Things simply did not work out for Phil Longo as offensive coordinator of the Wisconsin Badgers. The hope was that the veteran coach would be able to work wonders in Madison, but instead, his pass-heavy scheme ran away from Wisconsin's identity throughout program history.
Following the 16-13 loss to Oregon, a game the Badgers let slip away, Luke Fickell decided enough was enough and he announced Longo would not continue as the team's OC. It was a move that plenty of fans celebrated, but as you could have probably guessed, it was zero fun for Fickell.
While speaking to the media ahead of this weekend's showdown with Nebraska, Fickell was of course asked about letting Longo go. He was clearly pretty emotional about things, but knew it was the right time for the team to go in a different direction.
Luke Fickell said it wasn't easy to fire Wisconsin OC Phil Longo
"This is not an easy thing," Fickell said via Badgers Wire. "Obviously, you guys all understand that this is a very tough decision. It’s one of those things that’s incredibly tough not only on everybody involved, but I think first and foremost for Phil and obviously his family too. 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. Came in, obviously had a conversation with Phil. And pretty much decided that we needed to do it now."
Fickell added that he wasn't going to go too in depth about what happened here, but obviously, things just weren't working out on offense. In the loss to Iowa, Wisconsin scored just 10 points and gave up 42. Then against Oregon, the defense had them in prime position to pull off a stunner.
However, Longo's unit held the Badgers back and played a massive role in preventing Wisconsin from taking down the best team in the country. A win was there for the taking, but Wisconsin just couldn't make the necessary plays late on O.
Over the next two games, Fickell said the play-calling will be a collaborative process. Soon enough, though, he's going to have to work overtime in finding a new OC. Fickell needs to make a splash hire here, as Wisconsin needs to get back to running the ball and making opposing defenses suffer. Longo wasn't delivering there, which is why he's out of a job.