The Badgers head coach gave insight into the decision to fire Phil Longo.
The Wisconsin Badgers made a significant move this weekend, as head coach Luke Fickell fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo after just 23 games with the program.
Longo was Fickell’s highest-profile hire back when taking the job, and he was expected to bring a vastly different system to Wisconsin with hopes of creating an explosive passing attack that could be complemented well in the run game.
Unfortunately, due to injuries and inconsistencies, that never materialized in Madison, leading to the drastic move by Fickell with two weeks left in the season.
Why did Fickell ultimately fire Longo on Sunday?
“We’ve made a change and Coach Longo will no longer be our offensive coordinator and be with us. This is not an easy thing,” Fickell said to open his weekly press conference on Monday. “Obviously, you guys all understand that this is a very tough decision and it’s even one of those things that’s incredibly tough. Not on everybody involved, but I think first and foremost for Phil and obviously his family too. So out of respect for them, I probably won’t go as deep, but just so you know, on Sunday I had made a decision to what we needed to do and then came in, obviously had a conversation with Phil and pretty much decided that we needed to do it now.”
And this is never something I ever, ever envisioned doing or wanted to do, and especially doing it when there’s still games to be played in a season, but felt like for all involved and most importantly for our program and the kids in that locker room, what we needed to do right now was to move forward. And you know, that’s, like you said, that’s not an easy thing. That’s a very difficult, that’s a very tough thing.”
It’s a unusual situation that everybody’s going to have to be able to handle and move forward. But out of respect for Phil, out of respect for his family, just want to say that I appreciate what he, what he had, did what he has done. He did what I asked him to do when he came here to bring a system, but I think it’s just at this point in time that I felt like it’s the chance we got to move forward and so we’re going to do that.”
Last year, the Badgers went through a number of coaching changes, but they all came in the offseason, with Fickell adding coaches at wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line, and safety due to coaches leaving or being moved off of.
But, this move shakes up the whole identity of the program, as the Air Raid will no longer last in Madison, although Fickell did mention that the move was made more from a leadership perspective, rather than a play-calling perspective.
“The basic gist what I told the team: it’s not about play calls, it’s not about points scored, it’s not about touchdowns. You know, it’s moving forward with leadership,” Fickell said. “And that to me [is] what we have to do and why we’re doing it right now.”
While that aspect could be true in trying to bring a boost to the program, the play-calling and results-oriented part of the equation absolutely had a hand in the change from the Badgers.
Wisconsin’s offense was facing a decline once again this year, even stemming below the final years of the Paul Chryst era, as the Badgers are averaging just 23.6 points (91st in FBS) and 360.7 yards (86th in FBS) per game.
The inability to put points on the board, especially in big situations, was crucial for the Badgers, as seen against the No. 1 Oregon Ducks, as Wisconsin had numerous chances to put that game away, but came away just short once again.
Now, the Badgers will employ a collaborative effort at offensive coordinator to end the season, and they need at least one more win to maintain their bowl streak, with the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Minnesota Golden Gophers there to end the season.