Turning Down the Packers, Jim Leonhard Focuses on Big Ten Title Goals

MADISON, Wis. – Jim Leonhard’s football career has a storybook feel to it.

An undersized college walk-on safety from a little town in Wisconsin, Leonhard parlayed that into three All-American honors, a handful of school and conference records, a lucrative decade-long run in the NFL and the defensive coordinator position at his Alma Mater.

However, the one piece of the story that has eluded Leonhard has been a Big Ten championship. It’s a title that continues to drive him and was part of the reason why he decided to return for a sixth season coaching at Wisconsin instead of making the jump to the NFL.

“We have the highest goals here,” Leonhard told reporters Wednesday. “I came here wanting to win a national championship. I came here wanting to win the Big Ten as a player. Nothing’s changed as a coach. We haven’t done that since I’ve been back. The goals haven’t changed. I feel like we have a group that can accomplish that.”

Having a defense finish in the top five nationally three times in his first four seasons, Leonhard’s rumored attachment to other jobs hit a high note this offseason when he was a finalist for the Packers defensive coordinator position. The job was open after the Packers didn’t renew the contract of Mike Pettine, a coach Leonhard played under and used a style like what Leonhard was using with the Badgers.

“It’s a huge opportunity, very humbled to be in the conversation for that position,” Leonhard said of the Packers job, which he turned down and ultimately went to Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach/linebacker coach Joe Barry. “It’s an organization, obviously being from the state, I know a lot about and have a tremendous amount of respect for the way that organization operates. They are right on the fringe of a Super Bowl and have been for a while now. Definitely a difficult decision to have to make.”

The pursuit of a conference title for Leonhard has fallen agonizingly short four times. Beginning his college career with two eighth-place finishes and another in seventh, Leonhard helped Wisconsin start 9-0 during his 2004 senior year. The Badgers rose to No.4 in the polls by mid-November, but the Badgers lost their final two Big Ten games and fell to Georgia in the Outback Bowl to finish 9-3.

UW has advanced to three Big Ten championship games since Leonhard joined the staff, losing in 2016 to Penn State and to Ohio State in 2017 and 2019. The loss to the Nittany Lions cost UW a spot in the Rose Bowl while the 2017 loss to the Buckeyes knocked an undefeated Wisconsin out of the college football playoffs.

The Badgers were picked to repeat in the West Division last season but finished 4-3 overall in a COVID-marred season and 3-3 in the Big Ten for a third-place divisional finish.

“We have to play good football, much better football than we played last year,” Leonhard said. “That’s the challenge every day. Whether it’s spring ball, winter conditioning or transitioning into the season this fall, that is the goal. There is no ulterior motive. These players, we ask them to push themselves individually and push the team. Become leaders and help develop on and off the field.

“That is my job as a coach. We haven’t reached the ceiling. We still have got a long way to go, and I want to challenge (the players) to make that happen.”

Since Leonhard has been on staff, Wisconsin’s defense ranks second in scoring, third in total defense, fourth in rushing defense and fifth in passing defense in the FBS. Having also overseen the secondary, Leonhard’s defense is second in pass efficiency defense, opponent completion percentage and third-down conversions over the same period.

Entering 2021, Wisconsin returns eight starters on defense from a unit that ranked fifth in total defense (299.9 yards per game) and tied for ninth in scoring defense (17.4 points per game) among FBS teams last season.

The hiring of Hank Poteat as cornerback coach will remove some day-to-day responsibilities off Leonhard’s plate, allowing him to spend a closer focus on a safety group that lists just seven players for spring practices.

“It’s such a different position from communication and awareness,” Leonhard said. “Safeties are generally leading the communication with multiple levels of the defense. There’s a lot of nuance. You are talking disguise and what you are presenting to the quarterback. A lot of different coaching points that don’t always apply to the corners. Then you have to snap into all the technical work.

“I think both groups are going to benefit with the attention, the focus, having another set of eyes on the pass game … In every way, it’s going to help the DB group with the structure that we have.”

The news of Leonhard remaining with the program brought a ton of positive reaction from his players on social media, an outpouring that Leonhard said was “an honor” that the group trusts him to be the coach to evaluate them to “the highest level.”

While his name will certainly be attached to future coaching opportunities, Leonhard is keeping the focus helping his players reach that elusive hardware.

“I think a lot of people have ideas of what my career is going to be and what they want it to be,” Leonhard said. “The beauty of it being my career is nobody really needs to know or care. 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.”