‘Inside UVA’: Ryan Talks Sports, and Podcasting, With Chris Long

Chris Long, University of Virginia alumnus and former professional football player: You know, one of the Super Bowls we were at the Mall of America in Minnesota. It was 0 degrees outside. What do you do? You’ve been inside all week. The only place I’ve been is Benihana’s. Half the team is sick. Everybody’s hooked up to IV bags. You’re just like, “Get me to the biggest day of my life.”

Jim Ryan, host: Hi, everyone. I’m Jim Ryan, president of the University of Virginia and I like to welcome you back to the final episode of the third season of “Inside UVA.” This podcast is a chance for me to speak with some of the amazing people at the University and to learn more about what they do and who they are. My hope is that listeners will ultimately have a better understanding of the University and a deeper appreciation of the remarkably talented and dedicated people who make UVA the institution it is. 

I’m thrilled to be joined today by UVA alum Chris Long. Chris was a star player on the UVA football team, earning All-American honors and serving as captain. He went on to the NFL, where he played for 11 years on three teams, and won back-to-back Super Bowl championships for two different teams. Chris was recognized in 2018 as a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, and his jersey number 91 has retired from the Virginia Cavaliers’ football program. 

Since his retirement from the NFL, Chris has led a busy life as a father, husband, media analyst, philanthropist and podcast host. Through the Chris Long Foundation, he has advanced initiatives to provide clean drinking water, and promote education, equity and access for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Chris is also the host of the “Green Light” podcast, where he shares insightful NFL analysis and engages in entertaining conversations with a wide range of guests. I would highly recommend that you check it out. 

But today, I’m thrilled to welcome Chris here onto this podcast, “Inside UVA.” Chris, thanks for being here. 

Long: President Ryan, how you doing? 

Ryan: I’m doing OK. I have to say, I’m a little bit nervous for a couple of reasons. First, I often turn into a fanboy when I’m around elite athletes. And second, you host a really excellent podcast, which is something to which I aspire. Now, I can’t ask you for tips about how to be a great football player, given that I am already a great football player. But I would like to ask you your advice about how to host a terrific podcast. What makes a podcast sing?

Long: I think it’s about making it as normal as possible. I really do. I think it’s about like, if you and I were sitting down at – I don’t know, pick a Charlottesville landmark. And we were getting a cup of coffee or a beer. How would we talk? You know, and that’s kind of the way I think it took me some time because in the beginning, I think you have a voice that you try to project that’s like more media-savvy. You have analysis and you’re trying to get it across in a certain way. But what we do is, as a goal at “Green Light,” is we want sports fans to feel like they’re sitting on the couch with us, you know. You’re mixing in analysis, but you’re also trying to have these really relatable conversations about what it’s like to consume sports. Yeah. 

And the thing that hopefully separates us is we happen to be – some people might call us experts, because we played. But it also takes a lot of work on the back end for me to keep up with the game. I think that’s something for me that’s made this job really rewarding, because I need to work. I’m that type of person. So if you pair the preparation, which is very regimented, and can be very tedious, with a flowing natural conversation. That’s the hard thing, because if you practice something a lot, it’s not. You kind of overdo it sometimes. And it took me some time to settle into like, “Hey, we’re just shooting the breeze, you know,” and that’s my goal. And, and I think better than who the guest is, is like who the guest is to you. You’re interested in the guests and the guests is interested in you, and there’s synergy, that’s going to come across. Like I just had Aaron Donald on yesterday, and this is not a plug, but I will say like, how does he be the best football player of all time, my opinion and his position. It also helps that I knew him when he was 21 years old. If he was unknown to me, and we had never spent time in a locker room, and I was just interviewing him, that’d be a great interview. But the thing that I think separates it is the fact that we know each other. So it’s that familiarity and casual nature of a conversation.

Ryan: You have a partner on your podcast. Right? And does that help?

Long: I have a few guys you know. Macon, who went to UVA, I grew up with and he sells real estate here, locally. He’s a great real estate agent. He’s mine. 

Ryan: He’s a very funny guy.

Long: He is. You can’t tell him that, his head fit through the door. It’s a yin and yang. I think you want to have somebody in the room that can make you uncomfortable sometimes even if they’re your good friend. You want somebody to push back. You want somebody smart. What we came to the conclusion on, after the better part of three years doing the podcast in varying arrangements, but largely me and him was like, “Hey, if we’re going to be doing two shows a week in the offseason that are two hours long, and we’re gonna be doing three shows a week in the football season, we need more help, more talent, we need more people.” For me, I didn’t get into it to make it like, hey, the Chris Long Show, I wanted it to be Chris Long and friends. You know, I think that allows me to be in a place where I’m really comfortable in myself. And that comes across better. Now we’ve added Nate Collins, who I used to play with at UVA. My brother works with us; Bo Allen, who I played with in the league; as well as a number of guys that pitch in behind the camera, and I want their personalities to be a part of it too, because that’s my favorite thing to listen to is when you got a big group of guys or, you know, like athletes that are talking about their sport. It encourages a casual, kind of, I like cross talk. I like the conversation, you know what I mean? 

Ryan: I agree with you, I totally do. So, do you have any particularly memorable interviews that you’ve done over the years and any particular ones that went really poorly?

Long: I’ll start with the moments where I was petrified. I had Matthew McConaughey on and you know, you’re nervous anyways – that’s like, the coolest dude ever. You know, he just talks cool. He walks cool. 

Ryan: I get really nervous around cool people. 

Long: We do. Yeah. Yeah, I do. And especially like people from different vocations that, like I, you know, it’s kind of a projection, but I’m like, I don’t really get their life and they don’t get mine, and they’re not gonna get me. 

But what you find out when you talk to people is there’s commonality, and it’s finding those common threads. Well, before I could get to find in the common threads, I was tasked with reading his book, which was called “Green Lights.” Now our pod is called “Green Light.” So I gave him a pass on that. But when he got on, I said – because I’m a big like, I can’t shorten your name, Jim. It’s just Jim, right? I’m a big shorten-your-name guy. It’s like a sports thing. Like, “Hey, Matt, thanks so much for joining this whole thing. And great. Happy to be here.” Twenty seconds later, we’re about to flip it on. And he goes, “Hey, and Chris, one more thing.” He goes, “It’s Matthew.” He goes, “I don’t know if you read the whole chapter about my mom likes me called Matthew, not Matt.” And I was like, and it was like, “OK, ready, go.” And I’m like, hey, that’s akin to throwing a pick six on the first drive. 

But teams can come back from that. And I thought it was a great interview. Just to his credit, that’s just the kind of guy he is. I mean, he’s just, he takes the air out of the situation by cutting to the chase. I think it led to a great conversation. I don’t think it was that offended at all. But in my mind, I was like, am I screwed here? Yeah, I’ve had those moments where I’ve asked the wrong question, or I’ve said the wrong thing. And honestly, like, every day, I’m on the mic, I kind of dread hearing myself talk. If you have that, that problem. Nobody likes their own voice. So every day can be a bit of a struggle. But then you get these really rewarding interviews, in sports and out of sports.

I’ve had – Paul Nicklen remains one of my favorite interviews we’ve done. He’s a biologist and a photographer for National Geographic. If you’ve seen any of these coffee table books with, you know, giant elephant seals or orcas or anything in the ice, the snow grizzly bears up in Alaska, Kodiak bears, the whole thing. This guy’s the guy taking the pictures. Yeah, he’s diving with narwhals and, and all types of dangerous stuff. And just to hear him talk about that. I mean, it was so interesting. He lives such a romantic lifestyle. You know, it’s like he’s drinking coffee next to a, you know, a 500-pound bear in the Yukon. And like, he’s fishing for giant salmon, and he’s in the cloud forest in Washington, hunting that like – you ever see that white bear in the Olympic National Park up in Seattle. He’s the guy who tracks that thing down. He had to stay in the woods for like, you know, weeks to find this thing. So having somebody on like that, that’s kind of like, “Man, it’d be cool to live like that.” And for an hour and a half, you are living like that. Then you can go back to your normal boring life. So somebody liked that, killer. 

And then, I’ve loved having you know, like I had Aaron on yesterday. When you have a teammate on that you’ve shared, you know, the ups and the downs with, somebody like Aaron, who I watched come into league as a kid. And now he’s the greatest of all time at what he did and watching him walk around with his family on Zoom getting ready to set up for the interview. Like we both got emotional during the interview, because sports are so deep, you know, they bring people together and anytime there’s a former teammate, I think for me is one of my favorites, because for the listener, you really get a window into the camaraderie and they can see that it’s more than just sports for the people.

Ryan: Yeah, well, you went through something incredibly intense together.

Long: Exactly. And you know, I don’t think you realize that until you get out of it. Honestly, it’s like, I look back at it now, and I say “how?” You know, whether I’m looking back at collegiate athletics and that’s one of the reasons I’m so, I admire those college athletes so much is like, you have to be rare, you have to be rare from a mental fortitude standpoint, obviously, you have to be gifted, but you have to work well as a team, you have to go through certain things, you have to stand up to public scrutiny. But more than anything in football, just running into each other for the better part of 11 years. For me, when I watch the game now, I’m like, “How did you do that?” And we did it with each other. And that was, you know, if you didn’t have your teammates, it would have been impossible. So to be able to share some experiences with these guys post-football, in the media space, or just as guests, it’s, it’s always a lot of fun. 

Ryan: I bet. So let’s talk a little bit about football. You grew up in a football family, obviously. At what age did you start thinking, “OK, this is something I want to do.”

Long: 20? 21?

Ryan: Weren’t you already doing it?

Long: Yeah. No, so like, as far as, like, professionally, not when I was a kid. I had like, typical aspirations of “I’d love to play pro sports.” You know, it’s like when I asked my son, now, he wants to be Stephen Curry. And he wants to be –

Ryan: Me, too, by the way.

Long: I’m like, “Buddy, you better get out in the driveway.” But, you know, you have your little kid aspirations, and then coming from a sports family and coming from a family where professional athletics was real, it’s less of a fairy tale.

Ryan: Yeah. All right. 

Long: You know, I see the – I see my dad coming home beat, you know, just beat up physically, 13 surgeries, like, coming home late at night just wiped. Now, I only saw that for the better part of eight years. You know, that was he got out when I was 8. And that was one of the reasons I waited to have kids – my wife and I, Meg, waited a long time to have kids because I wanted to be present for that, you know, for that whole thing. My dad would tell you, it’s really hard to be present and be a pro athlete, because you are completely enthralled with this thing. You know.

Ryan: It’s all-consuming, right? 

Long: It’s consumed you. So I think that’s the hard part is finding the balance and being a whole person while you’re an athlete. And so, yeah, I mean, that’s what this conversation’s about. That’s what doing the podcast is about, is, like, figuring out who you are outside of football. And so I don’t remember what the initial question was, Jim.

Ryan: It was when, when you when you began thinking about playing football? I’m curious, too. Yeah, you grew up here in Charlottesville. You went to high school here. Was there any question about whether you would attend UVA? Or was that a really easy choice?

Long: So like to go back, when I was a junior or sophomore in high school, I was playing four sports. You know, like, I took one year baseball and one year lacrosse, but I was basketball, football. I was not thinking like, “Hey, I’m gonna go play college football.” Just as I wasn’t thinking like, “I’m gonna go play pro football.” Like, you know, again, I was like, “I’d rather not do that.” You know, my parents certainly were like, “I’d rather not have my kid do that.” 

I can remember that. He told me the first time that they sent me out for football. I went about football when I was like 11 or 12. I still think that’s kind of early. And they did too. They were nervous about it. They didn’t want me to play because of my dad’s background. And they had a conversation after I went to bed. It was related to me and it went something like, “What do we do? We don’t want him to play. Do we tell him not to play, we don’t want to be like some forbidden fruit. Let’s send him out there. He’s not very tough. He’s gonna get his nose bloodied, and he’s not gonna come back.” That might have been true at 12. But one thing that I was hard-working, committed and just didn’t quit. And you know, I think like, that was my dad’s message to me is like, “Whatever you do, you’re going to do it. 1,000%,” which is not a real number. But you know, whether it’s you’re going to be a doctor, you’re going to be the most committed, most hard-working doctor in America. If you’re going to be a football player, you’re going to do it. If you’re going to be a drama major. You got to be out there acting your ass off. You know, like it’s bring your passion, bring your hard hat. That just really was what I loved about sports in high school – and it was baseball for me until about junior year. And junior year I started getting these letters in the mail from Cal, from Brown. I was taken on a couple of unofficial visits to UVA, so I get to go see and I said, “You know what, I might be OK at this.” I think part of having a dad in the Hall of Fame is you don’t think you’re a big deal. Right? You know, because at the dinner table, that’s a big deal. So I never bought my own BS and I never was like, “I’m gonna be great.” I kind of had to be talked into it like, “No, you’re good.” 

And so I took the opportunity. The minute it was given to me, Al Groh was the head football coach. He had my coach John Blake and I over to his office, and they had one of those Super Bowl trophies up there, which now I got some replicas of my own. But I remember the first time I ever looked at it, it was like this shiny object. To me, it was, it was an identifier of his experience. I said, “You know what, in this recruiting process, I could be wooed and wowed by a lot of a lot of extracurricular stuff, you know, like, what the facilities like, you know, yada yada yada, how many games we’ve won. But I just wanted to, I wanted to learn what Al knew. Because I thought, “OK, if I’m going to do this, whether I’m going pro or not, I want to learn from somebody who’s been there.” He offered me and three days later, I think I took the offer. It was my first offer. 

I took a couple unofficial visits. I did not like the architecture in Blacksburg; I thought it was hideous. It looked like I was going to like, you know, like military boot camp. So I stayed out of Blacksburg – no offense to my friends in Blacksburg. 

Ryan: I’m not commenting at all. 

Long: Hokie stones, not my thing. And then I went down to UNC and I really liked UNC. I liked Florida State, didn’t think I was good enough. So Virginia was the sweet spot for me. I was really glad I made the decision. 

When did I know as a pro? Probably the spring game of my sophomore year. I thought I just – we went to the Biltmore for you know, the Friday night – we had spring game – sorry, Coach Groh – the next day. And we’re out there. And I probably had about six sacks. And at this point, I was a young guy. I was, like, following the upperclassmen around. And I just after the game, people were like, wow. It took me a minute, I went back and watched the film, and I was like, “This guy’s pretty good!” I just kept working, man. 

Junior year, they asked me, you know, I had a first-round grade, I could have come out. I could have probably gotten drafted in the bottom of the first round. Some people were kind of counseling me to do that. But I wanted to come back and finish what I started. My teammates were really important to me. We had some really strong bonds and came back and I’m really glad we did. We won a lot of games, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world and my draft stock improved. So it just kind of all came together. 

Ryan: So you have been part of successful teams, including two Super Bowl championship teams, one with New England, and then the very next year with Philadelphia, who beat New England. I’m wondering, am I the only one who’s noticed that you were obviously the difference-maker, given the results? 

Long: Well, I want to give credit to LeGarrette Blount as well; he was, and this is all tongue-in-cheek, because there’s obviously there’s damn good players on that team. But you know, I do think generally, when they made that decision, you know, to go with some veterans in Philly, whether it was me LeGarrette Blount, Patrick Robinson, a whole host of guys, Torrey Smith, who happens to be a Terp, we put that to the side. But I am proud of what that veteran crop of guys brought to that team. I think for me, and LeGarrette, it was it was one, scary as hell of the lineup against your old team because of the – I left, you know, on my own volition, like I was like, you know, most people think when you leave New England, something’s wrong with you. But I wanted to leave because of a scheme fit. It was that simple for me. It wasn’t really any big secret. But when you get into that game, it’s like the last thing you want to do is lose your old team and sit there and think what might have been. But LeGarrette and I got to go in this wonderful ride where we leave New England and we do the impossible. We came out of nowhere to be in that game, let alone win. I really do think having some of the veteran leadership that Joe Douglas and Howie Roseman brought in. Not to take anything away from the young guys, and the best guys on the team like the Fletcher Coxes of the world. But I think it really helps to have some guys from other teams with other experiences and guys with some championship experience – which can be overrated – come in and sprinkle a little bit of that into the into the pot, too. 

Ryan: What do you think makes for a successful team? I mean, what do you need to bring every day, every week? How does it finally come together?

Long: I think, No. 1, the organizational vision has to be intentional and clear. There can’t be, you know, we make it up as we go along. There’s certain things that we’re adaptive on, you know, day-to-day schedule, making curveballs, things like that. But if I ask a GM, you know, what’s the vision of this organization – or an owner, and they have to be in lockstep – what’s the vision of the organization, there has to be an elevator pitch. You know, you’ve got to be able to concretely convey like where you want to go. And then you have to be bold enough to follow that vision, because a lot of people have visions, but they don’t enforce that vision or that standard, right? You see it all the time in the business world, probably in the classroom, and administratively, like, you have to have a vision, and you have to have the stones to stick to it. Because a lot of people, they want to take the easy way out, which would be, “Hey, somebody’s not living up to this standard, it’s one of our best players. Do we take the day off?” And communicating that – clear communication, clear communication is huge. 

You know, everyone has to be OK with being criticized. And know that it comes from a place of love and trust. So like, if you’re on the same page, and you love your coach, you trust your coach, your teammate, then I can say that the harshest thing in the world, just like that. Yeah, right in this voice. And that’s how we communicated. Yeah. And I think great teams have that ability to not only follow that vision, but when somebody’s not living up to that vision, all it takes this. Just a conversation. Too many people, too many people are afraid of what they think is confrontation. It’s not confrontation. 

Ryan: It’s just being honest.

Long: We’re an organization, you know; we’re not individuals. Put yourself – you’re always going to be an individual, you’re always going to want to do well, that’s healthy, it’s healthy to have an ego. But you have to ultimately submit to being a part of the team. The best teams I was on, there was a healthy level of that. And clear hierarchy. Who are the, so to speak, “alphas” on the team? Who are the guys that are supposed to do this? Who are the guys that are supposed to do that? Are you doing your job? Do you love your particular job? The way to sell that job as being something you can love as an organization is results. 

So that’s why the best organizations, it’s like a snowball effect, like the Patriots with Tom Brady, for a long time, right? We have the results. So you didn’t come here, it’s gonna be somebody else coming here getting around. Whereas if you’re an organization that’s in shambles, it’s harder to enforce that standard, because people are like, what’s in it for me? We’re not even gonna – why would I sacrifice if you guys aren’t doing the right thing? So there’s a few things. It’s kind of the perfect storm. But I think more than anything, you got to know who you are, you have to have proof in the pudding, and you have to communicate clearly and have hierarchy.

Ryan: So I want to ask you about playing in the Super Bowl and how crazy it is. It’s become this huge extravaganza; it’s part football game, part concert, part parade. What was that experience like? And in particular, I’ve always wondered, the halftime is like, three hours long. How do you deal with that?

Long: It’s crazy. I mean, you think it’s crazy as a consumer, it’s crazy as a –

Ryan: I bet.

Long: I mean, like, I can remember playing in my first Super Bowl in Houston for the Patriots. I can remember getting to our team hotel, and usually you get to your team hotel, especially if you’re a man in your 30s with multiple kids or what have you, like you’ve been working your butt off all week. You can’t wait to plop on the bed when the team bus gets the Hyatt and just lay there for an hour. Like I would sit in the hotel and be too lazy to change the channel. You know that Mario Lopez “Extra Extra” thing that comes on if you’re get into a hotel room and it just gets stuck on the TV. I’d sit there on the bed and forget it was on. I was so exhausted. But that was my quiet time when I got in whatever city it was. We’re very routine-oriented. And that’s the big challenge of the Super Bowl, is when you get in that hotel, there’s no respite. You get up to your room. You might have two hours before your first team meeting, and you might just want to lay there. 

But I can remember vividly in Houston feeling like I was in a fishbowl. You could hear everyone out on the street. You could hear helicopters, you could hear autograph-seekers down in the lobby. The city is like buzzing wherever you go. I can remember even the day of the game, trying to go get tickets to deliver to my family. Everybody’s got tickets they can deliver to their family members and they distribute those like the morning of the game. You had to wade through a crowd of people to get to another hotel; just totally throws your routine off. There’s a party Friday night that the owner has of all people that you’re supposed to go to. and I’m like. “I want to watch film. I want to go to bed.” 

You know one of the Super Bowls. We were at the Mall of America and Minnesota it was 0 degrees outside. What do you do? You’ve been inside all week. The only place I’ve been is Benihana’s. Half the team is sick. Everybody’s hooked up to IV bags. Just like. “Get me to the biggest day of my life.” You know, waiting for a wedding. Praying it doesn’t rain, and there’s nothing you can do about it all week. You’re watching the forecast. That’s what just trying to get through that week is, don’t let me roll my ankle in practice. Don’t let this distraction pop up. Don’t you know I need my sleep. My phone keeps ringing, people are asking me for things. It’s just the longest week as an athlete who’s very routine-oriented. That’s what football players are.

Ryan: And do you have to practice –

Long: And the halftime’s an hour long. 

Ryan: Yeah, and do you have to practice. I mean, do you do anything to prepare for that?

Long: For the halftime? Absolutely, yeah, we would, generally when you get into halftime, you have a minute or two where it’s like, hey, go get some water. If you need an IV, get an IV. Generally get an IV. There’s a scramble, like kind of people are in their lockers. And then eventually, the coaches come in with a whiteboard, and you have both sides of locker room divide, and you talk about some schematic things. 

A Super Bowl halftime, I could hear Lady Gaga, like, boom, boom, the bass and stuff. So one, you’re trying to stay focused, and two it’s very long, and so you’ll have to go through these like weeks in advance, you will try to simulate, they’ll do mock halftimes. You’ll have a calisthenic warmup that’s extended, a stretching routine, things like that, to keep you mentally and physically in it. So when you go back out, you’re not sleepwalking, because football more than any sport takes a lot of like – you know I’ve got to psych myself up to run into this person; it’s crazy. If you take an hour off, and you come out flat, that first drive can be the difference in the game. So it’s a huge, huge deal.

Ryan: Let me switch to college sports for a second. I’m curious what you think about the state of college athletics, and in particular, the name, image and likeness business.

Long: I listen, I am like, I’m an American, I live in America, we value a free market. People that provide some service for society, whether it’s entertainment, or what have you, like they generally get, you know, compensated for their slice of the pie. So I have never been against athletes getting theirs. 

I used to, you know, I used to think about athletics in the context of academia and think, “Well, there’s probably a lot of people that think it’s kind of a sideshow, it’s not really school, it’s, you know, you’re getting certain guys in on scholarship.” Now you’ve got people transferring in, the portal was kind of messy. What do we make of it? You know, like the core of a university is about the university experience, it’s about the classroom and that sort of thing. And I think sports really enrich the college experience. So whatever the landscape is, because these people do generate a lot of revenue for universities, wherever that landscape takes us in the context of a free market, I’m OK with, even if it’s messy in the beginning. Even if it feels like the Wild West. Because this is the natural progression. If an 18-year-old kid who’s on scholarship, which is no doubt about it, some form of compensation and exactly going out there and playing football in front of 60,000 people and raking in TV deal money for you know, networks and universities and bowl games and things like that. I understand the scholarships part of that. But I also think that we should let the market decide what these kids are worth. That’s the way it is in the real world. 

And so I’m totally OK with the direction it’s going, even if it’s messy. And as a fan, like I had my – Listen, I’m not saying it’s perfect. I there’s times where I’m like, “What are we doing?” Like, I’m scratching my head. The portal is crazy. It’s hard to keep track of. And for coaches, it’s really hard. But I would also say this: for a long time coaches could go where they wanted to go, they were making the most – they were kings on a lot of these college campuses where they’re like, they’re like emperors, so I’m not very empathetic to their plight and having to recruit and re-recruit like, you know, it’s the rest of the world now has it good, too. 

And so, I look at the NCAA Tournament, Jim. N.C. State would be a perfect example. That team is all transfers, right?

Ryan: Right. 

Long: And I don’t think anybody really noticed. You know, I think there was a certain like, what’s going to happen to the pageantry? What’s going to happen to the feeling that college sports gives us if these guys are like mercenaries, if they’re hired help? 

What you found, I think, in a lot of these scenarios is those N.C. State kids have been in Raleigh for the better part of a year, but they’re in love with the place.

Ryan: I know, right? You can tell.

Long: You know, they’re talking about 1983. There, they’re spending time at that big bell tower they’ve got. They’re mixing it up with the students, they’re wearing red, they – as a fan, I didn’t notice they were all transfers. And it felt like a very N.C. State run. It has felt like a very positive and heartfelt thing that the whole community is going through. And I don’t think it matters that these guys were at Arizona State last year, whatever. This stuff is going to work itself out. 

Now eventually, I think you could see a super conference. Eventually, you could see a collective bargaining agreement, because eventually that’s where it goes. And then universities have to decide how that fits into the ethos of being a school. Right?

Ryan: Right. Exactly.

Long: I think that’s hard. I don’t know what you think about it. But it’s I – my principle comes first. And the principle for me is, if you create something, you should be able to share in it.

Ryan: Yeah, you should share in the value. Yeah, I agree with you. It’s also just hard at this point to figure out what this is going to look like when the dust settles. It’s just an incredibly volatile time in college athletics.

Long: It’s scary for some schools. Yeah. I mean, no question like, there’s going to be at some point a big change, and there’s going to be some Mendoza line for schools that are going to be able to join the party or not. Unfortunately, if it’s a money issue, you can go to some of these schools’ alumni bases, and be like, “Hey, we need more money.” But you know, like, is that fair to have the alumni pumping out millions of dollars at some small basketball school just to be able to stay afloat? 

I’m no expert. I do think it’s going to be messy at some point. But I think like anything, it’s like in the NFL, we freak out about rule changes every year, they’re talking about a hip drop to drop tackle, they’re going to change a kickoff return. There are rules and ways we do things in sports and in college athletics, too, that at every turn of the road make us nervous, because there is change. But I do believe that we love college sports, and we love athletics in general enough to figure it out.

Ryan: Yeah. So that’s – it’s so interesting, you say that. That’s what I keep telling myself. There are enough people out there who care a lot about college sports, not just football and basketball, but the whole range of sports. And there are a lot of people who would like to see leagues that are competitive. And if you put those two things together, it’s a big incentive to figure it out. I think you’re right, that it’s going to be, it’s going to get more messy over the next few years. But I’m optimistic that this will be figured out.

Long: I am, too, and listen, UVA is a really attractive place. So I think people are always going to want to transfer here and always going to want to be on Grounds and wear the uniform. We’ve got great coaches, we have great Olympic sports, beautiful facilities, and a wonderful place, right?  I think we’re going to be fine. Yeah. There’s enough smart people around here to figure it out. Right? And just to echo our sentiments from moment ago, like, as far as UVA is concerned, I think we’re going to figure it out.

Ryan: I do. I do, too. So do you have time to talk a little bit about your foundation? 

Long: Absolutely. 

Ryan: OK, great. So I know that part of it is focused on bringing clean and accessible water to East Africa. I’m wondering: when and why did that become your focus?

Long: Nothing’s on accident, but – in my life sometimes. It was maybe my sixth or seventh year in the league. I was in the prime of my career, having a great time. But I kind of felt like I was, I was head down, you know, not really doing much else. I don’t mean philanthropically. We’d always kind of been philanthropic, quietly. Yeah. Like my parents, philanthropic people, you know, my dad in the context of him growing up with not a lot, you know, being a Boys and Girls Club kid, right? Seeing what the club did for him, like, my foray into philanthropy was watching my mom and dad work. You know, my mom has been huge in the club scene. “Club scene” – the Boys and Girls Club. Yeah, no, there’s no club scene in Charlottesville.

Ryan: Not that I’ve discovered.

Long: I haven’t found one. Although I love Durty Nellies. But, yeah no, like my mom was, was integral at the Boys and Girls Club here locally, and I just kind of watched her work. You know, you don’t do it to be like them, but it’s just you’re like, that’s, that’s what people do when they’re lucky and they’re given a lot. Yeah. 

So I wanted to do something with what I’ve been given, but also more than anything, I wanted to travel, and hadn’t been out of the country a lot. I’ve only been to London to play football and I barely remember that one because the Patriots beat us 44-7, I’ve been told – blacked that one out. So I had just signed a big deal. I was playing with St. Louis. The coach that had signed me to the deal was Jeff Fisher. And most people listeners probably know Jeff Fisher is the guy with the mustache who used to coach the Titans. He’s a fantastic guy, but he had me in his office the first day. As he’s kind of showing me something in his office, I catch a picture on his desk of him climbing up this snowy mountain with a couple of people and they don’t have crampons, but they’re they’ve got their trekking poles and stuff. I’m like, “Coach, you’re like a mountaineer, where did you go?” Like, he’s like, “Oh, that’s Kilimanjaro. I went over there with Wounded Warriors. And we brought some amputees up to the top. Teddy Brewski and myself did it” – Brewski, linebacker for the Patriots back in the day – “and we had a blast.” And I said, “Man, you know, I love being outside.” And I love trekking and climbing. I said, “I’d love to do that.” And he said, “Hey, man, one day when you retire, that will be a lot of fun.” And I was like, “I’d like to do it this offseason, coach, the contract’s already signed, right? There’s nothing you can put into my contract about climbing a mountain.” So he was like, “You’re crazy. But I can’t stop you.” 

And I brought one of my teammates, James Hall, who’s kind of like a big brother to me over there, we climbed Kilimanjaro, had a blast, really kicked our butts going up that mountain. And when we got down, we were in the hotel bar having a beer, and it only takes one when you get off that mountain, and that altitude. And I hear somebody walk into the bar and say my name, or not my name. They’re saying, “Chris,” and I’m like, “I’m in Tanzania, there’s probably another Chris, no question.” I kind of recognize the voice. I look behind me. It’s Joe Buck. And you know, Joe Buck from baseball and football and everything. The announcer. 

Joe Buck is not only a St. Louis guy, but he worked with my dad. So I knew him a little bit growing up. He was one of the first people that showed me the ropes in St. Louis, where you want to live this whole when I was 22, 23 years old. And I said, “What are you doing here?” And after the dust settled, I figured out he was there in a water project. And he was there, you know, with the goodwill ambassador to Tanzania. And they were like, come on out with us tomorrow, we’re gonna go see a project. I looked at my flight, I wasn’t going to be able to make it. At the time. I wasn’t hooked the way I was a month later. At the time, I was like, this sounds amazing. I have been very appreciative of my time here. When I go someplace. I like to be very thankful for being hosted. You know, like, on the mountain with the, you know, the porters at home at the hotel walking around in the market. I got to see so much of Tanzanian life. But I also noticed a lot of hardships. Naturally, if you travel, you get to notice things that are different, different standards of living. 

Ryan: Absolutely. 

Long: And this was my first time, really. And so I was blown away by that. Having that conversation about water on the way out the door kind of planted a seed. I was trying to start a foundation, because I guess what hit me was like, “Hey, you’re seven here. If I tear my ACL next year, and I’m out of the league, like I’ve done some good things with my platform, but I’ve also left a lot of engagement on the table, not, you know, starting a foundation.” 

And so I’m very pragmatic, research water – the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was going on, if you remember that. I remember thinking, “We are so lucky, like not only is this the best thing in the world for this cause, because they’ve seen returns that are like 20-fold in fundraising from this mechanism on social media, which tells me there is an opportunity to engage people on social media, especially as an athlete. But also we got a lot of water that we’re just able to, and we were lucky, we just put it on here.” And I watched what it was like in Tanzania for the better part of two weeks. And I was blown away. 

So I came home and just started brainstorming. And I thought, you know, hey, pragmatically, if you want to make a difference in the world, and I want to give back to a place that gave me a really wonderful experience, let me start brainstorming a way that we can provide clean water in some of the regions that I just spent time. I don’t want to do a one-off; I don’t want to do one well. I don’t want to do a hand pump. I want to make a dent. 

And the more I talked to Doug, who was a goodwill ambassador to Tanzania and other players, I realized that there could be an appetite for it in sport. So we started the Water Boys. Initially I had a vision for you know, every team would fund a well each year I was like, hey, we do turkey drives, we did toy drives; we’re talking about water, like people can’t survive without it. But that’s when I realized it’s very outside the box. You know, it’s a very outside-the-box concept for American people. Especially we’re talking about – I believe this is before Flint, this before any major infrastructure issues that we’ve had with clean water that kind of woke people up to what’s going on globally. 

It was a hard sell at first, but you know, we started putting in these large solar-powered wells, which can provide water to up to 5,000 to 7,000 people, a lot of times less, but we’ve had villages of 6-, 7,000 people that benefit from the, you know, the implementation of a solution. So large solar-powered wells, not hand pumps; there are a ton of inoperable pumps and wells around the world. I’m not saying the people didn’t have altruistic reasons for doing those wells, a lot of good people invested in infrastructure and walked away and didn’t know three months later that the pump’s not working anymore. So for us, it was like providing a solution, but also one that’s sustainable. It was solar for us. These are really big projects, that can help a lot of people. And we started off with the goal of 32 wells for 32 teams. We shattered that. 

One of the years we won the Super Bowl, I can remember it was the week of the Super Bowl, we met our goal. And then we moved to the people-served goal; we wanted to provide a million people with the gift of clean water. And we’re halfway there. We’re halfway there. 

We’ve expanded into Kenya a little bit. We worked domestically as well. You know, a lot of people say, “Hey, what about here?” Which is a – it’s a fair question, right? Because I don’t know what your motivation for asking that question is generally, but there is a there is a conversation to be had about, you know, over a million people in the United States don’t have clean water, right?. So if that’s going to hook people into the cause at large, great we’re going to work on us, too. It’s a huge problem in sub-Saharan Africa; it’s huge from all over the world. 

When we implement solutions, it not only stops mortality in the age range of 1 to 5 from skyrocketing, because of waterborne illness – diarrhea can kill a young kid in East Africa. It also improves agriculture. It improves infrastructure. It improves the lives of women and girls, because women and girls are the ones who bear the brunt of gathering water, being away from school, being out of the community. I think with all the strong women in Tanzania, and around the world, if you think about all the women, that could be drivers, that could be that could be leaders in their communities, because we need everybody. Some of the strongest leaders in the world are women leaders, and we don’t, in Tanzania, those women are walking seven miles in a day. They’re not spending any time in community talking some sense into us men. You know, like leading the charge and their corner of the community, like helping raise their family, going to work, the women and girls or the girls are not in school. Kids are missing school. Everything improves when you implement a clean water solution. And we found that for sure. So that’s Water Boys. I mean, and we just keep trucking with that. 

But we also have the educational equity stuff. I think that ties in really nicely, because sometimes you’ll actually do a project at a school. We’ll do like filtration system here in the United States or we’ll do a big well. I’ll never forget, we went to do a – Jim, we went to do a project in Tanzania, and we’ll bring over veterans and athletes to climb Kilimanjaro every year. It’s not our biggest fundraiser, but it’s for me it’s really important, because it’s why I went over there, right? So I’m giving people the same introduction into the culture and the experience. And on the way down, before we go look at projects, and we’ll look at projects we’ve done and projects that are to be done. And the projects that are to be done, it is tangible, the lack of hope, the disarray that some of these communities are in. Although the people are incredibly stoic, and brave and positive, like just so thankful, like they don’t complain over things we complain over. But they need help. They don’t need like a charitable help in the way I’m looking at. They just need empowerment. Yeah, right. I want to help and get out of the way. And hey, part of it is like the empowerment of this resource; we are training people in the village to be able to distribute the water equitably, to have an important role in the community. We have Tanzanian nationals working with our implementation partners so that when we’re here, it’s not lip service, something breaks down, you can go fix it. I think having people in-country that feel like, it’s not just a handout. It’s like, hey this is a gift you do with it what you want. And you empower your community and you empower yourself through this gift and you take it the rest of the way. We’re doing the easy thing. You guys are going to do the hard work, but you can’t. You cannot wake up every day and wonder where your next glass of water is coming from.

Ryan: No, I mean, so much flows from that, right, so to speak, but it’s so fundamental.

Long: It’s so fundamental. And so just having that hope in a community that we’ve actually affected will take the vets over to a community that before and after, the after, you can see it. You can just feel it and we’ve gone to school where 400 primary school kids are attending this school. There’s a ravine 200 yards outside the school. You go down in the creek, and this is outside of Arusha in Tanzania, and there a creek that runs through the school. It’s got gasoline film on it and trash running through the creek. The kids are scooping their water that they drink every day thoughtlessly out of this creek. Insane. 

I’ll never forget, one of my Marine buddies, Eliot Ruiz, who’s been all over the world. One of the reasons we have men and women that have served doing this stuff is because they’ve seen things like this; they have a service-oriented mindset. It’s what they do. I’ll never forget, he broke down crying watching this thing. And he’s seen, he’s seen the world. It just never ceases to amaze me the strength that some of these folks have that are going through it. I’d like to not have to pat them on the back for being so damn tough and strong. You know, I want you to be able to wake up, like, I wake up in the morning and say, hey, I’ll turn my tap on. You know, if my kid’s thirsty, I don’t have to second guess it or scoop water out of a watering hole that animals are defecating in. You know, if there’s a pandemic, and you’re worried about washing your hands on Navajo nation, and you don’t even have running water, like, how do you expect people to survive, to thrive? You know.

Ryan: Do you think your time at UVA helped prepare you for life after football? 

Long: Yes, absolutely. Because I think and I don’t mean this … You’re not exalted as a football player at Virginia. You know what I mean? You’re expected to be a member of that community. You know, like, you’re not, it’s not the rest of the community and football. You know, we’re not the only show in town. Basketball has got a big, beautiful arena. All the Olympic sports are awesome. It’s a truly academic undertaking. You don’t come here to play football and then, eh, go to a little school. School is really hard here. And the people, they push you to be better, whether you realize it or not, some of the stresses that are introduced to your life because of the time management, because of the expectation, and because of the lack of being exalted, I think like in thinking, “Hey, I’m the man.” It prepares you for life after football because that’s what life’s like. 

You know, I’m just Dad now. I’m just the guy who runs a business. I think being a Virginia football player can be humbling, in a really good way. You know, we can play in the Orange Bowl, we can play in the ACC championship, we can upset FSU and people rushing the field, like we did in ‘06, or whatever it is. I can get drafted. But I’ll always be a football player and the rest of it, you know what I mean? You’re not going to be able to hide and just be a football player. Which is something that served me well whether I realized intentionally or not when I made the decision.

Ryan: So last question. Obviously, you are now back in Charlottesville, you’ve made it your home. I’m curious what brought you back and what keeps you here? 

Long: The club scene.

Ryan: I thought you’re going to say the incredibly charismatic president of the University –

Long: The president! Nah, you know what? Listen, I needed space. You know, I like being able to walk outside and have a yard. Listen, working out in Philly would have been great, staying in Philly, you know, I lived in St. Louis for a long time, loved it. But this is a really special place as far as like, just walk outside, man. This time of year. You can’t beat it. I’ll wait all winter for something like this and now and just the magic in the air here. You know this being outside, getting to be able to go to Humpback Rocks or Spy Rock or Crabtree Falls or hit the James River. I like to be outside and I like to be around my friends. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. 

I said this on the pod the other day and people some people might take this the wrong way, but I don’t mean it that way. Everybody thinks Charlottesville is the best city in the world that lives in Charlottesville. When I was in St. Louis, everybody thought St. Louis is the best city in the world. In Philly, they all think Philly is the best city in the world.

Ryan: Yeah, but we’re right. 

Long: But we’re right. You know what makes this place great for me, growing up here, is the people. I can’t divorce myself from that reality of growing up here and having five to seven high school friends, that I’m still close friends with that, you know, we’ll go camping on the weekends, we’ll be watching the Final Four. We’ll go to Durty Nellie’s, we’ll go to a Virginia game, we’ll be at a baseball game, we’ll be at a football game. There’s so many awesome things to take your kids to do because of the University. And I think the size of the place is perfect. I mean, shoot, if it got any bigger, I would I’d just be in traffic all day. 

But I think what makes it attractive to me as a place to call home is it’s always been home. You know, I can’t speak to somebody who’s moved here at 31 years old. I’ve heard from people, man, when they move here, it’s such an awesome place and when I have people come in and visit … But for me, it’s about the people. I think that’s what it comes down to is community. I think we’ve got a strong community here and I love being a part of it. I just do and I’m a creature of habit. I like being near my friends and doing the same thing. Kind of boring. You can call me boring, but that’s why home’s home.

Ryan: Well, I know the feeling. It’s what brought my wife Katie and me back, honestly. Chris, thank you very much. It’s been a great conversation. I really enjoyed it. And I really admire what you’re doing with your foundation.

Long: Thank you. I appreciate it. 

Ryan: It’s important and it’s very tangible and you can’t do much else if you don’t have clean water.

Long: Hey, everybody’s got a cause and they’re all different. Everybody’s just got to do something, right? Hope everybody else is doing their part and you do the best you can.

Aaryan Balu, co-producer of “Inside UVA”: This episode of “Inside UVA” was originally recorded on the week of April 1, 2024. 

“Inside UVA” is a production of WTJU 91.1 FM and the Office of the President at the University of Virginia. “Inside UVA” is produced by Jaden Evans Aaryan Balu, Mary Garner and Matt Weber. Special thanks to Maria Jones and McGregor McCance. 

Our music is “Turning to You” from Blue Dot sessions. 

You can listen and subscribe to “Inside UVA” on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back soon with another conversation about the life of the University.