Sam Houston has fired head coach Phil Longo eight games into his second season. His record with the Bearkats was 3-17, according to CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Yahoo reported that the school will use co-interim head coaches for the remainder of 2026. ESPN said the school announced the move on Wednesday. ClutchPoints, in a post carried on Yahoo, said the dismissal was confirmed Monday by The Athletic's Chris Vannini. The reporting doesn't reconcile those two days.

CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah pointed to the record and to an offense that ranked last in Conference USA as Longo's undoing. None of the reporting we have includes a statement from the school or from Longo, and it doesn't name the interim coaches.

BenchScout's data shows how bad this season has been. Sam Houston is 1-7 and 0-4 in conference play, 10th in CUSA, and has lost five straight. Its one win was a 59-0 home result over Nicholls on Sept. 19. In its other seven games it has averaged well under that. Over its last four games it scored 3, 3, 24 and 3 points. Those games were a 35-3 loss at Liberty, a 16-3 home loss to Western Kentucky, a 30-24 home loss to New Mexico State and a 24-3 defeat at Missouri State on Tuesday.

The Missouri State game was the last under Longo if the Monday date is right. If the Wednesday announcement is the operative date, it came the day after that loss. The Bearkats have allowed 28.4 points per game and scored 16.0, a differential of minus 12.4.

Our coaching records differ slightly from the reporting. They credit Longo with a 3-16 career mark: 2-10 last year and 1-7 this year. The outlets say 3-17, which would mean one more loss than our tables show. Our tables also list his 2024 season as 0-0.

Yahoo's ClutchPoints piece placed the firing in the wider 2026 carousel. It said Baylor had already opened a job by firing Dave Aranda, and that Sam Houston's opening was the second in Texas. Baylor is 4-3 and plays at UCF on Friday. Texas is 5-2 and hosts Mississippi State on Saturday.

The interim staff gets its first game at Jacksonville State on Saturday, Nov. 7.