The Wisconsin Badgers have recently alluded to the idea of hiring two different offensive coaches for the 2025 season and beyond.
Coach Luke Fickell recently spoke to the media about the Badgers 2024 season, the offensive coordinator search, and the future of the quarterback room after the dust from the previous season settled. Wisconsin is officially bowl-less for the first time in the entire lifespan on many of the student athletes who are currently a member of the team, leaving fans in an awkward position that was truly not expected heading into the year.
The 2025 season, however, is going to be “much different” according to Fickell who is committed to turning things around before he faces a potentially costly boot from the program. Previously, the hiring of his original staff was a highly criticized affair as many felt that not only was Fickell the wrong hire, but so were his individual hires within the program.
With a second chance at hiring an offensive coordinator following the mid season firing of Phil Longo, Fickell not only has to get the hiring right but also needs to find someone who will knock it out of the park.
However, that someone may very well be two people in the end as the Wisconsin Badgers are considering hiring a quarterbacks coach separate from the offensive coordinator. Previously, Longo had served as both but was only supposed to be the offensive coordinator when he was initially hired by Fickell and joined the program. Shortly after, quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli left the program to accept the same role with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Longo took control of the quarterback room in turn as a sort of quarterback guru himself.
The Wisconsin Badgers never hired another quarterbacks coach following the departure of Guidugli, whether it be due to faith in Longo as a quarterback developer or due to a lack of better candidates for the role.
However, moving forward the Wisconsin Badgers are considering adding a quarterbacks coach in addition to an offensive coordinator in order to properly spread out the roles of the staff.
Could Hiring a Quarterbacks Coach Benefit the Wisconsin Badgers Moving Forward?
Being a coordinator is a tall task already but being a quarterbacks coach and a coordinator in one is a difficult task to truly accomplish at a high level.
Longo had previously had success doing the same thing at North Carolina but also had the benefit of having an offensive assistant, which ultimately becomes another mind to bounce ideas off of. Along with this, there was another voice to relay information to the quarterbacks which is often a benefit for teams.
The Wisconsin Badgers are aiming to add all the help they can get and by adding two offensive coaches it could open up a better avenue for both the play and development out of the quarterback room. Having a coach working directly with the quarterbacks every day is an important part in the development of a player and this can be seen with multiple other programs such as Kansas State.
The Wildcats might not have the best record across the past few seasons, but have developed three successful quarterbacks during that time under the watchful eye of Collin Klein. The quarterbacks coach spent eight seasons in the role for the Wildcats and performed extremely well before leaving the program to become the offensive coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies this past offseason.
Klein not only understood the position extremely well as a former quarterback himself, but also had a great relationship with the quarterbacks. The coach was responsible for recruiting each quarterback on the roster and built relationships that arguably helped get the most out of his players.
Having the right coaches for the job are only part of the equation, however, as a quarterback coach separate from Longo likely would not have changed the outcome of the past two season for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Wisconsin still needs to find the right match for whatever offense they will choose, as the wrong match clearly can hurt the team in the long run as it did during the 2024 season with Braedyn Locke. The quarterback could have good years in a new offensive scheme, but simply was not built for the style of offense that Longo had attempted to develop in Madison.
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