Illinois Football: Illini adds high-level coach to the defensive staff

Illinois football has added another great defensive mind to the coaching staff.

This offseason, the Illini went through some major coaching changes. Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters went to the dark side and become the head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers. This was a great get by the team down in West Lafayette. Walters also took a couple of solid Illini coaches with him.

Thankfully, Bret Bielema put a great team of coaches around him, so he elevated defensive backs coach Aaron Henry to the defensive coordinator position. With Illinois putting so much defensive back talent into the NFL, this was the most logical move for the program.

Defensive line coach Terrence Jamison also earned the title of co-defensive coordinator for the Illini program. These two talented leaders should be great for the Illinois defense. After so much shifting by the coaching staff, it is starting to look like the final pieces are getting put into place.

On Tuesday, Illinois football took to social media to announce that they have hired Jim Leonhard as a senior football analyst. While this might not seem like a huge hire by title, this is a huge hire by name.

Hiring Jim Leonhard is another home run move by Bret Bielema and the Illinois football program

Leonhard brings a ton of football experience to the Illinois defense. He played three years at Wisconsin as a defensive back under the great Barry Alvarez. After his time in college, Leonhard would head to the NFL where he would spend 10 seasons at nearly every defensive back position.

The next stop for Leonhard would be to trade in his helmet for a headset. He entered the coaching ranks in 2016 as Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach. Leonhard quickly moved to defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2017. He would retain the title of defensive coordinator with the Badgers until the 2022 campaign when he moved into the interim head coach role.

Wisconsin would eventually hire Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell as the next person in charge, and this left Leonhard out of a job due to Fickell wanting his own staff.

Opinion

Wow, what a great coaching hire by Illinois. Leonhard brings so much experience on both the playing and coaching sides.

I am excited to see what Leonhard can do with the Illinois defense and how he can help develop some of the great players we already have on the roster. He knows what it takes to get to the NFL, and that experience is invaluable.

I would venture to say this is just a one-season thing for Leonhard, though. I don’t think his contract details have been released, but I would imagine Leonhard needed a landing spot and Illinois was a good place. He can stay warm in the coaching ranks, and some big-time program will come calling in 2024. But, for at least one season, we get his knowledge instilled in the Illinois defense.