Aztecs AD: 'Phenomenal' interest in head coaching gig

SAN DIEGO -- From San Diego to Atlanta, the early consensus is that the vacant San Diego State football job is attractive despite the school's lack of success during the last decade.

"The interest in this job is phenomenal," athletic director Jeff Schemmel said Wednesday in his first public comments since Chuck Long's firing was announced on Sunday. "Actually, this is perceived as a very, very good opportunity."

Schemmel conducted a bedside interview with three reporters at Alvarado Hospital, where he was recovering from surgery on an infected hip that kept him from attending a campus news conference on Sunday. Schemmel was discharged later Wednesday.

Schemmel said the school had heard from "a lot of people" and had already done legwork toward the hiring of what will be the fourth head coach in nine seasons.

Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith also thinks it's an attractive job, although he made it clear he is not interested. Smith was on SDSU's staff for four seasons in the early 1980s. His Falcons visit the Chargers on Sunday.

Asked during a conference call with San Diego media if he felt it would be an attractive job, Smith said he didn't even realize the school was looking for a coach.

"I know that the Mountain West is a very competitive (conference), and of course, San Diego, what a great city and a great university, so I'm sure it would be," Smith said.

Schemmel said SDSU is hiring a search firm, just as it did when it hired Long three years ago.

Although Schemmel had given Long a glowing vote of confidence in mid-October, he said he decided the coach had to go as the Aztecs recorded the first 10-loss season in school history.

"My strong feeling was that we were at a place from which we could not recover with Chuck," Schemmel said.

The AD said on-field performance was the big factor in his decision. Long, the runner-up to 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson, was 9-27 in three seasons, and the Aztecs finished this year 2-10. Coincidentally, Long was informed of his firing hours before SDSU surprised UNLV 42-21 on Saturday night.

"I just felt that on the field, not only were we not making the progress, I felt like we had slipped enough that he, Chuck, probably couldn't get it back," Schemmel said.

He also said he got the sense that the players had lost confidence in Long.