I for one won't bash Wisconsin for much of anything. They have owned Nebraska for years now, and they have completely outclassed the Huskers on the defensive side of the football. They installed a formula. They stick to it, and they excel with said formula.
They started to become really dominant on the defensive side of the football with the hiring of Dave Aranda. He is a big time DC and now commanding 7 figures as a DC in the SEC.
Wisconsin then hires Justin Wilcox, an up and comer who before his 40th birthday, had already been the DC during Boise State's magical run in the mid 2000's, the DC at Tennessee, Washington, and USC. He was given the keys to a PAC 12 program for a reason.
Needless to say, Wisconsin had some big time Defensive Coordinators leading the way over the last 4 seasons. Its no shock that their defensive dominance correlated with the presence of these two coaches. The Badgers have always played decent defense, but even in the days when they had guys like JJ Watt, they weren't shutting down teams to gaudy numbers like allowing 13 ppg or 280 yards per game.
In 2014, when Aranda was at Wisconsin and Wilcox was the DC at USC, Jim Leonhard was in his final season with the Cleveland Browns. He was nowhere near the College football landscape. In February 2016, Wisconsin hired him as the DB coach. 11 months later, he was named the new Defensive Coordinator.
He has only been in coaching for 16 months. Is Wisconsin just smarter and luckier than the rest of us, or is this hiring going to come back as and hurt them as a mistake?
They started to become really dominant on the defensive side of the football with the hiring of Dave Aranda. He is a big time DC and now commanding 7 figures as a DC in the SEC.
Wisconsin then hires Justin Wilcox, an up and comer who before his 40th birthday, had already been the DC during Boise State's magical run in the mid 2000's, the DC at Tennessee, Washington, and USC. He was given the keys to a PAC 12 program for a reason.
Needless to say, Wisconsin had some big time Defensive Coordinators leading the way over the last 4 seasons. Its no shock that their defensive dominance correlated with the presence of these two coaches. The Badgers have always played decent defense, but even in the days when they had guys like JJ Watt, they weren't shutting down teams to gaudy numbers like allowing 13 ppg or 280 yards per game.
In 2014, when Aranda was at Wisconsin and Wilcox was the DC at USC, Jim Leonhard was in his final season with the Cleveland Browns. He was nowhere near the College football landscape. In February 2016, Wisconsin hired him as the DB coach. 11 months later, he was named the new Defensive Coordinator.
He has only been in coaching for 16 months. Is Wisconsin just smarter and luckier than the rest of us, or is this hiring going to come back as and hurt them as a mistake?
