San Diego, CA -- (Sports Network) - San Diego State University announced the firing of head football coach Chuck Long on Sunday.

After being hired in December 2005, Long guided the Aztecs to a paltry 9-27 record over three seasons, including a 2-10 record in the 2008 campaign, which concluded on Saturday with a 42-21 win over UNLV.

"We thank Chuck for his service with regards to academics, citizenship and APR, where we're vastly improved in those areas under his leadership," said senior associate athletic director Don Oberhelman, who spoke on behalf of athletic director Jeff Schemmel. "Because of the inroads that coach Long has made, we are going to be a better football program in the future. We're closer to being a winner than we have been in the past. This football program is better for having Chuck Long serve as our head football coach.

The former Detroit Lions quarterback was the 16th head football coach in San Diego State history.

A consensus All-American at Iowa, Long was a four-year starter for the Hawkeyes and won two Big Ten championships. As a senior, Long won the Maxwell and Davy O'Brien Awards and was the runner-up to Bo Jackson for the Heisman.

Long played professionally for both the Lions and the Los Angeles Rams from 1986 to '94. He was then hired as secondary coach at Iowa in 1995 and three years later was anointed as the quarterbacks coach under Hayden Fry. He remained on the Iowa staff through the transition from Fry to Kirk Ferentz in 1999 before joining the Oklahoma Sooners' staff and then SDSU.