MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell says he never expected to make a major staff change with the season still going on.
Fickell didn’t go into details about why he changed course and fired Phil Longo as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Fickell also remained circumspect regarding the plan for the rest of the season.
“I’ll just tell you the basic gist of what I told the team,” Fickell said. “It’s not about play calls. It’s not about points scored. It’s not about touchdowns. It’s moving forward with leadership. That’s to me what we have to do and why we’re doing it right now.”
Fickell didn’t specify who would call plays at Nebraska (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) beyond indicating it would be a collaborative process. Wisconsin (5-5, 3-4) is trying to snap a three-game skid and clinch a 23rd consecutive season of bowl eligibility.
“Why does it matter?” Fickell said. “An offense will be run and those guys will do a lot of things collaboratively together, and I don’t think it really is important as to who’s calling it. I guess it gives you the ability to point a finger at somebody, if that’s the case. It’s not one of those things I think is that important.”
Fickell did say that wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton would now work with the quarterbacks as well.
Asked whether Braedyn Locke would remain Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Fickell replied, “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’s had a lot on his plate,” Fickell said. “He’s got to continue to grow and get better, and he knows that.”
Wisconsin is ranked 91st among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams in yards per game (363.1) and is tied for 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 for its lowest scoring average since 2004.
“This is never something I ever, ever envisioned doing or wanted to do — especially doing it when there’s still games be played in a season,” Fickell said. “But I 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.”
Longo didn’t get to work with his intended starting quarterback for a full season in either of his two years at Wisconsin. Last year, Tanner Mordecai missed 3½ games with a broken hand.
The coordinator change came one day after Wisconsin fell 16-13 to top-ranked Oregon, which outscored the Badgers 10-0 in the fourth quarter.
“I had an idea that we were going in another direction,” Fickell said. “How soon and how fast we were going to do it, that was not a decision that I had completely made up my mind on, on Sunday just yet. But I felt like after visiting with Phil and things like that, that this is what we needed to do now.”
Longo’s arrival at Wisconsin garnered plenty of attention because he had an Air Raid background and figured to bring more balance to a program that traditionally has relied on running the ball.
The Badgers passed on 50.8% of their snaps last year, the first time they had attempted more passes than runs since at least 1946, which is as far back as Wisconsin’s records on the subject go. Wisconsin has run the ball 55.2% of the time this season.
Fickell was asked what he had learned in his two years at Wisconsin about what type of offense might work best here.
“I don’t think there’s anything in particular where you’d say, ‘You’ve got to do this at Wisconsin. You’ve got to do this at Nebraska. You do this if you’re at UCLA or USC,’“ Fickell said. “I think we do understand and recognize where the strength of our program is, and that’s on the offensive line. We’ve got to continue to build upon what that is moving forward. That won’t change, shouldn’t change. Wherever I’ve been, I wouldn’t want it to change.”