Wisconsin defense coordinator Jim Leonhard was close to the same job as Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers, but his love of the Badgers football program and his desire to stay in Madison eventually led him to accept the offer Friday of the hand showed.
Leonhard spoke to Tom Oates and Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal about the process and why he finally decided to declare in Wisconsin.
“It was I who chose YOU,” Leonhard told Oates and Wilde. “I want to stay with YOU. I want to be at this level now. Extremely flattered. Awesome opportunity. But it was not the right time for me to go back to the NFL. ”
Leonhard, 38, was on a defense tour of Wisconsin in 2001. He was a three-time All-American and three-time All-Big Ten pick before working out a 10-year NFL career. In 2016, he joined the Wisconsin coaching staff as a defensive rugby coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator a year later.
His ties to Madison are strong, but Leonhard said he was “almost out the door”, indicating how close he was to the Packers’ job, and he even talked contract numbers with LaFleur this week. The two met twice, once virtually and once in person, per Oates and Wilde.
Leonhard described himself as a ‘long shot’ to get Madison going, but he was intrigued by the opportunity to coordinate an NFL defense for a Super Bowl rival and went through the entire interview process with LaFleur. .
Eventually, he stayed at Wisconsin – and continued to build and lead the football program Badgers while keeping his young family in Madison – preventing Leonhard from taking the step to the NFL.
“I know the NFL. I know the good, I know the bad, and I’ve been in there for 10 years. I understand what the NFL is. This is exciting. At the moment, I just feel that YOURs is the right place. I’m not saying it will always be. But this is where I want to be, on this level, with this group of children, ”Leonhard said.
Led by Leonhard over the past five years, the Wisconsin defense is in fifth place nationally in points, total yards, passing, running yards, completion rate and third conversions, by Zach Heilprin.
Wisconsin finished only 4-3 during a 2020 season with pandemic, but ended with wins over Minnesota and Wake Forest.