BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — As the door closed on the Lot 17 parking ramp elevator, the exuberant fans yapped amongst themselves, a lively conversation spiced with an occasional hoot and holler over what they had just witnessed, a thrilling overtime victory against Nebraska at Camp Randall Stadium.
Standing silently in front of the elevator control panel was a bright-eyed young man in a red windbreaker. Slight of stature, he had an inquisitive, boyish face that once prompted a football mentor to say, "You look at him and think he should be doing your taxes and not playing safety for you."
All the while to their floor, the post-game revelers were oblivious to who they were riding the elevator with — a three-time All-American; a hood ornament for the walk-on program; a 10-year NFL veteran; a member of the school's Hall of Fame; and the first-year secondary coach for the Badgers.
Jim Leonhard, who has his own billboard in his hometown, didn't seem to mind.
"It's pretty standard," he said. "I don't get recognized too much and I'm OK with that."
The 34-year-old Leonhard rode the elevator to the top of the ramp where family and friends were waiting for him Saturday night. "That's what it's all about," he said. "If you're going to put this time into it, to me, the family has to be all on board. And they love it. That's the biggest piece to me."
Among those greeting him (besides wife Katie, mom Debbie and brothers Tyler and Brian) was his basketball and baseball coach from Flambeau High School in Tony (population 111 as of July). That's where the billboard honors the "Walk-on to All-American" achievement of "Jimmy" Leonhard. Don Leonhard, the aforementioned prep coach, has always been a sounding board for his son.
"I learned a lot about competing — how to play and how to compete (from him)," Jim Leonhard said. "He loves football. He gets it. He understands the game. He has watched a lot of it over the years. He understands some schemes and how we're trying to approach things."
The Leonhard approach has drawn positive reviews even though he had no previous coaching experience. Not that anyone is surprised that he has made such a seamless transition or had such an immediate impact given his sterling reputation as a "coach on the field" during his playing days.
"He's just a really good coach," said head coach Paul Chryst. "You think that, you believe that and you know why (after seeing him coach). To see it and to see the kids responding to his coaching, it's the one thing that stands out. He's as good or better than you thought."
Others have observed the same things.
"Coach Leonhard has a different coaching style than I've seen from the rest of the secondary coaches who have come through here," said senior outside linebacker Vince Biegel. "What I mean by that is, it's a different type of relationship. It's like a player-to-player deal.
"He has been through the NFL; he has seen many offenses and he's a great guy to pick his brain. It has been fun seeing him give confidence to our young corners and young guys, who haven't had a lot of experience. It's great to have coach Leonhard back where he belongs — at Wisconsin."
Sojourn Shelton, the only returning starter in the secondary, confirmed what Biegel was saying.
"The first thing I felt from him was just the confidence that he brought into the (meeting) room, especially with us going through another coaching change at our position," Shelton said. "He believed in everyone in that room and he was just excited for us to go out and make plays."
Shelton, a senior, then paid the ultimate compliment to Leonhard.
"I wish I could be here for another year," he said.
• • • •
When he put pro football in his rearview mirror, announcing his retirement 48 hours before the Cleveland Browns' regular-season finale in 2014, Leonhard didn't want to make any hasty decisions on what he was going to do next beyond returning to the home that he was building outside of Madison.
Leonhard had many conversations about his future with Katie, whom he met as a UW freshman.
"It was almost daily for awhile," he said. "We were just trying to decide what life after playing was going to be and we kicked around a lot of things. It was big for me to figure out if there was something that kind of jumped at me outside of football that I could get passionate about.
"I really wanted to take the time to evaluate it. I had a lot of meetings and met with a lot of people. And there were some things that were very interesting that maybe one day I'd like to do. But it wasn't the time. So, I decided to get back into football.
"I took a year to get away — to kind of get a break from it mentally. I came in and watched some film (of Wisconsin's defense) and I talked with coach (Dave) Aranda (then the defensive coordinator) a little bit. It was much less from what I had been doing, so it was a break. I needed that."
After accepting Chryst's offer to join the staff, Leonhard wanted to make a good first impression.
"I've met a lot of coaches and been in a lot of different (meeting) rooms," he said. "Obviously, you try to take some of the stuff that you learned from those initial meetings with players. You're trying to set the tone and get your personality across a little bit.
"My big thing was trying to tell the defensive backs what was important to me, who I was, how I felt that I could make them better and how we can win as a group. I'm huge on respect — in earning respect. You don't give it to anybody. They have to earn it from you. Myself included."
That was how he phrased it, too. Leonhard has always preached that football is all about doing. Earning your keep. In a playoff game with the New York Jets, he dove on a loose ball without his helmet which had come off when he forced the fumble (later ruled an incomplete pass).
That's how he played the game. Leonhard had that picture framed.
"I don't expect any respect," Leonard told his DBs in no uncertain terms during his first meeting. "I know you think you know who I am and what I've done in my career. But until I prove that I deserve it — don't just give it to me. That was very important."
So was spring practice, the first opportunity for Leonhard to teach his players on the field.
"It was a big learning experience for me," he said. "What can this level of athlete do? How much information can they retain? With techniques, what can they do? What can't they do? It was great to have spring ball and then have a little break and kind of reevaluate."
What worked? What didn't? Thinking aloud, he said, "Maybe this drill didn't quite get across what I wanted. Maybe I needed video to explain this a little better. It was a little mix and match until I figured it out. I felt like coming back for camp, I was pretty locked in as far as how I wanted to coach."
Shelton remembered the first couple of times watching video with Leonhard, who started 73 of 142 career games in the NFL and came up one step short of the Super Bowl on three occasions with teams that made it to the AFC Championship game.
"You could definitely tell that he was on a whole other level as far as his IQ for the game," said Shelton, the most experienced player on the Badgers with 45 starts in 48 career games. "He's a special person to be around when it comes to football.
"Coach Leonhard can relate to us on a lot of things. If we give up a pass completion, we can always go up to him and he's not going to get upset with us. Instead, he's telling us, 'I understand what you're seeing. Now, the next time you see it, try doing this.'"
Has Shelton ever seen Leonhard lose his patience or get mad during a practice or a game?
"I think I've only seen him mad once," he said. "And it wasn't like he was upset mad or a very angry mad. It was just one of those things where I'm around him so much, I could see it in his face that he was a little irritated.
"We're college students, we're playing college football. I'd expect him sometimes to get a little agitated with us. But every guy in the room respects Coach Leonhard so much, he doesn't have to get upset for us to know, 'Hey, we have to tighten it up.'"
Leonhard doesn't believe in losing his temper.
"I just got on them a little bit for some off-the-field stuff," he said. "On the field, I think a lot of coaches take the approach that players are trying to make mistakes and I never believed in that. They want to do well. They want to make plays. They want to do what you're asking them to do."
He doesn't ever take mistakes personal. "Some coaches do," he said.
Conversely, Shelton appreciates Leonhard's personal touch.
"That's the thing about Coach Leonhard, he understands that we're all different players," he said. "DT (Derrick Tindal) is probably better at some things than I am. And there are some things that I'm better at than him. Coach Leonhard understands that and lets us play the technique that we like.
"At the same time, he just gives you so many tools. It's like a guy with a tool box giving you a wrench here and giving you this and giving you that. He might say, 'This is what this receiver likes, this is how you match up against him, now let's find a way to win.'"
Overloading players is something that Leonhard has tried to avoid.
"You have to understand that there are certain guys that you can give information to," Leonhard pointed out, "and some guys you just have to let play, because you don't want them looking at things that are not going to help them win.
"In the NFL, I learned that you have to treat them as individuals. You can't just teach the group and expect everybody to get it at the same time. You have to have a plan for each guy to succeed. Once again, it goes back to, you've got to know your guys and you have to know what they need.
"It's not a number. It's not a system. It's not a one size fits all when you're coaching. If you do coach that way, to me, you're lazy and you're doing a huge disservice to the guys."
Leonhard takes his cue on many such matters from Chryst.
"He does it right because he doesn't treat these kids like professionals," Leonhard said. "He wants them to be college students and have that experience. Don't overload them with football. They're here at the stadium a lot. We ask a lot of them and they have a lot of responsibilities.
"But he wants them to get the full college experience and that's not the case at a majority of places. It's a fun game. But it's a game. He wants guys to enjoy playing the game and never losing that feeling. Because when you lose that, it's hard to get back."
As an NFL player, Leonhard had mentors like Mike Pettine, Jim O'Neil and Rex Ryan. Pettine was the source of the earlier quote on his accountant-like appearance. Pettine and Leonhard were together with the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns.
"How do you teach football to a wide variety of guys … guys who come from everywhere with different backgrounds?" Leonhard posed. "I always thought they did the best job of it — making it fun and keeping it interesting. It never felt like work when I was around those guys (Pettine, O'Neil, Ryan)."
Leonhard has heard the narrative: how great players don't always turn out to be great coaches.
How does that apply to him? Or does it?
"Physically, I wasn't going to win consistently," said the 5-foot-8 Leonhard. "I was a good enough athlete, I was a very good athlete. But that wasn't how I was going to win. The game to me was very cerebral. I had to learn different techniques. And I was always watching (others), I took a lot in.
"A lot of players get in trouble when they win off talent consistently. Then, you just kind of assume (as a coach), other people can do that, and that's not always the case. It's harder for guys who were physically talented to make the adjustment to coaching.
"They could cover up a lot of mistakes (when they played) by being better than the guy across from them, whereas that wasn't necessarily the way that I won. So, I think my experience translates pretty well to coaching and, then, obviously, playing safety is all communication."
That prompted Leonhard to pull back the curtains.
"My wife always laughs when she comes around me," he said, "because the Leonhard's aren't big-time communicators off the field. It's just a family thing and I'm working on it. When she sees me with the guys and the way that I light up and communicate, she gets a huge kick out of it."
Leonhard snickered and said, "Because it's like it's a different person."
Same guy. The same one that was agonizing Monday morning on how he was going to make time to take his two young boys — Reese, 4; and Graham, 2 — trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
"My kids wear costumes year 'round," he said. "They might be permanently super heroes."
Reese was going as Superman and Graham as Batman.
And Leonhard? Who was he going as?
"I was thinking I might go as Clark Kent or Alfred (Pennyworth)," he said.
Unassuming and loyal. Another picture worth framing.
