Feature image from Badger of Honor

Who Is He?

Every Badgers fan’s favorite son in the coaching ranks, Jim Leonhard is a Wisconsin native, Wisconsin alum, undrafted NFL defensive back who managed to turn a few small chances into a 10-year career (one of only 6 Wisconsin alumni to have a 10+ year NFL career over the past two decades), Wisconsin DB coach turned Wisconsin Defensive Coordinator turned Wisconsin Interim Head Coach.

Whew. I think it’s safe to say Jim Leonhard lives and breathes Wisconsin football as much as any coach in the modern era.

And yet, after watching Leonhard lead the Badgers to a 4-3 finish to the 2022 season, new Wisconsin Athletic Director Chris McIntosh passed him over for the permanent job that so many thought was a formality. Instead, in a terrifying move for Purdue (and other Big Ten programs), Wisconsin managed to be the ones to finally pluck Luke Fickell from his very comfortable fiefdom in Cincinnati. Which led to Scott Satterfield abandoning Louisville for Cincinnati (despite Cincy being able to, you know, attract a much better coach), which led to Jeff Brohm’s homecoming, which led to our angst, which led to this post.

So all of this is Wisconsin’s fault.

Which is why it could be a bit of spectacular irony if this ends up with Leonhard making a move down to West Lafayette, after initially agreeing to be Fickell’s DC. On Tuesday night, he backed out of that verbal commitment - suspiciously close to the timing of the Purdue job opening on Wednesday morning. The coaching carousel would indeed come full-circle if Purdue zeroes-in on Leonhard.

Why would he be successful at Purdue?

He’s young, energetic, a very impressive schematic mind, has extensive Midwest recruiting roots, has a young coach’s understanding of the transfer portal, and is coveted by everyone - from other Power 5 head coaching jobs to blueblood college defensive coordinator spots to NFL defensive coordinator offers.

In my estimation, Leonhard is the best version of Purdue jumping at the chance to snag an emerging superstar coach (see the final section below). He also has at least a taste of what it takes to run a Big Ten program after his seven game Wisconsin audition, and I think he would love the opportunity to shove it in Wisconsin’s face by turbocharging Purdue’s defense - and making the Den of Defensive Ends its main identity for the first time in its modern history.

Why could he flop at Purdue?

Defense-first head coaches haven’t been successful in modern Purdue football history. This is the real, identity-changing risk of hiring someone like Leonhard, if he’s not paired with a known firebrand on the offensive side of the ball (see: the Hazell era).

Every head coaching search needs to understand their place in college football hierarchy, needs to make instant inroads with accessible recruiting hotbeds, and needs to understand and embrace the school’s identity. Purdue football identity is basketball-on-grass, Cradle of Quarterbacks, fast-paced, gunslinging, Spoilermakers. By hiring a defense-first head coach without pairing him with an Offensive Coordinator who can embrace Purdue’s history, it risks flying in the face of every modern instance of Boilermaker football success.

Would he come to Purdue?

The timing of his departure from Wisconsin’s future, the night before reports of the Brohm-Louisville homecoming was released, makes me think that he absolutely would consider it.

Newly-armed with the incoming gigantic bags of Big Ten cash, the Purdue job can go one of several ways:

• A place where up-and-coming Power 5 (or Power 2) coaches can reset their clock for a high-spotlight showcase (Matt Campbell);

• A waystation paycheck job for recently fired old coaches (Urban Meyer / Scott Frost / Dan Mullen)

• A lucrative last-stop for older coaches finding their groove (Dave Clawson / Dino Babers);

• A big swing stop for really talented emerging young assistant coaches.

If there’s a combination outside of the top tier (Klieman, Leipold, Campbell, DeBoer) that intrigues me, it would be swinging for the fences and pairing HC Jim Leonhard with Associate HC and OC JaMarcus Shepherd (EDIT: And, as the homie Keith Carrell pointed out, Mark Hagen retained as Defensive Coordinator), with everyone getting handsome paychecks. A man can dream.