Tag: coaching job

Wisconsin legend Jim Leonhard’s 2025 coaching destination revealed

Wisconsin legend Jim Leonhard 2025 coaching destination revealed

This story was updated to add new information.

Wisconsin program legend Jim Leonhard will remain with the Denver Broncos as a defensive assistant for the 2025 season, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

Leonhard reportedly ‘drew interest from at least three teams for defensive coordinator jobs,’ according to Rapoport. He will reportedly remain with Denver after spending the 2024 season as its defensive backs coach.

Related: Illinois coach spoke with Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard about transfer additions from Wisconsin

His specific role on the Broncos coaching staff has yet to be reported. It figures to remain the same, as defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is in line to return to the Broncos in 2025.

Leonhard appears to be moving cautiously through the coaching ranks after leaving Wisconsin after the 2022 season. He spent the 2023 season as an analyst on Bret Bielema’s staff at Illinois, then took the Broncos’ defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator position in 2024. He has yet to take a step up into a defensive coordinator role.

The Wisconsin program legend excelled as the Badgers’ defensive coordinator from 2017-22, guiding a unit that consistently finished toward the top of the country in most defensive metrics. He was also Wisconsin’s interim head coach for seven games in 2022 after Paul Chryst’s firing. He moved on from the program after it hired Luke Fickell that November.

Leonhard coached a Broncos secondary that helped the defensive unit finish the 2024 season No. 7 in the NFL in total defense (317.1 yards allowed per game). Star cornerback Patrick Surtain, the frontrunner for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, led the group with 45 tackles, four interceptions and 11 pass deflections.

The former Badger safety and assistant coach should have his selection of defensive coordinator jobs next coaching cycle, whether in college or the NFL. He is still regarded as one of the better defensive minds in the sport. It will again be the Broncos who benefit from that status in 2025.

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Former Notre Dame broadcaster takes assistant coach position at Purdue

Drew Brees is heading back to Purdue…

Purdue has a new assistant coach and he just so happens to have spent a little bit of time behind the microphone during Notre Dame home games recently.  OK, he did some other things related to football that perhaps he’s more known for too, but Drew Brees is headed back to Purdue to be an assistant coach.

According to the release from Purdue athletics, Brees is only joining the Boilermakers staff on an interim basis for their upcoming Citrus Bowl appearance game against LSU.  It also mentions that Brees and Purdue had been working to have him help coach the bowl game before the recent hiring of head coach Ryan Walters was announced.

“I am extremely excited to work with our team over the next few weeks as we prepare for the Citrus Bowl,” said Brees. “I see it not only as an opportunity to coach and mentor this group of young men, but represent all the former Purdue players that care so much about our program. This is also preparation for the future of Purdue Football with new head coach Ryan Walters. I had a great conversation with Coach Walters last night, and love the energy, passion and detail he will bring to our program. The future is bright, and there is no better time to be a Boilermaker!”

-Drew Brees on December 15, 2022

Brees spent the 2021 college football season announcing Notre Dame home games on NBC Sports.  He of course had a tremendous career at Purdue before developing into one of the most prolific passes in NFL history.

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Former Alabama OL promoted to positional coach at Colorado

Former Alabama OL lands a new coaching job!

Former Alabama offensive lineman, William Vlachos, who played with the team from 2007-2011, has accepted a job as the new offensive line coach at Colorado.

Vlachos was a key member of the offensive line that blocked for Mark Ingram’s 2009 Heisman campaign. He went undrafted, but was signed by the Tennessee Titans in 2012. By 2013, Vlachos was back with the Crimson Tide, but this time as a graduate assistant, and later, an analyst.

In 2020, he began working at Colorado as a specialist coach, but will now be promoted to offensive line coach.

BuffaloesWire site editor, Jack Carlough, has high praise for Vlachos and what he’s already been able to accomplish through a smaller role prior to this promotion:

The winding road that many college coaches experience has now brought Vlachos the opportunity to help a struggling Buffaloes’ O-line. Coming off Rodrigue’s final game on Oct. 25 against Cal, which sacked Brendon Lewis six times, Vlachos helped engineer the O-line’s best performance of the year at Oregon. Lewis was sacked just once and the offense put up 29 points against a strong Ducks’ D.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.