MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell says he never expected to make a major staff change while the season was still underway.
Fickell did not go into details about why he changed course and fired Phil Longo as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Fickell also remained cautious about the plan for the remainder of the season.
“I’ll just tell you the gist of what I told the team,” Fickell said. “It’s not about play calling. It’s not about the points scored. It’s not about touchdowns. Things move forward with leadership. To me, that is what we need to do and why we are doing it now.”
Fickell did not specify who would call the plays at Nebraska (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten), other than to say it would be a collaborative process. Wisconsin (5-5, 3-4) is trying to snap a three-game skid and become bowl eligible for the 23rd consecutive season.
“Why does it matter?” Fickell said. “There’s going to be a foul and those guys are going to do a lot of things together, and I don’t think it’s really important who makes the decision. I think it gives you the opportunity to point the finger at someone, if that’s the case. These are not the things that are so important to me.”
Fickell did say that wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton would now also work with the quarterbacks.
When asked if Braedyn Locke would remain Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Fickell said, “Never a doubt.”
Locke has completed 55.1% of his passes for 1,514 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions since taking over for Tyler Van Dyke, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the opening series of a Sept. 14 loss to Alabama.
“Braedyn has had a lot on his plate,” Fickell said. “He has to continue to grow and get better, and he knows that.”
Wisconsin ranks 91st among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams in yards per game (363.1) and 97th in points per game (23.9). In the Badgers’ first season with Fickell as head coach and Longo as offensive coordinator last year, Wisconsin went 7-6 and scored 23.5 points per game, its lowest scoring average since 2004.
“This is never something I ever envisioned or wanted to do – especially with games still to be played in a season,” Fickell said. “But I felt like we had to move forward for everyone involved, especially our program and the kids in the locker room.”
Longo didn’t get to work a full season with his projected starting quarterback in either of his two years at Wisconsin. Last year, Tanner Mordecai missed 3½ games with a broken hand.
The coordinator change came a day after Wisconsin fell 16-13 to top-ranked Oregon, which outscored the Badgers 10-0 in the fourth quarter.
“I felt like we were going in a different direction,” Fickell said. “How fast and how quickly we were going to do it, that wasn’t a decision I was completely sure about on Sunday. But after visiting Phil and stuff like that, I felt like this is what we had to do next.
Longo’s arrival at Wisconsin drew a lot of attention because he came from an Air Raid background and thought he could bring more balance to a program that traditionally relied on running the ball.
The Badgers passed on 50.8% of their snaps last year, the first time they attempted more passes than runs since at least 1946, which goes as far back as Wisconsin’s data on the subject. Wisconsin has run the ball 55.2% of the time this season.
Fickell was asked what he learned in his two years at Wisconsin about what type of offense would work best here.
“I don’t think there’s anything specific where you would say, ‘You need to do this in Wisconsin.’ You have to do this in Nebraska. You do this if you’re at UCLA or USC,” Fickell said. “I think we understand and recognize where the strength of our program lies, and that is on the offensive line. We have to keep building on what is going on. That won’t change, shouldn’t change. Wherever I’ve been, I wouldn’t want it to change.”
