Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- wes.long@mtsu.edu
- Phone:
- 898-2178
Twitter: MT_CoachWesLong
The 2025-26 season marks Wes Long’s eighth season on head coach Nick McDevitt’s staff at Middle Tennessee, and fourth as the program’s Associate Head Coach.
As the team’s defensive coordinator, Long has coached Essam Mostafa to earn Conference USA Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-CUSA honors in 2025, Teafale Lenard, Jr. to the CUSA All-Defensive Team in 2023 and guided Lenard, Jr. and Chris Loofe to the CUSA All-Freshman Team in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Long’s seventh season with the Blue Raiders saw the team earn its 16th season wtih 20+ wins with the 22-12 record and a bid to host the National Invitation Tournament. In the national rankings, Middle Tennessee ranked 19th in three-point percentage defense, 30th in rebounds per game and 42nd in defensive rebounds per game. The program also ranked second in the conference and 57th in the country in blocks per game with 4.4, the highest mark since the 2021-22 season. Long was instrumental in the continued development of CUSA Newcomer of the Year Mostafa and All-Freshman Team honoree Torey Alston.
The 2023-24 season had a hot start, going undefeated on an Italian summer tour, earning two nominees to the Preseason All-CUSA team and being picked to finish at the top of the league in the conference preseason poll. The Blue Raiders won eight of their final 14 contests, including an upset of the second-seeded LA Tech Bulldogs in the CUSA Championship Quarterfinals.
During the 2022-23 season, Middle Tennessee set the season record for blocks average (4.8) and total blocks (159) en route to the CUSA Championship semifinals, falling to eventual Final Four participant Florida Atlantic. The program also set the record for the most blocks in a single game against Belmont (12/10/22) with 13 in the 85-75 overtime win.
The 2021-22 campaign also saw a new defensive program record set, with the team snatching 295 steals throughout the season. The squad also racked up the second-most blocks in program history with 158. MTSU earned a 26-11 record during the season, won the Cancun Challenge Maya Division championship, the CUSA East Division title and advanced to the finals of the 2022 CBI.
Prior to joining the Blue Raider program in 2018, Long spent one season aiding McDevitt in his final season at UNC-Asheville. In his lone season in Asheville, Long helped the Bulldogs claim 21 wins, the Big South regular season conference championship, and an automatic bid to the NIT.
Preceding the 2017-18 season at Asheville, Long spent two seasons as an assistant coach at VCU from 2015 to 2017. The Rams compiled a 51-20 record during Long’ tenure on the bench, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, a regular season Atlantic 10 championship, two A10 Tournament championship game appearances and an NCAA Tournament win over Oregon State.
At VCU, Long served as position coach for Rams point guard JeQuan Lewis and helped the Dickson, Tenn., native earn First Team All-A10 honors as a senior in 2017. Coach Long served as position coach for VCU big man Mo Alie-Cox, who finished his career as VCU’s all-time leader in field goal percentage.
Prior to his two years in Richmond, Long spent two seasons just down Interstate 24 from Murfreesboro as an assistant at Chattanooga. The Mocs totaled 40 wins in Long’s two campaigns in the Scenic City, twice finishing second in the Southern Conference and making a trip to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2014. Long helped recruit and build the Chattanooga team, which in the year following his departure to VCU, won a school-record 29 games and both the SoCon regular season and tournament titles.
Before becoming a Division I assistant, Long spent a total of nine seasons at then-Division II Queens University of Charlotte, where he served as the Royals’ head coach for the last five campaigns. He first came to Queens as a graduate assistant in 2004 and held that position for two season. In addition to cutting his teeth as a young recruiter and floor coach, Long implemented a comprehensive student-athlete academic success plan during those two years. Long was promoted to a full-time assistant and recruiting coordinator at Queens in 2006, and subsequently helped head coach Brian Good lead the Royals to back-to-back 20-win seasons and two NCAA DII Tournament berths. Long was promoted to head coach of the Queens program in June 2008.
His five-year tenure as head coach was marked by an incremental rebuilding job, culminating in back-to-back conference regular season titles in 2011 and 2012. He recruited and coached the top two scorers in program history.
The Mauldin, S.C., native played as an undergraduate at Clemson, joining the Tigers in 2000-01 as a walk-on before later moving into a role as a student-assistant.
Coach Long resides in Murfreesboro with his wife Martha. The couple has two daughters, Abigail and Emma, and three sons, Canaan, Elijah and Boaz.
