Paul Chryst didn’t have to look far for his new defensive coordinator.
The University of Wisconsin football team announced Thursday former defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard will assume the role after Justin Wilcox’s departure to become the head coach at the University of California, Berkeley. Wilcox was in Madison for one season.
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Leonhard will be the Badgers’ third defensive coordinator in as many seasons. In his playing career at Wisconsin, Leonhard was a two-time All-American and was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
After a 10-year NFL career, Leonhard returned to Madison to coach a secondary unit that performed well above its preseason expectations. The defense as a whole picked off 22 passes in 2016, in large part because of the secondary’s play. Former UW corner Sojourn Shelton was first-team All-Big Ten with four picks. Prior to last season, Leonhard had no coaching experience.
“Madison is home,” Leonhard told uwbadgers.com. “And I’m very excited to know that I’m going to be here and be a big part of Badger football.”
The team’s site also reported that Chryst considered defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield and Tim Tibesar for the position. When it was all said and done, however, Leonhard was the right fit, Chryst said.
“I feel really good and excited about Jimmy being the next coordinator,” Chryst said. “You don’t want it to come across that you don’t believe in Inoke and Tim. It’s quite to the contrary really.”
Leonhard will still coach the secondary on top of his new coordinator duties.
