BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Jim Leonhard isn't sure about the next step in his coaching career, or even if there is such a thing.
"I'm one of those guys," he said, "that when I'm doing what I'm doing, I'm kind of good with it."
It seems clear that after just 27 games as a defensive assistant for the Wisconsin football team, Leonhard is doing some eye-catching work for his alma mater.
He debuted as a secondary coach in 2016. The Badgers finished second nationally with 22 interceptions, helping prompt UW coach Paul Chryst to elevate Leonhard to be his third defensive coordinator in three seasons.
That move has gone extraordinarily well for both parties in 2017. The Badgers are Orange Bowl-bound — preparing to face Miami on Saturday — in part because they lead the nation in total defense.
So it's reasonable to wonder if Leonhard is pondering his next career move.
"I'm taking it year by year right now," he said.
That's how Leonhard approached his one-of-a-kind career at UW, coming in as a walk-on from tiny Tony in northern Wisconsin (Population: 106) and evolving into a record-setting three-time All-America safety from 2002 to '04.
That's how Leonhard approached his unique 10-year stay in the NFL, where he began as an undrafted free agent and excelled as a back-end defender and kick returner for five organizations from 2005 to '14
That's how Leonhard is living his life right now.
"I love what I'm doing here as far as (being) the (defensive) coordinator, being at the alma mater and doing it for Coach Chryst," he said. "I love his approach to football. I love all that stuff."
The next step for Leonhard remains curiously undefined.
"As far as the head coaching stuff," he said, "I don't really know."
Those who've worked closely with Leonhard maintain he's capable of making such a step.
Chryst approached Leonhard not long after he retired from the NFL in 2014 with 73 starts, 36 passes defended, 14 interceptions and five fumbles recovered in his career.
Leonhard was hired to tutor UW defensive backs, replacing Daronte Jones, who left for the NFL and a similar position with the Miami Dolphins.
A year later Leonhard was tasked with running the Wisconsin defense, replacing Justin Wilcox, who left to become the head coach at California.
Given that employment arc, it's logical to think Leonhard, at age 35, is head coaching material.
"I see it in him," Chryst said. "He's a guy who's great with people. I think he'd be really good."
Rex Ryan spent four NFL seasons coaching Leonhard in Baltimore, where Ryan was the defensive coordinator in 2008, and with the New York Jets, where Ryan was the head coach from 2009 to '11.
"Most former players aren't very good coaches for whatever reason," Ryan said.
That's not the case with Leonhard, who considers Ryan a respected mentor.
"He looked at the game in a lot deeper way than almost any player I had," Ryan said. "Without question, I knew that, if he chose to get into coaching, he wasn't going to be a good coach, he was going to be a great coach."
Ryan, now an NFL color analyst for ESPN, said schools and pro organizations will certainly pursue Leonhard if they haven't done so already.
"He'll never take a head coaching job if it's not the right situation for him," Ryan said. "But I promise you they're going to come at him."
Though extremely athletic, Leonhard never looked the part of an elite player. He was boyish, 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, when he came to the Badgers. He was youthful, 5-8 and 188 pounds, while playing in the NFL for Buffalo, Baltimore, New York, Denver and Cleveland.
Ryan said Leonhard wasn't limited by his size in the pros, nor will that be the case in the coaching business.
"He might not look the part, but he damn sure is the part," Ryan said. "He'll definitely be successful as a head coach if that's what he chooses to do."
Wilcox said he was impressed with Leonhard's humility, personality and knowledge the first time they met.
"He's a special guy," Wilcox said. "I'm not the least bit surprised after getting to know him that he's doing as well as he is.
"People said he'd never been a coach before. Well, I would challenge that. He's really been coaching for the last 20 years of his life one way or another."
Wilcox said Leonhard will be a head coach someday "if he wants to be, absolutely."
It's unusual to see someone move up the coaching ladder as quickly as Leonhard. Wilcox called him "an outlier" in the profession, a point Chryst fortified.
"It's not conventional," he said.
There was a time before Leonhard returned to UW that he fancied himself as a defensive coordinator.
While in the NFL, he began keeping a list of the all-time great players he'd worked alongside — Champ Bailey, Ray Lewis, Von Miller, Ed Reed, Darrelle Revis, Terrell Suggs and Troy Vincent to name a few — inside a spiral notebook.
At one point, Leonhard was asked who he'd choose to coordinate such a who's who of NFL defensive talent. Would it be Ryan or his disciple, Mike Pettine, who operated as Ryan's defensive coordinator with the Jets before serving as head coach in Cleveland from 2014 and '15?
Neither, Leonhard said.
Leonhard's choice was Leonhard.
"It's an easy job when you've got some of the guys I had on the list," he said with a laugh.
Leonhard's career in the NFL — his reputation for playing intelligent defense — is tied tightly to Ryan.
Ryan said he tried to land him as a free-agent punt returner in 2005, but Leonhard, who holds the UW record for most punt returns and yards while returning three for touchdowns, signed with Buffalo.
Three years later, Ryan coaxed Baltimore coach John Harbaugh to bring Leonhard in for a tryout.
"He was really smart," Ryan said of Leonhard, a two-time academic All-American with the Badgers. "He picked up everything. We threw a ton of stuff at him and he's the only kid that picked it up."
When Ryan was hired to coach the Jets, one of his first orders of business was bringing in Leonhard. Together they helped turn a unit that was 23rd in total defense in 2008 to an elite force.
"He was smart," Ryan said of Leonhard, calling him one of the most intelligent players he's ever coached. "He didn't just know his position. He knew all 11 positions.
"He was always prepared and, trust me, I gave him more responsibilities and challenged him mentally more than almost any player I've ever had.
"And he could do it. I'd change his position, sometimes on the fly. 'All right, Jim, you're going to be the blitzer or you're going to be the cover guy.' He would not make mental mistakes and the reason for it was preparation and a guy who understood the game and understood everybody's responsibilities.
"It was a joy to coach someone like that. Unfortunately, there's not as many players like that as you'd think. It takes a rare guy and he's rare."
Leonhard said the foundation of Ryan's famed defense was how it was taught using the K-I-L-L philosophy.
Keep It Likeable (and) Learnable.
"Everyone talks about how complex his defense was," Leonhard said of Ryan, "but he was such a great teacher that it seems simple."
Ryan said it's obvious that Leonhard has adapted the KILL system to his current role.
"He challenges the guys mentally," Ryan said. "It looks easy from the outside, but for other coaches that are trying to come up with ways to attack it, it's extremely difficult.
"His players are doing a great job of grasping what Jim's trying to get done there."
Ryan said he likes watching the defenses at defending national champion Clemson, where his son Seth was a wide receiver, and UW because they're atypical.
"These defenses are different," Ryan said. "They're game plan-specific defenses. They're not just run out there and play corners or one or two coverages. They do some things that are a lot different than people realize.
"There's a different level. Not everybody plays the same defense and understands it. When you can play the defense that we've played in the past and really understand it like Jim does, it makes a huge difference."
The Badgers (12-1 overall) currently sit first nationally in total defense and passing efficiency defense, while ranking second in scoring defense and rushing defense heading into their duel with the Hurricanes (10-2) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
How much of Ryan's famed defensive approach is part of Leonhard's tactical package?
"A little," Leonhard said. "The biggest thing I try to incorporate at this level is just the flexibility in how you teach guys and the individuality that you take with players.
"The NFL and college is so different. To try and incorporate a lot of what he does, it just wouldn't be the same."
Ryan said one of Leonhard's strengths is his ability to teach with calmness.
"Jim is a guy that's confident in himself," Ryan said. "He doesn't have to go out there yelling and screaming. Those are the guys who are usually covering up something — the fact that they don't know something themselves.
"What he is is a teacher and a communicator. That's the way he's always been even as a player.
"He did things outside the classroom and you could tell that in his preparation."
Don't mistake Leonhard's uncertainty about being a head coach for doubt.
"It's something I know I'd be good at," he said. "It's just, 'Is it the right time? Is it the right place to do that?' I don't know if it is."
What questions must be answered?
"It always goes back to family and whether it's right for the family as far as who, what, when, where and why," said Leonhard, who has two young boys, Reese and Graham, with his wife Katie expecting another son soon. "It truly does mean everything to me to have the people that have supported me for so long feel like it's the right move for all of us.
"I'm not making any rash decisions based on a phone call from anybody. There's a lot of thinking involved."
Leonhard emphasized that his acclaim — he was a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation's top assistant coach — is woven into the quality of his fellow defensive assistants.
"Just the knowledge of football that they have has been huge," Leonhard said, referring to Bob Bostad (inside linebackers), Inoke Breckterfield (line) and Tim Tibesar (outside linebackers).
"I'm so fortunate to have the staff that I have."
Leonhard said he loves the teaching aspect of the game right now and is clearly comfortable in his own skin.
He has a veteran secondary and his charges speak highly of him.
He has his family close by and has come to embrace the task of recruiting.
He has returned to his alma mater and made a difference.
Again.
"Being a Badger is special," Leonhard said.
But he's also in demand. Football people wonder about his next step, or if there is such a thing.
"I know he loves it at Wisconsin,' Ryan said. "It's going to take a special place for him to leave."
