Wisconsin football makes major coaching change with 2 games left

Wisconsin has made a major coaching change with just two games remaining.

Head coach Luke Fickell announced Sunday that offensive coordinator Phil Longo has been fired.

Longo and his air raid offense arrived in Madison with plenty of hype as he promised to modernize a Badgers attack that traditionally has thrived with massive linemen and power running backs.

But that hasn’t materialized in Longo’s two seasons, which has led to many around the program questioning the change in philosophy.

Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing this season. The Badgers have scored just 13, 10 and 13 points in losses to Penn State, Iowa and Oregon, respectively.

“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.”

The Badgers (5-5) lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury on Sept. 14. Sophomore Braedyn Lock has been starting in his place and has 1,514 yards with 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Longo ends his stint at Wisconsin after 23 games. He previously spent four seasons leading a North Carolina offense that featured NFL quarterbacks like Sam Howell and Drake Maye.

He spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss prior to his time in Chapel Hill.

Wisconsin heads to Nebraska on Saturday before ending the season at home vs. Minnesota on Nov. 29.