MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Badgers have their replacement for Justin Wilcox, and they didn't have to look around too far to find him. The Badgers are promoting defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard to become their new defensive coordinator, per a release from the university.
The move comes almost one year after the Badgers announced that Leonhard would join their coaching staff as the new defensive backs coach, following Daronte' Jones' departure for the NFL.
"A year ago, if you were to ask me if this was going to happen, I'd probably would have laughed at you — not knowing exactly how it was going to go and how it would work out," Leonhard told UWBadgers.com "Paul brought me in and asked me if I was interested. He thought I was ready and he thought I could handle it. I was excited about the possibility and kind of wanted to see where I was at — if I really wanted to entertain the idea.
"The longer I thought about it, the more excited I got about the possibilities and what could happen and I jumped at the opportunity."
Leonhard might have been new to the coaching ranks, but he made an immediate impact for the Badgers in his first season as an assistant coach. His secondary was a key part of a Wisconsin defense that picked off 22 passes in 2016, the second-most among Football Bowl Subdivision teams. It was Wisconsin's highest total since 2002, when Leonhard was still playing safety for the Badgers and picked off 11 of the team's 22 interceptions that year.
Leonhard came back to Wisconsin last year after wrapping up a 10-year NFL career that he carved out after catching on with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2005. Leonhard played for six different teams during his career, and played for defensive gurus like Rex Ryan and Jack Del Rio.
Leonhard told UWBadgers.com that he will keep using the 3-4 scheme that Dave Aranda brought to the Badgers in 2013, and that Justin Wilcox kept in place in his one season with the team.
"That's who we are," Leonhard told UWBadgers.com. "I love the flexibility in it. That's what I played in during my career. I see the value in starting there and building your defense out of that. I'm excited to see what as a staff we decide to clean up a little bit or change."
"Like I said, we can roll out the same thing we did last year and have a lot of success. A lot of it will look very similar to people who don't know. But I'm going to make it my own in some ways. And I'm going to make sure the players understand it and take ownership."
Leonhard was inducted to the UW Athletics Hall of Fame as a player in 2015, after he started his career with the Badgers in 2001 as a walk-on but went on to play in every game for the Badgers over the next four years before leaving as a three-time first-team All-American.
In picking Leonhard to lead Wisconsin's defense, the Badgers now have UW alumni serving as head coach (Paul Chryst), defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator (Joe Rudolph).
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.
