Ole Miss snags Phil Longo as offensive coordinator

Ole Miss will make Sam Houston State’s Phil Longo the Rebels new offensive coordinator, a source told FOX Sports Thursday. Longo led the nation’s most prolific offense in FCS football as the OC for the 12-1 Bearkats, who averaged 547 yards per game this season.

Word is Ole Miss wasn’t looking to overhaul the Rebels offense, but were trying to get better in a few key areas -- third down efficiency, Red Zone TD efficiency and running the ball. Longo’s offense at SHSU scored touchdowns in the Red Zone at 80 percent this season -- tops in FCS football. The Bearkats were No. 12 in third down efficiency and were No. 39 in rushing yards per game and ranked No. 17 in rushing yards per carry (5.21).

The Rebels finished 5-7 this season and ranked No. 104 in Red Zone TD percentage, No. 67 in third down offense and were No. 97 in rushing. Overall, they ranked No. 45 in scoring. Just a year ago, Ole Miss had made the second in back-to-back New Year’s Six bowls and ranked No. 8 in scoring and No. 10 in total offense.

Longo is a protege of Mike Leach, but has some different key principles from the Air-Raid scheme that has spread all over college football with variations like the pass-heavy attacks at Washington State and Texas Tech to a more run-reliant offense like Dana Holgorsen has at WVU.

Longo’s shown repeatedly his system can be quite versatile. In 2015, SHSU ranked No. 9 in rushing and No. 5 in scoring while also ranked No. 14 in third down offense. In 2014, Longo’s attack led the Southland Conference in rushing and Red Zone offense and ranked among the top 25 FCS teams nationally in scoring, rushing and total offense. At his previous coaching stops, Longo groomed two Harlon Hill Trophy finalists, Nigel Barksdale at Slippery Rock and Ted Schafke at Minnesota-Duluth. When he was the OC at Southern Illinois, RB Deji Karim finished third in the Walter Payton Award balloting after rushing for 1,694 yards and 18 touchdowns.