MADISON, Wis. -- Most football coaches with one year of college experience find themselves laboring through the grind as a graduate assistant, worried about the next stop on their way up a winding, decades-long coaching ladder. That's the way it's supposed to go in this profession, anyway, which rewards those who demonstrate consistent success, often at multiple schools.
Jim Leonhard is not like most college coaches, nor is his story around the game, which helps to explain a meteoric rise that might otherwise seem impossible. Leonhard was announced as Wisconsin's new defensive coordinator Thursday after coaching just one season at any level.