Coaching is a profession that coach Curtiss Long has been around all his life.

His father, Mike Long, coached for 40 years and served as head track and field coach for 23 years at Florida State.

His brother Terry followed in their father’s footsteps as an FSU head track and field coach, while his brother Jim served as an assistant on the Florida State staff.

While working as an assistant coach at Georgia, Long met his wife, Elizabeth, who at the time was the school’s head gymnastics coach.

“Our family has seen a lot of changes over the years in the coaching profession,” Long said.

Long’s family may have seen a lot of changes, but in his 27 years at Western, Long himself has seen just as much success.

On Jan. 1, Long officially stepped down as head track and field coach and took a position as a part-time assistant with the team, ending a coaching era that was one of the most successful in Western history.

Since taking the position in 1980, Long has accumulated 33 Sun Belt Conference titles, coached 15 all-Americans and has collected 31 conference coach of the year awards.

But from the beginning, the accolades have come with sacrifice and hard work.

Long said his life existed in “four year intervals” before coming to the Hill, including his stops at Florida State and Georgia. A job offer from John Oldham, former Western athletics director, changed that.

Bringing along his wife and an 11-month old daughter, he stepped right into the role of placing trophies in the awards case.

His first cross-country team finished sixth in the NCAA championships, and won the Sun Belt title in men’s cross-country five straight seasons from 1982 to 1987.

Awards decorate Long’s illustrious career, but those close to him say the accolades don’t define him.

Erik Jenkins, an athlete who ran under Long and assumed the head coaching position after Long stepped down, is one such person.

“The big thing about Coach Long is he is truly dedicated to his student-athletes,” Jenkins said. “He’s dedicated to the sport of track and field. And he’s dedicated to producing good people beyond track and field.”

That production may begin with his style of coaching. Long’s athletes say he is never negative.

“He doesn’t yell,” senior heptathlete Jessica Delauney said. “He never gets mad. No matter if I made a big mistake, he’d always make the worst situation a better one.”

Making the best out of something is an attribute Long has used frequently in his time at Western.

Such as the time in 1982, when Long and an assistant used a Bush Hog to carve out a cross-country course at Kereiakes Park, which now hosts the Old Timers Classic every season.

In 1985, when one of his coaches left to return to high school coaching, he took over as the lone coach on the staff until 1991, producing four all-Americans and a 1991 NCAA individual national champion in Sean Dollman.

One of those all-Americans, Breeda Dennehy-Willis, said Long’s caring approach made athletes want to perform at their highest level.

“He never really pushed me,” she said. “But it was almost as if you ran hard for him because you felt sort of obligated to do it because he gave you his best, and you wanted to reciprocate that in the same way.”

Long’s work has not gone unnoticed. The Sun Belt Conference selected Long as coach of its 30th anniversary team last year.

Another place Long’s athletes say he wants them to excel is in the classroom, and his past sets a perfect example. Long earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, as well as his doctorate in the field, all from Florida State.

“Coach Long is academics first, athletics second,” senior sprinter Heather Hammond said. “He’s wants us to get the best out of life.”

Long is stepping down in a stage of sweet transition for the program. The track and field teams are currently preparing to move into a new facility across from their old track at Smith Stadium. Long calls the new facility “one of the best in the nation.”

But Long said he will still remain on the staff for one reason.

“These guys,” he said as he pointed to a group of Western runners. “And it’s a great staff. This is the fun part of coaching. The ability to come out to practice and to go to meets – this is what keeps us going.”

Reach David Harten at sports@chherald.com.