Posted by: Chris Vannini on February 25, 2013

In his second season as the head man at San Diego State, Rocky Long and the Aztecs posted a 9-4 season in 2012 with a co-Mountain West Championship.

This comes after an 8-5 season in 2011. Long has taken what he and Brady Hoke started and turned it into a consistent winner.

Long begins his third spring practice as head coach at SDSU on Monday, with things culminating in a spring game on March 23.

In the offseason, Long received a two-year contract extension through 2017. As for the rest of the staff, the only major replacement needed was at offensive coordinator. Andy Ludwig left for Wisconsin, so in came Bob Toledo.

Toledo says he'll use a pro-style offense with plenty of play-action. He compared his offensive scheme to that of Alabama.

The Aztecs open the season against Eastern Illinois on Aug. 31. A week later, they travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State. There has been some drama about SDSU leaving for the Big East during conference realignment, but they decided to return to the Mountain West.

For a full list of spring practice start dates, click here.

Below is Rocky Long's comments from today.

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com