Jim Leonhard Would be a Home Run Hire as Baylor's Defensive Coordinator
Ignore the extra 'h' in his name, and Jim Leonhard would be a flawless hire as Baylor's next defensive coordinator. From his playing career to his tenure as Wisconsin's defensive coordinator, Leonhard has bred success.
The entire idea of Leonhard landing at Baylor starts with his relationship with Dave Aranda. While Aranda was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Leonhard was wrapping up a decade-long career in the NFL.
He then turned to coaching, immediately reaching out to his alma mater and Aranda to learn the ropes. Studying under Aranda paid off. After the now Baylor head coach left Wisconsin for LSU, Leonhard was added to the Badgers' staff as the defensive backs coach and his rise was meteoric.
Within a season, Leonhard was promoted to the role of defensive coordinator. Within a season as defensive coordinator, Leonhard was named a finalist for the Broyles Award. That's absurd.
In four of his five years as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, his teams have been ranked in the nation's top five in totaled defense and top 10 in scoring defense four times. In that span, his defense allowed 17.3 points per game.
His 2021 defense allowed 239 yards per game. That's the fewest yards allowed by an FBS team since 2011.
Leonhard's leadership skills and Wisconsin ties were also so strong that he was named the interim head coach of the Badgers after Paul Chryst was fired this season, leading the team to a 4-3 record.
After initially committing to return to Wisconsin after the hiring of Luke Fickell, Leonhard backtracked and is now on the market. And he'd be a stellar candidate to fill the vacancy in Waco.
What's more, Leonhard just wins. He's only 40 years old, but his resume is stacked. He was a three-time All-American at Wisconsin, but he went untreated. That didn't matter. He played in 142 games in the NFL as a safety and fought through numerous injuries to have the career he did.
Leonhard just makes sense.
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