Two former Wisconsin Badgers assistants are linking back up at Sam Houston, and this time Phil Longo is the one making the call.
Longo, now in his second season as the Bearkats’ head coach, has hired Jack Bicknell Jr. to coach the offensive line, bringing together a familiar partner from their days on Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin staff. The two first worked side by side in 2022 at North Carolina under Mack Brown, where the Tar Heels went 9-5 before both coaches moved on to Wisconsin.
Their paths split after that run, but only temporarily. Longo and Bicknell were part of the staff Fickell assembled in Madison, then went separate ways for the 2025 season. Now they’ll be back in the same building for 2026.
For Longo, the move adds another familiar face to a program he already knows well. He spent a season and a half with the Badgers from 2023 to 2024 before being relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator in the middle of his second year. He didn’t stay out of work long, finding another role quickly.
Longo’s coaching résumé has mostly been built around offense, especially as a coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He did have a brief run as a head coach at the FCS level with La Salle in 2004 and 2005, when the Explorers went 7-14 before the program eventually dissolved in 2007.
Sam Houston is betting on that experience, even with the long gap since Longo last held a head coaching job. The Bearkats also have history on their side: Longo previously served as their offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016.
Bicknell arrives with a wide-ranging background that stretches across the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC and NFL. He most recently coached at West Virginia, where the Mountaineers moved on from him after the season and later made additional staff changes.
His lone year with the Mountaineers came with some rough numbers attached. West Virginia quarterbacks were sacked 31 times, and the team’s leading rusher finished with just 335 yards. Before that, Bicknell spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Wisconsin, where the Badgers later hired AJ Blazek.
Bicknell’s time in Madison produced mixed results, but Longo is clearly leaning on the familiarity and the track record that brought them together in the first place.
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