Bill Sheridan resigns from assistant coaching role with the Badgers

Bill Sheridan, who was hired as Wisconsin's inside linebackers coach in February, resigned from his position on Monday, according to a release from university.

“While I look forward to presenting my case at a hearing, I am concerned that the NCAA investigation regarding activities that occurred prior to me joining the Wisconsin football staff could be a distraction which could cause harm to the program,” Sheridan said in a release. “As a result, I am submitting my resignation effective immediately.”

Sheridan, 63, took over for Bob Bostad, who moved over to the offensive line prior to the start of spring camp. He coached all 15 spring practices for the Badgers during camp in March and April.

“I have great respect for Coach (Paul) Chryst, his staff and the student-athletes I had the privilege of meeting and coaching over the past three months. I regret that I will not have the opportunity to continue to be part of this special group and wish them well with the upcoming season.”

Prior to UW, Sheridan was most recently the defensive line coach at Air Force. Earlier this week, Brett McMurphy reported that four ex-Air Force assistants, including Sheridan, "violated NCAA rules at Air Force by providing impermissible benefits and hosting high school prospects during the COVID-19 dead period in 2020."

“I want to thank Bill for his time with us,” Chryst said in the same release. “Though he was only a part of our program for a short time, he had a positive impact on our players, especially the inside linebackers that he worked closely with. I wish him nothing but the best.”

Wisconsin new inside linebackers coach will have to continue the work of replacing starters Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn, both of whom are now preparing for the NFL. During camp, Sheridan broke down initial camp reps by snaps from the last fall. With that, initial pairings were Tatum Grass and Maema Njongmeta, followed by Jordan Turner and Jake Chaney.

"I'm gonna answer what I thought you were gonna allude to first, and I'm going to tell you about what you asked me," Sheridan told reporters this spring. "The way we had the depth chart set up now, it's strictly based on snaps played last year. That's all it is. I got the stats from guys, and these guys play this many defensive snaps, and it's not a ton of them.

"But this guy played 60, this guy played 50, this guy played 25. And I looked at some special teams snaps as well. Not as relevant, but a Jake Chaney, he's played 200 and something snaps of special teams last year, that's something. Obviously the staff here felt he was worthy of plan all the special teams and that kind of stuff, so that's kind of how we've started out. And then reiterate the second part about the guys you're asking."

By the end of camp, Grass, who was recently put on scholarship, and Turner worked with the No. 1 defense. Njongmeta and Chaney were the second inside linebacker pairing.

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