Report: Former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo lands FBS head coaching job

Wisconsin’s former offensive coordinator has a new job. An FBS head coaching job:

Sam Houston State is hiring former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo as its next head coach, according to Texas football’s Mike Craven.

Longo previously served as the Bearkats’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2014-16. His success there helped him land the coordinator position at Ole Miss (2017-18), which later led him to Luke Fickell’s staff at Wisconsin.

The Badgers fired the veteran offensive coordinator in mid-November after the team’s narrow 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon. His unit ranked 91st in the nation in total offense (363.1 yards per game) and 98th in scoring offense (23.9 points) through the first 12 weeks of the season. Those marks followed disappointing 2023 production — No. 71 in total offense (381.2 yards) and No. 93 in scoring offense (23.5 points).

Longo’s air raid system was a poor fit with the program. While injuries to the team’s two starting quarterbacks (Tanner Mordecai and Tyler Van Dyke) hurt the unit’s chances, it was never able to reach the high expectations set upon his hire. Its struggles were only magnified by his scheme’s departure from Wisconsin’s classic approach. Several convergent factors led to the in-season change.

Longo now returns to a Sam Houston State program that moved to the Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2023, joining Conference USA. The Bearkats went 3-9 in 2023 before a breakout 9-3 campaign in 2024. Head coach K.C. Keeler took the job at Temple after the 2024 regular season, creating the vacancy.

Longo is reportedly set to fill that void. It will be his first head coaching stint since he went 7-14 in two years at La Salle (2004-05).

Wisconsin, meanwhile, hired Kansas’ Jeff Grimes to replace Longo at offensive coordinator. The veteran coordinator is set to return the Badgers to an older pro-style approach, one that better fits the program’s traditional model of success.

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