Luke Fickell addresses who will call plays for Wisconsin: 'Why does it matter?'

Amid a three-game losing streak for the Wisconsin Badgers, second-year head coach Luke Fickell decided to make a fairly major change to his coaching staff, moving on from offensive coordinator Phil Longo.

In his press conference following the decision, Fickell was asked about who would be calling plays moving forward for Wisconsin. However, he felt that it didn’t matter and explained that it was going to be a collaborative effort for the end of the season.

“Why does it matter? Right, I mean, the offense will be run and those guys will do a lot of things collaboratively together,” Luke Fickell said. “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. Sometimes I think it’s overrated in some ways.”

Through 10 games, Wisconsin is 97th in scoring offense, averaging 23.9 points per game. The Badgers are also 91st in total offense, averaging 363.1 yards per game. During Wisconsin’s current three-game losing streak, the Badgers have failed to score more than 13 points per game. That was with now-former offensive coordinator Phil Longo calling the plays.

“But it’ll be a collaborative group and those guys will have to work a lot together,” Fickell concluded.

Luke Fickell explained the decision to move on from Phil Longo within the statement that Wisconsin put out.

“This morning, I informed Phil Longo that he will no longer serve as our offensive coordinator,” Fickell said in the announcement. “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.”

Despite the change at offensive coordinator, Luke Fickell also made sure to emphasize that there was “never a doubt” that Braedyn Locke would remain Wisconsin’s starting quarterback moving forward this season.

Wisconsin has a record of 5-5 overall and is 3-4 in Big Ten play this season. The Badgers have two games remaining, against Nebraska and Minnesota, and need at least one win to get bowl-eligible.