Jim Leonhard, former Badgers star assistant and interim head coach, hired by Big Ten rival

Illinois is becoming a haven for the ghosts of Badgers past.
Jim Leonhard, who served as defensive coordinator for the University of Wisconsin football team beginning in 2017 and then became interim head coach for seven games last season, has been hired by the University of Illinois as a "senior football analyst". He'll work on staff with head coach Bret Bielema, himself a former Badgers defensive coordinator and then head coach from 2006-12.
Leonhard, the native of Tony, Wisconsin, who played at Flambeau High School and worked his way from University of Wisconsin walk-on to All-American and 10-year NFL veteran, will presumably work closely with first-year defensive coordinator Aaron Henry. Henry himself played football at Wisconsin, a defensive back from 2007-11.
Leonhard has interviewed in the past for assistant positions in the NFL, including with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles this offseason and, more famously in Wisconsin, he was offered the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator job before the 2021 season but elected to return to Wisconsin, where he seemed like an obvious head-coach-in-waiting behind Paul Chryst.
When UW fired Chryst in early October — one day after a humbling loss to Illinois, no less — Leonhard was the obvious interim hire and appeared to be on track to get the gig permanently before the surprise announcement that the school had hired former Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell.
Leonhard announced in early December that he would not be staying on as Badgers coach past the season, though he stayed on the sideline alongside Fickell when UW won the Guaranteed Rate Bowl over Oklahoma State later that month.
As defensive coordinator starting in 2017, Leonhard oversaw thriving UW defenses that made Leonhard a household name in Wisconsin athletics. UW ranked third in the nation in overall team defense in 2017 and fourth in 2021.
Henry has spent the last two seasons as the Illinois defensive backs coach; the new defensive backs coach is another former Badgers football standout, Antonio Fenelus.
In Bielema's second season last year, Illinois rose as high as No. 14 in the Associated Press poll, the highest the program had been since 2007. In Bielema's return to Camp Randall on Oct. 1, 2022, the Illini beat the Badgers, 34-10. It was Wisconsin's worst loss to Illinois since 1988.
Illinois finished 5-4 in league play, one game behind Purdue in the Big Ten West standings. Wisconsin has been picked in one poll as the slight favorite to win the West in 2023, ahead of Iowa, with Illinois in fourth.
UW will travel to Champaign to meet Illinois on Oct. 21, this season, with kickoff still to be announced (either 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. or 3 p.m.).