When then-Ole Miss coach Matt Luke heard the fourth-down play call crackle through the headset during a 2018 game against Southern Illinois, he admits his initial thought was one of skepticism. More specifically, he had a question for his offensive coordinator: Phil, what the hell, man?
Phil Longo didn’t want what Luke might consider the safe play. He wanted to go deep for the end zone at a critical juncture. So, he dialed up a call in which Rebels quarterback Jordan Ta’amu fielded a shotgun snap, faked a handoff to his running back and threw over the top of the defense to receiver A.J. Brown streaking down the field out of the slot.
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Seven seconds later, Ole Miss had a 38-yard touchdown and a second-quarter lead on the way to scoring 76 points in a blowout victory. For Luke, it served as yet another lesson in understanding the Tao of Longo.
“The biggest thing is his willingness to take shots down the field,” Luke said. “Fourth-and-1, it didn’t matter. He was very aggressive. We’d go for the jugular. That was kind of his mindset, was try to keep the pressure on and take shots down the field.”
Longo is set to bring his dynamic and exciting offensive attack to Wisconsin after being hired by new Badgers coach Luke Fickell (the program has yet to officially announce the move). Longo, a disciple of the up-tempo Air Raid system, figures to help dramatically shift Wisconsin’s approach, which has been predicated on a pro-style offense for decades.
Those who have worked with Longo say he will meld what has been successful at Wisconsin with its stout offensive linemen and strong running game while upgrading the passing attack in a major way. It could be exactly what the Badgers need to break out of an offensive funk and position the program for long-term prosperity in the Big Ten.
“Obviously from a philosophy standpoint, it’ll be different than what Wisconsin is used to,” said Jacob Peeler, who was the Ole Miss wide receivers coach when Longo coached there in 2017 and 2018. “But he’ll do a great job there.”
Longo, 54 and a native of Bayville, N.J., has traversed a winding path up the football coaching ladder. His first job came in 1996 at Parsippany Hills High School in New Jersey, where he helped turn a program that had won just 21.7 percent of its games over the previous 33 years into a playoff team for the first time.
While Longo searched for the type of offense he wanted to implement, he decided to drive 11 hours to Lexington, Ky., to hear then-Kentucky offensive coordinator Mike Leach give a talk to coaches about the Air Raid offense he developed. Longo liked what he heard, introduced himself to Leach after the event and became a frequent visitor over the years at Leach’s subsequent stops to pick his brain.
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“Phil was just a real student of the game, diligent, asked smart questions,” said Leach, now the coach at Mississippi State. “There was a good back and forth. Just kind of a good resource to bounce ideas off of or draw from.”
Everywhere Longo coached, he implemented a form of the Air Raid and found success with his offenses. At Division III William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., the offense equaled or set 27 school records. As a head coach at Division I-AA LaSalle from 2004-05, the offense ranked second in the nation and broke 19 school records. He went on to stops at Minnesota-Duluth, Southern Illinois, Youngstown State, Slippery Rock and, in 2014, took over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at FCS school Sam Houston State.
That’s when he met a quarterback named Jeremiah Briscoe, whose performances in Longo’s record-setting offense would help Briscoe become the first player in school history to win the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the FCS, and position Longo for his first FBS job. In 2016, Briscoe set the FCS record with 57 touchdown passes while throwing for a school-record 4,602 yards passing.
“Coach Longo can take a mediocre quarterback and make him great, and he can turn a great quarterback into an elite quarterback,” Briscoe said. “He can do the same thing with a skill guy because he will put you in every position to be successful. He’s not going to put you in a bad play. He’s not going to put you in a position where you don’t have an answer. The beauty of it is, he can morph his offense to fit whatever skill the team has.”
Longo’s offense at Sam Houston State featured just 26 plays, but Briscoe said that wasn’t indicative of how many variations were possible. For example, four verticals is an Air Raid staple in which four receivers run downfield on vertical routes. However, any receiver can stop his route based on how defenders in the area react. That means it could look different to the defense 10 times out of 10.
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“The receivers have freedom within a framework,” Peeler said. “They can’t just go everywhere. There are landmarks on the field that they can’t cross. So it’s not backyard football where you think about Thanksgiving and people are just running all over the place trying to get open.
“It’s as simple as this: If there’s a defender sitting right there, don’t run there. Run to the open grass. People struggle with that. It’s called chasing grass. We always say, ‘Don’t run into a headache.’ If there’s somebody there, don’t run into him. Run over there. You’re just reading grass and you’re trying to essentially run to open areas within a framework of landmarks on the field.”
Longo’s offenses, which are no-huddle and can play at various tempos, have thrived by creating favorable matchups on the perimeter, finding space and utilizing the entire field. Briscoe said Longo is a master at simplifying the game for his quarterbacks by taking some responsibility off their shoulders like identifying the front or changing protections. Quarterbacks don’t read defenders as much as they do areas.
“It doesn’t matter what the coverage is,” Briscoe said. “We have the answers for everything built in. That’s how you simplify things, that’s how you play fast, that’s how you really get on the same page. People are always hesitant to do that because they’re like, ‘Oh, what if the quarterback and the receiver aren’t on the same page?’ It’s like, ‘Well, that happens because you don’t practice it enough.'”
There likely are Wisconsin fans who wonder how this system will work considering just how heavily the Badgers have relied on their running game. Luke said Longo’s offense is not akin to what Leach runs at Mississippi State, which has passed the ball on 68.3 percent of its snaps this season. Longo, who has been the offensive coordinator at North Carolina the last four seasons, features more power and counter runs, as well as inside zone with run-pass options off that.
UNC quarterback Drake Maye finished 10th in Heisman Trophy voting this season and has thrown for 4,115 yards with 35 touchdowns. But the Tar Heels have run the ball (474 rushes) nearly as much as they have passed it (491 throws). Maye is the leading rusher with 653 yards and has scored seven touchdowns. Ole Miss had a 1,000-yard rusher at tailback in 2017. North Carolina had two 1,000-yard rushers at tailback in 2020.
“He comes from the Air Raid family, studied Mike Leach for years and years,” Peeler said. “But it’s Air Raid pass game with running the football. That’s where people get kind of misconstrued on everything. There is an aspect to the Air Raid pass game, but he wants to run the ball. If they give you a box to run the ball, he’s going to run the ball. He’s just going to take what the defense gives him and his offense has answers built in. It’s a really exciting offense. He does a great job, has always done a great job with it.”
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Finding a quarterback who can run the system at Wisconsin and building depth at the position will be paramount considering the Badgers have just two scholarship signal callers on the roster for next season: Myles Burkett and incoming freshman Cole LaCrue. The good news for Wisconsin is that Longo has shown his offenses can succeed with different types of quarterbacks. While some have been dual-threat players, Briscoe was a pocket passer who finished with minus-53 yards rushing in 2016. Leach said that Wisconsin has the right mix of players to succeed under Longo.
“You’ve got to have a quarterback,” Leach said. “There are a few positions that are harder to train than others. I think you can train a quarterback. Not everyone thinks you can do that. I think you can. But linemen are critical. Linemen are the most important position. Running backs, you’ve got the most talented skill player on the field, I figure you ought to give it to him in space and routes. I think you’ll see some of those studly running backs at Wisconsin catching the ball a wider variety of ways.”
Longo joins Wisconsin’s staff after four seasons as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at North Carolina. (Bob Donnan / USA Today)Longo met Fickell when he interviewed for the Cincinnati offensive coordinator opening in 2017 before he took the Ole Miss job. The two hit it off, which is a big reason Longo has chosen to work for him at Wisconsin. What Longo achieved at North Carolina, which included quarterback Sam Howell setting 27 school records as a three-year starter, could offer a window into the differences Wisconsin will see under him.
Since Longo arrived at UNC in 2019, the Tar Heels have ranked third in explosive play rate (runs of 12-plus yards and passes of 16-plus yards) at 16.1 percent, according to TruMedia. Wisconsin has ranked 88th at 11.7 percent during that stretch. North Carolina has ranked eighth in yards per pass attempt (8.9), while Wisconsin has ranked 81st (7.3). The Tar Heels are 10th in scoring (36.1 points), and the Badgers are 68th (28.3 points).
North Carolina has used 11 personnel — one tight end, one running back and three receivers — the third-most in the country at 86 percent. Wisconsin ranks 112th in 11 personnel usage at 40 percent. Conversely, Wisconsin has ranked fourth in 21 personnel — two running backs, one tight end and two receivers — at 21.7 percent. North Carolina ranks 124th at 0.1 percent.
And then there is the aggressiveness on fourth down Luke saw first-hand. North Carolina converted 21 of 33 fourth-down attempts this season (19th in the FBS), including 11 of 17 through the air for 159 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Wisconsin converted 5 of 13 fourth down tries (tied for 110th in the FBS) and went 1-for-9 passing on fourth down for three yards with a touchdown.
Longo’s challenge at Wisconsin is significant given how the Badgers offense has been built for so long. But those who have worked with Longo have no doubt he will find every advantage he can. Longo’s work ethic and thirst for knowledge are notorious in football circles.
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“He studies football all the time,” Leach said. “He might study football as hard as anybody I know. Just film and film and film.”
Briscoe, who transferred to Sam Houston State from UAB, said the reason he chose the school came after he met Longo on a campus visit and spent 12 consecutive hours in an offensive meeting room with him talking about life and football while drawing up plays on the board.
Longo and Peeler were hired within a month of each other at Ole Miss before the 2017 season. The two of them were paired together on the recruiting trail because they were trying to attract receivers to the program. Peeler said that after every home visit they would find the nearest Applebee’s for dinner. Longo would draw his offense on napkins, teaching Peeler his philosophy and terminology until the restaurant closed and they were asked to leave.
He’ll bring that enthusiasm to Wisconsin while attempting to convert any skeptics to the Tao of Longo.
“I know for some people that haven’t been in the system, they’re kind of like, ‘Wait, how does this work?'” Peeler said. “It works, obviously. I promise you. And it’s not as crazy as it sounds.”
(Top photo: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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