Three years ago, Jim Leonhard was a 32-year-old retired NFL player. Now, Jim Leonhard is the defensive coordinator of one of the best defenses in college football and one of the most highly sought-after coaches in the country.
Leonhard joined Paul Chryst's staff as defensive backs coach at Wisconsin, his alma mater, in 2016. A year later, after Justin Wilcox left to become head coach at Cal, Leonhard was promoted to coordinator. And after leading a dominant unit for the Big Ten West champs, Leonhard fielded several calls about potential opportunities.
"I had conversations with a lot of people,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this summer. “The biggest thing is, this is where I want to be. I’m home. This place means a lot to me and trying to take this program to the highest level, whatever that may be, means a lot to me. That is what it came down to.”
Will Jim Leonhard ever leave Wisconsin for a head coach job? If so, when and where? Connor O'Gara of Saturday Down South joined The Hot Route podcast to answer that question and several others ahead of the college football season.
