Phil Longo’s run at Sam Houston has gone about as badly as Wisconsin fans could have predicted.
The former Badgers offensive coordinator is 3-16 in two seasons as the Bearkats’ head coach, and this year has been especially rough. Sam Houston has just one win on the season, a victory over Nicholls State, and everything else has gone wrong. The latest stumble was a 30-24 loss to New Mexico State, but that final score flatters the Bearkats more than it reflects how the game actually went.
A box score glance might make it look like Sam Houston was right there. It wasn’t. The Bearkats spent most of the day getting outplayed, and their late touchdown made the margin look much closer than the performance deserved.
That loss lands even harder because New Mexico State came in at 2-4. It was the kind of game Sam Houston needed to have, especially with only one remaining matchup on the schedule that ESPN Analytics lists them as favored to win: a home game against Middle Tennessee.
If that plays out the way the numbers suggest, Sam Houston could finish 2-10. That’s the kind of slide that makes Longo’s future impossible to ignore.
Last season, the Bearkats finished with just two wins, and this team was expected to land in roughly the same range. Instead, they’re sitting on one win with no guarantee another is coming.
There’s even a path to things getting worse before they get better. Middle Tennessee already has four wins, and if Sam Houston can’t get that one, Longo would go from two wins to one. Some fans are already hoping the program cuts bait this season, though that seems unlikely with only six days between the New Mexico State game and the next one against Missouri State, plus travel to factor in.
For Wisconsin fans, none of this is a shock. Longo brought the same flawed approach that failed in Madison to Sam Houston, and it hasn’t worked there either. The question now is how long the Bearkats are willing to let it drag on.
As for the money, Sam Houston has not publicly disclosed Longo’s buyout in his current contract. According to Ravi Shankar of (PFSN), Longo is making $700,000 this season with a $25,000 annual raise. If he remains in place through the end of his contract in August 2029, his salary will rise to $775,000.
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Wisconsin Gets A Huge Chance Against USC At The Perfect Time
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The injury report offers USC some relief, with Elijah Paige and Hayden Treter off it heading into the matchup. Still, Mark Bowman and Jide Abasiri remain questionable, leaving a bit of uncertainty as the Trojans prepare for one of the tougher road environments on their schedule and a game that could say plenty about how real their postseason hopes are. [Read more 🡒]