Phil Longo is Available
- Thread starter Knight Shift
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Longo didn't work out with the Badgers but he did pretty well as North Carolina's OC, he'll find a new gig
before the 2025 season starts.
Rutgers O seems to be doing well, now with Captain Kirk making the best of his AK the last two games.
Longo wouldn't be a good replacement, but in an advisory position for the rest of season, might be a plus
before the 2025 season starts.
Rutgers O seems to be doing well, now with Captain Kirk making the best of his AK the last two games.
Longo wouldn't be a good replacement, but in an advisory position for the rest of season, might be a plus
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Yep. Fickell's only B1G wins this year are against Rutgers, Purdue and Northwestern. Rutgers is the only P5 team they have beating with a winning record. Imagine that--Rutgers is the signature win of a blue blood. We are making progress!!
Random post on X:
I've said this before. Meshing philosophically between more wide open coordinators and defensisve or OL HCs can be an issue. There can be friction/tension between how to approach things and melding the 2 isn't always seamless.
From the article:
It felt as though Fickell and Longo weren’t on the same page regarding how to approach the offense, with Fickell constantly preaching the need to lean on the offensive line more. When Longo was pressed earlier this season about obtaining better results and scoring more points, he noted: “I’m here to please coach Fickell.”
From the article:
It felt as though Fickell and Longo weren’t on the same page regarding how to approach the offense, with Fickell constantly preaching the need to lean on the offensive line more. When Longo was pressed earlier this season about obtaining better results and scoring more points, he noted: “I’m here to please coach Fickell.”
I thought that Nebraska would have fired their OC before Wisconsin fired theirs. Remember how all the media experts saying how great Nebraska was going to be? They might not even become bowl eligible.
I kind of like listening to this Nebraska fan, he is funny
I kind of like listening to this Nebraska fan, he is funny
Were those the same media experts (some on BTN) that had Rutgers as a dark horse for the CFP?
That huge Wisconsin OL that steamrolled us a few weeks ago doesn't seem to mesh with an air raid offense. Seems like a poor match.
Longo is a good OC. He is being used a scapegoat. Guy has been successful at every stop and at every level DIII to D1. He'll be okay. Fickell on the other hand better figure things out or he'll be the one they come for next.
Not Longo's fault, but never understood why Mertz transferred from Wisconsin- he said he wanted a more pass-heavy offense, and he would have gotten that under Longo. Some Wisconsin fans were glad to see him go. Obviously, the fall off from Tyler Van Dyke was pretty steep. Locke had one good game this year-against Rutgers. Would the situation be different if Van Dyke did not get injured?
Mertz entered the portal on Dec 5, 2 days before Longo was hired.
Comment Long made seemed like he had constraints placed on him by Fickell.
Did not realize Longo was a shore guy, graduated from Central Regional, 3 years after Al Leiter.
From Wikipedia:
"On December 15, 2016, it was reported that Longo was hired to be the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Mississippi.[7] Despite averaging over 500 yards of offense per game, his offense was criticized for its inability to score in the red zone and in clutch moments."
Offense takes time.
If a program is truly dedicated to change then a couple years is needed before expecting results.
New plays, new terms, new practice drills, new player skills needed (which means new players and roster turnover).
It's Iike when people say "We've have a slow running offense years thrn tried a spread offense that one random year and didn't have immediate success. Obviously it'll never work."
Suppose we wanted to go triple option next year. Would you expect immediate results?
If a program is truly dedicated to change then a couple years is needed before expecting results.
New plays, new terms, new practice drills, new player skills needed (which means new players and roster turnover).
It's Iike when people say "We've have a slow running offense years thrn tried a spread offense that one random year and didn't have immediate success. Obviously it'll never work."
Suppose we wanted to go triple option next year. Would you expect immediate results?
LOL his offense produced over 500 yds/game. Kiffin admitted that he was in charge of red zone offense after Longo left for UNC.
I don’t think he was at Ole Miss in Kiffin’s tenure.. He was there when their OL coach was promoted to HC…Matt Luke I think it was. I think the big criticism of Longo at Ole Miss was that the offense could put up numbers against weaker teams but not so much against stronger ones.
Charlie Weis Jr has been the OC for Kiffin, came with him from FAU. I think Weis is calling plays this year but Kiffin in there giving input. In the early part of his tenure Kiffin was calling plays.
This is true. Wisconsin fired Chryst when he was 41 games over .500 and was winning 72% of his games. I can't imagine Fickell having that long a leash.
Did not realize Longo played QB for 1 year at East Stroudsburg before moving over to Rowan under KC Keeler. James Franklin also played QB at East Stroudsburg. Wonder why Keeler never tried to move up from Sam Houston, unless because he felt it was stable after getting fired by Delaware. He's 65 now, so doubt he's going anywhere else.
Chryst was not fired because of his record. Paywalled article linked, but here are some snippets--too much loyalty to old friends, muffed the QB selection going with Mertz, and recruiting was bad under Chryst:
But for Chryst, what made him so admired contributed to his downfall.
“The biggest compliment you can give Paul happens to be his biggest flaw,” one parent of a Wisconsin player told The Athletic. “He is loyal to a fault. I think that makes it very hard to be callous in this business because that’s the reality of it. If that’s just what he’s doing with the families and players, how do you respond to your coaches that you’ve had forever, your friends, when things don’t go well? A person that has that great of a loyalty about them, it makes it very hard to be callous when it comes to tough decisions.”
He never fired an assistant during his time in charge.
You’re correct it was Luke who admitted when he wasn’t retained that longo shouldn’t have been forced out. Luke was the issue getting too one dimensional in the red zone.
Keeler feasted at Rowan and to a lesser extent at Sam Houston with transfers down a level. Guy was getting D1 talent at Rowan that were flushed out at D1 and academic casualties at D2. Thought he would have crushed it at Delaware.
Edit: He did crush it at Delaware. Won a national championship and went to the finals 2 more times. Interesting they haven't sniffed any kind of real success since they fired him. Delaware replaced Keller with Dave Brock who went 19-23.
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My professional experience when someone says "why does it matter" is usually the person not deserving of the credit. It's also the first person to throw another person under the bus and say " it wasn't me, wasn't my call" when there is an issue
Ahh.. I wondered why they looked like the old Wisconsin... power-running. If you've settled on power-run.. and teh coach being a defensive guy like Schiano.. why keep around an air-attack guy? Makes sense.
I would not take this as a failure by Longo.. but just a bad match with a program with such a history of running the ball. My guess is Longo will fail UP into a head coaching position of a G5.
I could see Herman pop up in Wisconsin. I think he overlapped with Fickell for a time at OSU.
Yep- Herman:
| 2012–2014 | Ohio State (OC/QB) |
|---|
Fickell:
| 2002–2003 | Ohio State (ST) |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Ohio State (LB) |
| 2005–2010 | Ohio State (co-DC/LB) |
| 2011 | Ohio State (interim HC) |
| 2012–2016 | Ohio State (co-DC/LB) |
Great co-AD's think alike!
It's OK if you call the plays though. . . . .I will never dispute that, as long as I get my couch in my office.
Chryst was a good coach. He was also very much in the running to be the next IU HC last year, as was Herman. Luckily, Cig signed on at IU and not Duke, who was also in pursuit.
Tom Allen had some bad coordinator and assistant hires after Kalen DeBoer left after ‘19 and the DC, Womack after ‘20. But he hit a home run with his last OL hire, Bob Bostad, whom Fickel didn’t retain from Chryst’s last staff. This was the only assistant Cig kept around and he’s done wonders with the IU OL, which has been a pleasant surprise.
Tom Allen had some bad coordinator and assistant hires after Kalen DeBoer left after ‘19 and the DC, Womack after ‘20. But he hit a home run with his last OL hire, Bob Bostad, whom Fickel didn’t retain from Chryst’s last staff. This was the only assistant Cig kept around and he’s done wonders with the IU OL, which has been a pleasant surprise.
I think we all have PTSD at hearing 'boy wonder' since it worked out so well last time. don't want those flashbacks!
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