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Landing Leonhard

EvanstonCat

Well-Known Member
Gold Member
May 29, 2001
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Cut Fitz’s salary in half and give the rest and whatever we were paying JON to Leonhard. All coaches need to interview with him to keep their job. Otherwise let him bring whoever he wants.
 
Cut Fitz’s salary in half and give the rest and whatever we were paying JON to Leonhard. All coaches need to interview with him to keep their job. Otherwise let him bring whoever he wants.
Why would Leonhard come here? Where he has to pitch a shutout every week in order to win because his counterpart on offense can't be counted on to even put up 10 points?
 
Why would Leonhard come here? Where he has to pitch a shutout every week in order to win because his counterpart on offense can't be counted on to even put up 10 points?
The major incentive would be to take the defense from 84th (or whatever) to (insert impressive higher rank here). Swing at the softballs and swing for the fences.

I could see him being interested if he knows/likes Fitz and if he likes the defensive personnel we have available for next season/sees potential. I don't see him as being a Hank-like long-term coach here, though.
 
The major incentive would be to take the defense from 84th (or whatever) to (insert impressive higher rank here). Swing at the softballs and swing for the fences.

I could see him being interested if he knows/likes Fitz and if he likes the defensive personnel we have available for next season/sees potential. I don't see him as being a Hank-like long-term coach here, though.
Hire him asap for a million bucks
 
I would hope that Fitz would give it his best shot to lure Leohnard to Evanston. I'm guessing he will have plenty of offers.
 
How about we hire Kliff Kingsbury as our OC when the Cardinals can him, too?

I think each likelihood is just as possible. As in, highly unlikely to happen.
 
How about we hire Kliff Kingsbury as our OC when the Cardinals can him, too?

I think each likelihood is just as possible. As in, highly unlikely to happen.
I am in no way expecting Leonhard to come to Evanston, but it's really not that far-fetched to imagine he has a pre-existing relationship with Fitz - B1G is a small pond, these guys all know each other for better or worse.

I just honestly don't think Fitz has any interest here...he's feel his toes stepped on by a young up-and-comer and would resent that he'd be getting calls night and day from other programs looking to poach him. Fitz wants someone who will stay forever.
 
I would definitely take Leonhard if we could get him. But I don't think I'm as high on him as some of you.

I get the impression he was handed a high performing defense and managed to not mess it up. He doesn't have a track record of taking terrible defenses (which ours is currently, unfortunately) and revamping them. Like, he could be more of a Justin Wilcox than we really want. Wilcox, IIRC, was there for like a year and basically just kept things running. Also, Leonhard's defense this year wasn't as great and didn't live up to expectations, just middle of the pack for the B1G and solidly behind Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. Perhaps the line of great Wisconsin defenses was starting to wind down.

Don't get me wrong. I'd definitely be happy if we can get him. There may be some other great options out there too.
 
I would definitely take Leonhard if we could get him. But I don't think I'm as high on him as some of you.

I get the impression he was handed a high performing defense and managed to not mess it up. He doesn't have a track record of taking terrible defenses (which ours is currently, unfortunately) and revamping them.
Good point. But JON was handed a high performing defense and it’s now messed up beyond recognition. Talent dropoff, maybe, but last year we had BJo, Mitchell and Tomi, all possibly future NFL players. Shouldn’t have gone from Top 10 to rock bottom.
 
I would definitely take Leonhard if we could get him. But I don't think I'm as high on him as some of you.

I get the impression he was handed a high performing defense and managed to not mess it up. He doesn't have a track record of taking terrible defenses (which ours is currently, unfortunately) and revamping them. Like, he could be more of a Justin Wilcox than we really want. Wilcox, IIRC, was there for like a year and basically just kept things running. Also, Leonhard's defense this year wasn't as great and didn't live up to expectations, just middle of the pack for the B1G and solidly behind Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. Perhaps the line of great Wisconsin defenses was starting to wind down.

Don't get me wrong. I'd definitely be happy if we can get him. There may be some other great options out there too.
Fair points to be sure, but he did do it for long enough that it was a completely new set of players in the system by this year.

Wisconsin has had great defenses for years, so keeping it going was the job.

We had things rolling defensively before 2 years ago, question is how hard is it to fix the hole we've fallen into...?

I think best thing about him (other than the track record of defensive success) is that he's worked with a similar talent level to what he'd have to work with here and that it worked out with Hank when we brought him here from Wisconsin.

Obviously, he's likely to be in high demand, so he'll be able to pick where he wants to go. As far as money goes, he should be in the $1.5-2.5 million range as DC given his success and the demand for him, and we can easily offer that if willing to...
 
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