Notes: Luke Fickell discusses Phil Longo firing, state of offense, more

MADISON — Head coach Luke Fickell met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference, where he offered some final thoughts on the 16-13 loss to Oregon, the firing of offensive coordinator Phil Longo and where the offense goes from here.

BadgerBlitz.com has compiled the key takeaways.

Addressing the Longo departure

On Sunday evening, the program released a statement announcing that Fickell had relieved Longo of his duties. The news came less than a full day after their 16-13 loss to No. 1 Oregon, in which the offense finished with just 226 total yards.

Fickell wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room. Yet, unsurprisingly, he didn’t offer many details beyond what we learned from the initial statement.

“On Sunday, I had made a decision about what we needed to do, and then came in, obviously, had a conversation with Phil, and pretty much decided that we needed to do it now,” Fickell said.

“This is never something I ever envisioned doing or wanted to do, and especially doing it when there's still games to be played in a season, but 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.”

Replacing play-calling duties

With Longo out as coordinator, they also lost their play caller. When asked about who would take over those responsibilities, Fickell refused to immediately name a replacement.

“Why does it matter?” Fickell said. “I don't think it really is important as to who's calling. I guess it gives you the ability to point a finger at somebody.”

The only assistant coach on Wisconsin’s offensive staff with play-calling experience is receiver coach Kenny Guiton, who finished the 2023 season as Arkansas’s interim offensive coordinator. However, Fickell indicated that the responsibility could be split between multiple coaches.

“I think it's overrated in some ways. But it'll be a collaborative group, and those guys will have to work a lot together.”

Ultimately, there’s a strong chance Fickell is simply being vague in order to create a tougher week of preparation for Nebraska.

What he wants out of an offensive coordinator

Fickell was asked, generally, what he wants out of an offensive coordinator. He didn’t offer many details about his vision for the future of Wisconsin’s offense, but was adamant that he didn’t want to change much.

“Obviously, I do like what we do. I mean, it's not like we want to go back… to be in 22 personnel. We got to have varieties. We got to be able to do things moving forward. We got to be able to spread the field, but we got to continue to build upon things that we've done.

"This is a progression. Regardless of who's actually calling the plays, the progression is, how do you continue to evolve the offense, in particular, for what best fits Wisconsin? And what best fits Wisconsin is using the things that you do have, and I don't think that that means you deviate from a ton of different things that we've done. But we know that we have to continue to grow and progress and be multiple in what we're doing. And it won't change this week or next week or be that much different as we move forward.”

It seems like Fickell was dissatisfied with the general progress the offense had taken this season, culminating in a three week stretch against Penn State, Iowa and Oregon where the offense failed to generate 300 yards of offense in each game.

“I think we do understand and recognize where the strength of our program is, and that's on the offensive line, and we have to continue to build upon what that is and move them forward. That won't change, shouldn't change. And wherever I've been, I wouldn't want it to change.”

The offensive line has made substantial strides this season, and are largely responsible for any improvements the offense made. It wouldn’t surprise me if offensive line coach A.J. Blazek remained on the staff regardless of who replaces Longo.

QB coach replacement

Fickell declined to name a replacement play-caller, but did share that Guiton would now take over as the quarterbacks coach. The receiver coach was a quarterback at Ohio State from 2009-2013, when Fickell was the Buckeyes’ co-defensive coordinator.

“Kenny Guiton will be with the quarterbacks. We'll kind of lump those guys together with the quarterbacks and wide receivers. We've got some other guys who will be able to help in that way too, but it'll be a little bit more of a natural thing where those guys will be together with the quarterbacks and wide receivers, and Kenny Guiton, who obviously has played and coached some quarterbacks, is going to be a guy that's kind of around that room.”

The Braedyn Locke conundrum

Based on the change at coordinator, there was curiosity over whether Fickell would take this opportunity to also replace quarterback Braedyn Locke, who has experienced his own decline over the past three games, culminating in a 96-yard passing performance against Oregon.

Yet, when asked if Locke would remain the starter, Fickell simply replied, “Yeah. Never a doubt.

“We all have to put some pressure on different people. And, again, Braedyn had a lot on his plate. He's got to continue to grow and get better, and he knows that, and we're going to give a better opportunity to be able to do that.”

While fans are understandably anxious to get an early look at true freshman Mabrey Mettauer, it may not be the wisest decision to roll him out against two solid teams, without a true coordinator.

Defensive line rotation

The loss to Oregon featured one of the best performances we’ve seen all season from Wisconsin’s defense, in which the Badgers limited one of the best offenses in the country to just 16 points and 354 total yards.

That performance began with the work of the defensive line, who held the Ducks to 136 rushing yards on 3.4 per carry.

Fickell was asked about the general defensive line rotation, which he touched on shortly, before praising the work of freshman Dillan Johnson.

“We want to be able to play five and maybe six. Obviously, the game was the way it was. I could tell you this, that Dillan Johnson played 12 snaps… Going back at it, I probably would say I wish he played maybe 20, 25. And he is progressing and coming along.

Three defensive linemen dominated the snap count — Elijah Hills (51), Ben Barten (44) and Curt Neal (40), per Pro Football Focus — yet Fickell made it clear that he aspires for a more balanced approach to the front line.

"We need to try to balance that thing out a little bit better. So hopefully we can get Brandon Lane involved a little bit more into that rotation, and definitely rely upon Dillan a little bit more as well. But the idea is we want to be able to play six guys. We're just probably not there, just right now.”