Longo was fired Sunday, which was announced by Wisconsin around 5 p.m. The move from coach Luke Fickell either ends or shifts the experiment that Fickell started when hiring Longo, namely shoving the Badgers in a new direction on offense under an Air Raid practitioner.

Longo’s quote that now appears like the beginning of the end of his stint in Madison came as a tangent to an answer about play-calling when the offensive line is controlling the game.

“The character of the offense is taking advantage and attacking the weaknesses of the defense,” Longo said. “Do we hang our hat on certain runs and certain throws? Yeah, we have some base, foundational plays in the offense that the players would be able to tell you from the get-go. There’s four run plays and eight or 10 pass plays that we will call the fundamental foundation of the offense. But the character of the offense is us making good decisions pre-snap at quarterback and executing post-snap and taking advantage of what the defense has given us.”

Longo’s belief that his unit could make the defense wrong on any play ignores what an identity of an offense means: having plays and schemes that the offense can execute against almost any defense. Longo spoke often of his desire to have physicality, efficiency and situational awareness across his offense, but that wasn’t always present the past two seasons.

Wisconsin’s offense has struggled to achieve consistency, averaging 23.9 points and 363.1 yards per game this season, which ranks 11th and ninth, respectively, in the Big Ten. The offense has faltered in the second halves of high-profile games. Wisconsin scored seven points in the second half against Alabama and Iowa, was shut out after halftime at Southern Cal, scored three points in the second halves against Penn State and Oregon.

“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 release does not state who will call plays or coach quarterbacks the final two weeks of the regular season. A message left with Longo wasn’t immediately returned. 

Wisconsin (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) is set to play Nebraska (5-5, 2-5) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Minnesota (6-4, 4-3) to close the season.

The 2023 Badgers set a program record with 469 pass attempts but didn’t produce enough offensively before and after injuries to key players such as quarterback Tanner Mordecai and running backs Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi. Wisconsin scored 23.5 points per game in 2023, seventh in the Big Ten but the worst rate for the program since 2004. Last season’s Badgers ran for 161.2 yards per game (sixth in the Big Ten) and threw for 220.1 (fourth).

It can’t be ignored that Longo didn’t get to have his preferred quarterback on the field for half of his tenure in Madison — Mordecai broke his hand and missed about a month last year and Tyler Van Dyke tore his right ACL on the seventh play of the Alabama game in September. Wisconsin went 8-2 in games its preferred starting QB started and finished, though four of those wins were against non-Power conference programs. However, Longo being let go suggests that Fickell wasn’t pleased with Longo’s ability to adjust to backup Braedyn Locke and game plan to maximize his skills.

There were subtle rips in the fabric of the Fickell-Longo relationship that were publicly visible at points over the past two years. The pair were visibly frustrated with one another on the sideline during games last fall, especially when it came to timeout usage. Fickell also fired offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. after last season. Bicknell came to Wisconsin with Longo after the pair previously worked together at North Carolina and Mississippi.

“It was something that I kind of knew it was going to be done,” Fickell said in February, “but never had really addressed it or talked about it until after the bowl game.”

This season’s sign of rift between Longo and Fickell came during the same news conference in which Longo spoke about the character of the offense.

“I’m here to please coach Fickell,” he said, “and this staff is here to put an offense on the field that helps us win the games. You would hope that the fans enjoy winning more than anything else, and that’s the only goal that we have in preparation for each week.”

Fickell wasn’t asked about Longo’s comment for two weeks, as his only availability in that timeframe was after the Alabama game. But Fickell laughed before addressing Longo’s words.

“Us defensive guys have some vision of things that you know you want to see,” Fickell said, “but I also know that I couldn’t do a better job. And that’s the hard part: What’s too much and what’s meddling too much? I don’t try to do that. I try to say, ‘Hey, we trust you. This is what we want. This is how we go about it.’”

Fickell and Longo hadn’t worked together before Wisconsin despite having a professional relationship through coaching circles. Both entered the arrangement with high hopes, but the Badgers are now searching for a new philosophy and a new leader on offense.