MADISON - Jim Leonhard's promotion to head coach of the Wisconsin football program was supposed to be a triumphant day for the Wisconsin native. A coronation of sorts.
Instead, sitting in front of reporters alongside athletic director Chris McIntosh and Wisconsin’s director of communications, Patrick Herb, he never flinched. For the duration of the 16-minute press conference, the serious expression on his face never changed.
The circumstances of the coaching change come with Leonhard's mentor being let go five games into a disappointing season.
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“Obviously a very emotional day for myself, for our staff, for our players,” Leonhard said. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach (Paul) Chryst and everything he’s done for this program. His family and this program mean everything to him and I think it’s my duty as a coach to get our players to rally behind and really fulfill everything he envisioned for this team, which we think is still out there.
“This man hired me without zero coaching experience and named me his coordinator a year later, so it was a very emotional day for myself.”
A year after retiring from the NFL, Chryst added Leonhard, who didn’t have any coaching experience, to his staff as a defensive backs coach. Since then, Chryst served as a mentor for Leonhard in the profession.
“Obviously very unique circumstances to get here and want to be sensitive to Coach Chryst and the conversations and the relationship we had,” he said. “He has a ton of confidence in me and he made that very clear when he hired me, and he made that very clear today in his message.”
Leonhard has turned multiple job openings, namely the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator opening, repeating that he felt comfortable in Madison.
“I’m not saying this is the place I’ll be the rest of my life, but I love this place,” he said a few weeks ago when his name came up as a candidate for the Nebraska opening. “I love what we’re doing. I like the guys and who I’m coaching with…. I’ve said it a lot of times. I love Madison. To me, there’s some unfinished business with the University of Wisconsin. I love this group of kids and I want to continue to develop them.”
That loyalty to the program is paying off with an opportunity to sit in the head coaches desk. The Wisconsin native will have his chance to guide the program.
“This place means a lot to me,” he said Sunday night. “I really felt like I grew up here. I’ve talked about this many times. I really became who I am at the University of Wisconsin and in this football program and around so many people that are still here today, so to have an opportunity to be in this position is not one I take lightly and very excited for.”
Leonhard will be handed the keys with the team reeling off a pair of program-defining losses for all the wrong reasons. An outpour of support on social media has been shown from current former players for coach Chryst. His major challenge will be to gather the group together emotionally after the news. From there, the group is looking at an uphill climb to dig itself out of a 2-3 start and 0-2 start in conference play.
“A majority of the players, a huge determining factor in coming to Wisconsin was Coach Chryst, so very shaken with the news,” he said when asked what the biggest challenge would be. “We understand that our five game resume is not what we wanted. We have not been playing to our capabilities. Even before this news there were some hard conversations that were had today between coaches, players, among the staff, on how do we get it corrected.”
It likely wasn’t a matter of if Leonhard would ever become head coach of the University of Wisconsin football program, but rather when. Very few predicted coming into the season that a change would be made any time soon, much less five weeks into the year.
Coming with a quick turn of events that saw his mentor lose his job, Leonhard now gets his shot. One he’s been waiting in the wings for all these years.
“Very mixed emotions at this point but I feel like I can take this opportunity and help this place grow,” he said. “That’s why I came back a number of years ago and that’s why I haven’t left. That’s the mission that I want to continue forward with our guys and just getting them to understand the confidence, the trust that we have in this group of men that we will get this thing in the right direction and it’s going to happen sooner than later.”
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