Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo a day after the Badgers lost to No. 1 Oregon.
The Badgers announced Sunday that head coach Luke Fickell had made a coordinator change following the Ducks’ 16-13 win. Wisconsin had less than 230 yards of offense in the loss as QB Braedyn Locke was 12-of-28 for 96 yards.
Longo had been Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator since Fickell was hired ahead of the 2023 season. No interim coordinator was announced.
“This morning, I informed Phil Longo that he will no longer serve as our offensive coordinator,” Fickell said in a statement “After continuing to evaluate the program, I decided we are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team. I appreciate Phil’s commitment to helping us build our program over the past two seasons and wish him well moving forward. This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success.”
Wisconsin’s offense has struggled in 2024 without QB Tyler Van Dyke. The Miami transfer suffered a season-ending knee injury against Alabama and Locke has been the team’s starting QB since. Wisconsin is 5-5 and the loss is the Badgers’ third straight, though two of those defeats have come to opponents ranked in the top five.
Fickell came to Wisconsin from Cincinnati and immediately moved to change the run-dominated philosophy that had defined Wisconsin football for the past two decades. That move did not go seamlessly. Wisconsin was 7-6 in 2023 and the Badgers ranked just 93rd in points per game.
After throwing it more than it ran it a season ago, the Badgers are now running the ball on more than 50% of their plays in 2024. However, the offense is averaging just 4.5 yards per play and is turning it over 1.6 times per game.
The Badgers have games against Nebraska and Minnesota remaining in 2024 to get bowl-eligible. If Wisconsin fails to win either of those games, the Badgers will miss the postseason for the first time since 2001.
Before arriving at Wisconsin, Longo was the offensive coordinator at North Carolina for four seasons and he ran the offense at Ole Miss in 2017 in 2018.
