Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry.
Chuck Long redshirted for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 1981. However, the redshirting rule was new, so Long was able to take a couple of snaps during his redshirt season. The rule has since been changed; now, a player cannot participate in a single play during his redshirt season. While Long played very sparingly in 1981, he did run a couple of plays at the very end of the 1982 Rose Bowl.
Before the 1982 season, Hayden Fry said that Long was "destined for greatness", which was a bold statement considering that Long was so lightly recruited out of high school. Chuck Long started in the first game of the 1982 season, but he was benched for a game after a loss to Nebraska. He was reinserted as a starter in the third game of the 1982 season and led Iowa to a win over Arizona. Long never lost his starting spot again while at Iowa.
Long threw for 1,374 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman. It was the third most passing yardage in a single season ever at Iowa, behind Gary Snook and Larry Lawrence. His 64.2 completion percentage was a school record. Iowa had a 7–4 record before defeating Tennessee in the 1982 Peach Bowl. Long was the offensive player of the game after completing 19 of 26 passes for a career high 304 yards.
As a sophomore in 1983, Chuck Long passed for a school record 345 yards in a 42–35 win at Penn State. It is still the most points ever scored against Penn State in Happy Valley as Nebraska's 1983 Turner Gill led 44-6 victory over Penn State was at the Meadowlands in the Kickoff Classic. A few weeks later, he completed just 12 of 27 passes in a loss to Illinois; it would be the only time in his college career as a starter that he failed to complete at least half of his passes. The following week against Northwestern, Long broke his own school record for passing yards and helped Iowa set a new conference record with 713 yards of total offense. He accounted for 398 yards of total offense, also a school record. By the end of his sophomore year, Chuck Long owned Iowa's school records for yards passing in a season and a career, touchdown passes in a season and a career, and total offense in a season and a career. He led Iowa to a 9–2 record in 1983 and a berth in the Gator Bowl after being named first team all-Big Ten.
Chuck Long was again an all-Big Ten selection as a junior in 1984, as he finished first in the Big Ten in passing efficiency. Long completed 22 consecutive passes against Indiana, setting an NCAA record. He also finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a junior. Iowa had a 7-4-1 record after the 1984 regular season and accepted an invitation to the Freedom Bowl against Texas.
A windy, rainy day did not slow Long in what some felt might be his final college game. Iowa destroyed Texas, 55–17, the second most points ever scored against Texas and the most in 80 years. Long broke a 24–17 game at halftime wide open by completing 12 of 14 passes for 241 yards and four touchdowns in the third quarter alone. For the game, Chuck Long was easily the offensive MVP as he completed a school record 29 passes in 39 attempts for a bowl record 461 yards and a bowl record 6 touchdowns.
After much consideration, Chuck Long delighted Iowa Hawkeye fans by declaring that he would return for his senior season. He became an instant Heisman Trophy candidate, and Iowa was a preseason top five team. After three weeks in 1985, the Hawkeyes ascended to #1 in the national rankings.
In Iowa's first game at #1, the Hawkeyes played Michigan State. A seesaw game had Michigan State leading, 31-28, in the waning minutes. Long drove Iowa the length of the field, and the Hawkeyes faced fourth and goal from the two yard line with just 27 seconds remaining. Since college football had no overtime rule at the time, Iowa needed to go for the touchdown and the win rather than attempt a tie. Chuck Long faked a handoff to running back Ronnie Harmon and then ran to his right. His fake had fooled the Spartan defenders, and Long ran into the endzone, holding the ball high above his head as he crossed the goal line to give Iowa a 35-31 victory. He completed a school record 30 passes on 39 attempts for 380 yards and scored five touchdowns (four passing and the game winning score rushing) in the game.
Two weeks later, #1 Iowa faced #2 Michigan in Kinnick Stadium. Iowa trailed 10-9 as the Hawkeyes regained possession of the football at their own 22 yard line with just 5:27 remaining in the game. Long led Iowa on a 66 yard drive against the nation's top ranked defense, twice converting third-and-eight situations by completing passes to tight end Mike Flagg. Long drove the Iowa team to the 12 yard line with two seconds remaining to set up kicker Rob Houghtlin's game winning field goal as time expired. Chuck Long completed 26 of 39 passes for 297 yards in Iowa's 12-10 win.
A loss to Ohio State cost Iowa their #1 ranking, but the Hawkeyes still won the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 27 years. Chuck Long won many major national awards as a senior, including the 1985 Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American. Finally, Chuck Long was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy to Bo Jackson of Auburn in the second closest race in the award's history, losing by just 45 points.
Though Iowa lost in Chuck Long's final game in the 1986 Rose Bowl, the loophole with the redshirting rule allowed Long to play in his fifth bowl game. He is believed to be the only collegiate player to participate in five bowl games.
Long's Iowa teams compiled a 35-13-1 record. He graduated with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions. He held every passing record at the University of Iowa except one (passes attempted in a game) when he graduated. Long holds the best completion percentage of any college quarterback all-time who has attempted more than 1,000 career passes. He was also the first Big Ten player and just the second player in college football history to throw for more than 10,000 yards in a career. Chuck Long was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Chuck Long transitioned to a career as a football coach. He returned to his alma mater in 1995, serving as Iowa's defensive backs coach. Long switched to coaching Iowa's quarterbacks and special teams in 1998. After the 1998 season, Iowa coach Hayden Fry retired, and though Long was considered for the job, Fry was ultimately succeeded by Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz retained Long from Fry's staff, and Long served Ferentz in the same capacity for the 1999 season. After five seasons coaching at Iowa, Long left the Hawkeyes to become the quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Long were teammates on Iowa's 1982 Rose Bowl team. Long was an assistant on the Oklahoma team that claimed the 2000 Bowl Championship Series national title. He coached quarterback Josh Heupel to a second place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year. After the 2001 season, Long was promoted to Oklahoma's offensive coordinator position. After the 2005 season, Long landed his first head coaching position when he was hired as the 16th head football coach at San Diego State University. Long had a record of 9–27 in three seasons as SDSU's head coach. On November 23, 2008, college president Stephen Weber announced that Athletic Director Jeff Schemmel had dismissed Long prior to the end of the season. Chuck Long is currently the offensive coordinator for the Kansas Jayhawks. Long became part of the coaching staff under head coach Turner Gill after the departure of Mark Mangino, Long's former co-worker at Oklahoma.
Long and his wife, Lisa have three daughters; Lindsay, Samantha, and Maddy, and two sons; Nathan and Zachary.
Taken from Wikipedia