Teacher and coach Chris Long retires
DRAPER — More than four decades of teaching and coaching are coming to an end as Chris Long, Juan Diego Catholic High School’s athletic director, is set to retire.
Long, who was named the 2021 UHSAA Region 10 Athletic Director of the Year, has spent 43 years in education, 38 of them in local Catholic schools.
“Since 1960 my life has been governed by a nine-month school calendar, and counting the years at Bingham I’ve been an educator for 43 years. That’s long enough,” he said.
Long’s professional career started in 1978, after he graduated from Westminster College. He planned to go on to law school, and had done well on the LSAT, but one of his professors took him aside and told him, “I don’t know what kind of lawyer you’d be, but I think you would be a great teacher,” Long remembered.
The next thing he knew, he was student teaching A.P. English at Bingham High School, where he was hired that fall. The next year he became the head wrestling coach.
His move to Catholic schools came about as a result of a conversation on the sidelines of a football game at Brigham against Judge Memorial Catholic High School, when “I ran into a friend from college, Jim Markosian, who was teaching and coaching at Judge,” Long said.
Long asked if there were any openings at Judge. Markosian said there weren’t, but then “providence stepped in,” Long said. “The following week I got a call from Jim telling me that there had been a sudden opening at Judge.”
Following interviews with the Judge principal and the dean of students, Long was hired. In January of 1983 he began teaching English and coaching wrestling at the Catholic high school in Salt Lake City.
“As a classroom teacher, the 17 years at Judge were the happiest years of my career,” he said. “I had great students, and some great colleagues. I taught United States history, American and world literature – first in the old Bulldog Room and then in Gym 22, took kids to the Teton Science School, river trips with The Canyonlands Field Institute, and backpacking trips in the Uinta Mountains.”
When the Skaggs Catholic Center was built in Draper, Long decided it was time for a new challenge.
“The move to Juan Diego has no interesting backstory. I simply called Dr. [Galey] Colosimo (the principal) and said I wanted to be part of the new school, and he basically said, ‘Okay,’” Long recalled.
For 10 years Long served as the Juan Diego Catholic High School assistant principal for student services. For the last 11 years, he has been the athletic director.
“My fondest memories at Juan Diego are just being part of something new and exciting,” he said. “The first days of classes with a student body of under 200, the first uniforms, the first code of conduct, the first baccalaureate, the first graduation – it was all new, challenging and fun.”
During his career, Long earned many accolades. He is a past president of the Utah Wrestling Coaches’ Association, earned the Utah State Board of Education Outstanding Contribution to Education award, was named to “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” and was twice named Teacher Of The Year at Judge Memorial.
“My decision to leave public education so many years ago is one I have never regretted. My life and, more importantly my kids’ lives, would have turned out very differently,” Long said.
His daughter Amanda (Judge ’97), son Ian (Judge ’99), and daughter Abbie (Juan Diego ’05) are all college graduates, and “all successful teachers – Amanda at JD, Ian in North Carolina, and Abbie in Moab – in no small part due to the education they received in Catholic schools,” he said.
Long’s plans for his retirement involve lots of travel with his wife, Laney.
“However, I will be around Juan Diego to help with the transition to the new athletic director, and anything else Dr. Colosimo wants me to do – can’t just quit cold turkey,” he said.
Long will be missed at Juan Diego, said April Van der Sluys, the school’s advancement coordinator.
“His genuine care and desire to see each and every one of our students succeed at doing what they love has been a gift to our school community all these years,” she said.
Long said he will be forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Catholic education system.
“To my colleagues, both at Juan Diego and Judge Memorial, many of whom are former students, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of my career,” he said. “I remember being about 17 years old and dreaming about what I wanted my life to be, and it turned out exactly how I dreamed it would. I am one of the luckiest and most blessed people I know. A beautiful wife that I adore; three happy, successful kids; amazing grandkids and a career that had meaning. Thank you.”
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