Tag: coaching staff

Wisconsin HC Greg Gard clarifies Kirk Penney’s role, the open position on his coaching staff

Wisconsin HC Greg Gard clarifies Kirk Penney’s role, the open position on his coaching staff

Wisconsin basketball head coach Greg Gard joined 97.3 The Game this week and discussed numerous topics, including the turnover on his coaching staff.

His staff is in a state of flux. Longtime assistant coach Dean Oliver recently left the program, and there are rumors that top assistant Joe Krabbenhoft is in consideration for a head coach position elsewhere.

Related: Everything Wisconsin HC Greg Gard said about NIL, his coaching staff and program changes in a recent radio interview

Gard clarified that the program is searching for Oliver’s replacement, and the position will include recruiting off campus. He added that program legend Kirk Penney will be on staff as a full-time analyst.

Penney joined Gard’s staff as a special assistant in November 2023. It appears his responsibilities will grow with another season and the departure of Oliver.

Wisconsin remains on the hunt for Oliver’s full-time replacement as the program prepares for a critical 2024-25 season.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Former Wisconsin outside linebacker joins Badgers’ recruiting department

Former Wisconsin outside linebacker joins Badgers’ recruiting department

Former Wisconsin outside linebacker Izayah Green-May has returned to the Badgers program to work in the recruiting department, according to his post on X.

Green-May initially joined the program as a four-star recruit in the class of 2017. He redshirted his first season before appearing in six games for the Badgers as a freshman in 2018.

Injuries then defined the rest of his collegiate career. The promising outside linebacker was atop the depth chart entering both 2019 and 2020 before injuries in the opening game derailed his season.

His Badgers career ended with eight tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.

Related: Wisconsin football’s starting offense and defense begin to take shape at spring practice

Green-May transferred to Northern Illinois for the 2022 campaign after an injury-riddled five-year Wisconsin career. His final season became his best, as the former Badger recorded 34 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, three pass deflections and two fumble recoveries.

He now joins Luke Fickell’s recruiting department as a bridge from the old program to the new.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Wisconsin basketball longtime assistant coach announces he’s leaving the program

Greg Gard loses one of his long-time assistants

Wisconsin basketball assistant coach Dean Oliver announced he was leaving the Badgers program on Wednesday night.

Oliver has been a mainstay on Greg Gard’s staff for the last seven years since joining the program after the 2017 season.

Related: Tracking Wisconsin basketball’s reported transfer portal visits and targets

“Today, I informed Coach Gard that I am moving on from the University of Wisconsin,” Oliver wrote in a post on X. “It was an honor and a privilege to have coached here, and while I am excited to take the next step in my career, I know that my experiences as a Badger will stay with me forever. Most of all, a huge thank you to all the incredible student-athletes, coaches, and other staff that helped make my time here such a great experience.”

Oliver departs after helping lead Wisconsin through a rocky seven-year stretch of basketball. The stretch included multiple Big Ten regular-season titles (2020, 2022) and two years of missing the NCAA Tournament entirely (2018, 2023).

Related: An early look at the Wisconsin basketball roster entering 2024-25

This news comes after Wisconsin top assistant Joe Krabbenhoft was recently linked to a head coach opening. Krabbenhoft remains on staff at the moment, but 2024-25 could see a large-scale turnover under Gard on the coaching staff.

Oliver’s departure has many assuming Iowa, his alma mater, could be the next destination. He played for the Hawkeyes from 1997-2001 before a brief NBA career and lengthy playing career oversees.

Gard, meanwhile, has work to do on the roster and now on the coaching staff as he and the program enter a pivotal 2024-25 season.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Cowboys finalize 2024 coaching staff; WR coach Robert Prince adds new duties

From @ToddBrock24f7: Prince will add pass game coordinator to his existing job duties. Al Harris’ promotion is official; other staff tweaks were announced.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has put the final touches on his staff for the 2024 season, and several assistants have received promotions for the coming year.

Defensive backs coach Al Harris has, as expected and previously reported, been officially named the team’s assistant head coach, a role he’ll add to his current duties. The former Pro Bowl cornerback started on the coaching track when he interned with Joe Philbin’s Dolphins in 2012; he reunited with McCarthy, his onetime Packers coach, in Dallas in 2020.

“Al has been such an impactful member of our coaching staff and team,” McCarthy said, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “I’m looking forward to his leadership in this expanded role. He’s a highly effective mentor and motivator, and our entire team will benefit from him taking this elevated step. Al’s dedication, teamwork, understanding of the game, and experience in developing the unique dynamics necessary to support a championship locker room are all a part of his special fit for this.”

Harris isn’t the only Cowboys staffer adding new responsibilities to his plate.

Robert Prince, the team’s wide receivers coach for the past two seasons and a veteran NFL and college coach for the better part of the past three decades, will serve as Cowboys’ new pass game coordinator. That role was previously held by Joe Whitt Jr., who left this offseason to become the Commanders’ new defensive coordinator under Dan Quinn.

Prince, 58, has previous experience as pass game coordinator at both Boise State and Colorado.

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ESPN’s Todd Archer points out a handful of other tweaks made to the Dallas org chart. Game management specialist Ryan Feder adds the title of assistant quarterbacks coach, assistant defensive backs coach Cannon Matthews becomes the new full-time safeties coach (after filling in for Whitt during the 2023 season), and assistant tight ends coach Chase Haslett is now listed as the Cowboys’ pass game specialist.

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Notre Dame Football: Irish reportedly losing key staffer to Big Ten

More moves for Fighting Irish football…

According to FootballScoop, Notre Dame is losing a key member of their football staff.

Butler Benton joined the Notre Dame staff as Assistant Athletic Director for Player Personnel in April of 2023 after spending the two previous seasons as the General Manager at the University of Arkansas.

Accoring to the FootballScoop report:

Sources tell FootballScoop that Benton has left his post as the assistant athletic director to become the new GM for DeShaun Foster at UCLA.

The report goes on to mention that the deal could be announced as early as Monday.  Benton heading to UCLA sets him up to return to the Big Ten where he served as the player personnel coordinator at Michigan State under Mark Dantonio.

Former NFL HC Mike Vrabel takes new football job in Ohio

The Mike Vrabel-to-Wisconsin news looks less likely

Well, this news may make Mike Vrabel joining Wisconsin as an analyst or special assistant more challenging, if not impossible.

The former NFL Coach of the Year is signing on with the Cleveland Browns as a coaching and personnel consultant, according to reports from ESPN’s Field Yates and Adam Schefter.

Related: Ranking Big Ten football teams by highest 2024 ceiling

This move comes after the Tennessee Titans fired the longtime head coach after a disappointing 6-11 2023 season.

Vrabel moves back to the state of Ohio, where he and Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell shared the field for several years at Ohio State.

Fickell had said at a press conference in February that Vrabel may be around Wisconsin football ‘in some capacity’ this offseason. This news does not make that impossible, though it certainly makes it seem a lot less likely.

Wisconsin football is set to begin spring practice later this month in preparation for the 2024 season.

For more 2024 season preview work, we’ve already ranked all 18 programs in the Big Ten, ranked the 18 starting quarterbacks, ranked all 18 head coaches, predicted each Big Ten team’s 2024 record, looked at the early College Football Playoff tiers, made bold predictions for the season and checked in on the Las Vegas win totals for each team in the conference.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

Sean Payton sees a high ceiling for Broncos’ new DBs coach Jim Leonhard

“I think that he’s extremely bright … he’s got one of these high ceilings,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Jim Leonhard.

After losing Christian Parker to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Denver Broncos replaced him with new defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard.

Leonhard is a former NFL safety who had brief stops with the Broncos and with the New Orleans Saints during his playing days. He transitioned to coaching in 2016 and he has quickly risen up the coaching ranks.

“Jim was someone that I had spoken with last offseason,” Denver coach Sean Payton said at the NFL combine on Feb. 27. “He actually played for us briefly. I know he [also] played for Denver for a year. He had hip replacement surgery last year, so he was going to be in a position where he couldn’t commit to a full-time job. He helped out Illinois.

“I think that he’s extremely bright and he was as a player. He solved all the problems as a player. He was in Buffalo, with the Jets, Baltimore and Denver. He played for 10 years and I think he’s got one of these high ceilings that we see with some young coaches. I say young, but it’s kind of all relative. I think a lot of him, and we spent a lot of time on that process.”

Leonhard, 41, served as a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2017-2021 before being promoted to interim head coach in 2022. Before joining the Broncos this offseason, he previously interviewed for two defensive coordinator openings in the NFL.

Leonhard might one day be a DC candidate in Denver. For now, though, he’s an overqualified DBs coach set to replace Parker in 2024.

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Broncos wish Christian Parker well as he exits team

Broncos coach Sean Payton and GM George Paton gave Christian Parker glowing reviews when he left the club to reunite with Vic Fangio.

Before what ended up being his final season with the Denver Broncos, Vic Fangio hired Christian Parker as the club’s defensive backs coach in 2021.

Fangio was fired after that season and the team’s next coach, Nathaniel Hackett, kept Parker on his staff in 2022. Hackett lasted less than a full season before he was also fired. The club’s next coach, Sean Payton, also kept Parker on his staff in 2023, and he also attempted to bring Fangio back as a coordinator.

Fangio did not want to return to Denver, so Payton ended up hiring Vance Joseph instead. Parker stuck around for one season under Joseph before asking to leave this spring to reunite with Fangio, who now coaches with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Broncos could have blocked Parker’s lateral move — he’s now a “passing game coordinator,” a title Denver easily could have given him — but Payton let the coach exit.

“Christian was with us and he got promoted,” Payton said at the NFL combine on Feb. 27. “[The Eagles are] getting a bright young coach. Obviously, Vic knows him because he’s work with him before. Christian’s really sharp. I’d say his degree, if you will, in defensive football is in that scheme.

“He was a pleasure to work with. I’m excited that he has that opportunity. Vic and I talked at length about Christian. He was one of the coaches that we kept from last year’s staff.”

Broncos general manager George Paton was also full of praise when asked about Parker at the combine.

“Christian is outstanding,” Paton said. “He’s young, poised beyond his years. Very good teacher. I don’t know how old he is but he came in here to coach Justin Simmons, Pat Surtain and Kareem Jackson. I would just say he’s a really good teacher.

“In regard to me, he’s a very good evaluator and when we got involved in the draft process, free agent process, he was outstanding as an evaluator. I feel like [the Eagles] really got a star in Christian Parker.”

To replace Parker, Denver hired Jim Leonhard as their new DBs coach.

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Former Wisconsin defensive lineman joins Florida coaching staff

Former Wisconsin defensive lineman joins Florida coaching staff

Former Wisconsin defensive lineman Jeremy Patterson is joining the staff at Florida as an assistant defensive line coach and graduate assistant, according to a report from The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.

He joins the traditional SEC power after having previously been a player development assistant at Rutgers.

Patterson played at Wisconsin from 2014-2016, appearing in four total games along the defensive line — two each in 2015 and 2016. He then transferred to Tennessee State for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. His second stop included 18 total games, 18 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries.

Related: Breakout candidates for Wisconsin football 2024 spring practice

The former Badger joins a Florida program coming off three consecutive losing seasons and a 5-7 2023 campaign. He will help coach a defensive line that in 2023 had Florida finish with the No. 81-ranked rush defense with 155.58 yards allowed per game.

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Broncos expected to make Jamar Cain their new DL coach

After losing Marcus Dixon to the Vikings, the Broncos are expected to make Jamar Cain their new defensive line coach.

The Denver Broncos lost two members of their coaching staff this offseason. Both of the positions vacated by those departures have now been filled.

First, the Broncos lost defensive backs coach Christian Parker, who left the club to join the Philadelphia Eagles and reunite with Vic Fangio. Denver replaced Parker with Jim Leonhard, an overqualified DBs coach who might one day become a defensive coordinator.

After losing Parker, the Broncos also lost defensive line coach Marcus Dixon, who left the team in a lateral move to join the Minnesota Vikings. It sounds like Denver will now replace Dixon with an in-house candidate.

The Broncos are expected to promote pass rush specialist Jamar Cain to defensive line coach, according to The Athletic‘s Bruce Feldman. Cain previously coached defensive linemen at four college programs before joining Denver’s staff in 2023.

The Broncos could fill Cain’s old rule with a new pass rush specialist, but they don’t necessarily need to. Denver already has an outside linebackers coach (Michael Wilhoite), so promoting Cain does not leave them without a position coach.

If the Broncos do bring in another assistant in a pass rush role, Rob Ninkovich could be a name to watch after he served as a part-time guest coach last season.

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