BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Given a blank canvas, Mark D'Onofrio would have no trouble drawing his ideal linebacker; a position that he played with some distinction at Penn State and briefly with the Green Bay Packers before succumbing to injury; a position that he has coached throughout his career.
"That was kind of one of the questions that we talked about in the (job) interview, 'Do I have a certain body type or a certain thing that I look for (in linebackers)?"' volunteered the 53-year-old D'Onofrio, who was recently hired to coach Wisconsin's inside linebackers.
"A long time ago, I decided to not exclude any body type. I've coached some really good 6-3, 250-pound players and I've coached some really good 5-10, 225-pound players. To me, it's the coach's job to find the spot in the scheme where that guy fits. If that guy is a player, then keep developing him."
In sum, "I want them to be smart. I want them to be tough. And I want them to play hard."
Sounded like D'Onofrio was describing Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn, the leading tacklers on last season's defense. Both have moved on to NFL teams, making the challenge in replacing them monumental for any position coach, let alone someone who has been on campus for just one week.
"It is a challenge — those guys were great players," D'Onofrio confirmed of Chenal and Sanborn who rarely left the field in 2021. "But the guys in the room that we have right now all came here for a reason, and they have their own goals."
D'Onofrio is inheriting an unproven pool of linebackers who have never started a game for the Badgers, but he pointed out, "My job is to get as many guys ready as possible to be on the field and play at a high level — to create that competition that pushes everybody.
"I'd like to think the experience I've gathered over the past 20 years in coaching and the fact that I was a defensive coordinator (at three different college programs) and had to be an expert on the whole defense and not just my area, will help me in this situation."
D'Onofrio last coached during the 2018 season at the University of Houston.
"The similarities between my last stop and Jim's defense," he said of UW defense coordinator Jim Leonhard, "and what I was running there and what he's running here was the key, I think, for me having this opportunity here because the guys feel comfortable that I can bridge that gap pretty quick."
On whether he had any reservations about jumping back into the coaching profession after a three-year absence, D'Onofrio responded without hesitation, "Not at all. I've been around football my whole life. I've had some fits and starts with it. But it's easy to step back in."
It's not like D'Onofrio went cold turkey from the sport after the Cougars staff was released.
"I stayed in Houston and spent a lot of time around football — helping out youth football, helping out high school football and being an advisor to friends of mine who were coaching the college and pro game," said D'Onofrio, who also carved out family time for his wife Lucia and their two teenage boys.
"I was in a position where we were trying to keep our kids in one spot until an opportunity presented itself that we felt was going to be long term and worth the move … I certainly didn't shut football out (the last three seasons). I kept sharp. I watched a ton of games."
D'Onofrio never viewed the NFL as a serious coaching option. To which he explained, "I really enjoy all the facets of the college game. I've always enjoyed the recruiting and I like the development of players at that age … you're trying to figure out how to get them to be the best they can be for 365."
Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst has often echoed the very same sentiments.
"When this job opened, I got the opportunity to get some people to talk with Paul about me," D'Onofrio said. "We eventually had a conversation. He got a chance to look at my resume and those sorts of things. And I got a chance to come in and talk football with Jim and the defensive staff."
The Badgers, on many fronts, intrigued D'Onofrio, "This was a program that I admired from afar in terms of how the game was playing … playing great defense … having great linebackers … playing complimentary football … and ultimately winning a lot of football games."
Although he had not crossed paths with Leonhard, he was up to speed on his defenses.
"First off, I knew that he's had some of the best defenses in the country," said D'Onofrio, "I also knew there was a schematic fit — a lot of the same terms and same things that were done in this defense.
"Obviously, Jim is extremely bright, and he has put his own spin on this defense and evolved it each year to continue to get it better. I'm excited to be a part of that. I have an appreciation for the job Jim has to do and I want to do my part at my position to help make his job easier."
D'Onofrio's only previous connection on the UW staff is first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Engram. Both are Penn State grads. D'Onofrio was a senior linebacker and defensive captain when Engram was a freshman wide receiver on the 1991 team that went 11-2 and ranked No. 3 nationally.
"He was mature, he was respected, and he was ultra-talented," D'Onofrio said of Engram, the Nittany Lions all-time leader in receiving yards (3,026). "It was great to reconnect during the interview process. It's another neat thing about college football that I share with my players.
"There's a serious bond between guys no matter how much time lapses."
D'Onofrio was college teammates with Todd Rucci, a starting offensive lineman and the father of two current Badger players: redshirt junior tight end Hayden Rucci and redshirt freshman tackle Nolan Rucci. Laughed D'Onofrio, "I call them the clones. They look exactly like Todd."
D'Onofrio and Todd Rucci were both second rounds picks in the NFL draft — D'Onofrio to the Packers in 1992 and Rucci to the New England Patriots in 1993. Whereas Rucci ended up playing eight pro seasons and got to a Super Bowl, D'Onofrio's career was cut short after only a handful of games.
While Brian Noble was staging a contract holdout in Green Bay, D'Onofrio had taken over as a starting linebacker for the Packers. But in his second game, he injured his left hamstring against Tampa Bay in mid-September of '93. He had already dealt with an injury to his right hamstring in training camp.
"I do remember it — it was a bootleg play and I turned and sprinted to find the tight end to recover on a pass — it was a strange sort of injury, and I knew it was pretty serious because of the pain," said D'Onofrio. "It was uncharted waters at the time. It wasn't your basic ACL."
He never played football again and conceded, "Of course, you do wonder (What if?)."
With such an uncertain future, he reached out to his college head coach, Joe Paterno.
"When I first got injured, he reached out to me and told me that if I needed any help in getting started in a new profession to just give him a call," D'Onofrio said. "I called him and went up to see him and he gave me some advice in terms of how to go full-speed in a (coaching) career.
"He recommended getting a GA job to start. And then, he recommended taking on as many roles as you possible can to advance your career. That's really what I did."
Along the way, he was influenced by a coach/mentor like Al Golden, who was the defensive coordinator at the University of Virginia when D'Onofrio joined the staff in 2004. When Golden took over the Temple program as its head coach, he brought D'Onofrio with him to coordinate the defense.
From there, D'Onofrio was also the coordinator at the University of Miami and Houston. He's had more than 150 games as a defensive signal-caller over 12 seasons during which he has helped cultivate and produce 20 NFL draft picks on defense, 10 in the first three rounds, three in the first round.
As soon as D'Onofrio got into the mix for the Wisconsin job, he began looking at tape. "I kind of went back and glanced at some of these guys on their high school tapes — whatever I could grab," he said. "Since I've gotten here, I've gone through cutups from last year and spring practice."
Asked if he sees any measurable advantage to having played linebacker, the position that he's now coaching, he qualified his comment by first saying, "There's a lot of great coaches out there who haven't played their positions or played to the level I did."
But, yes, he does believe that his background as a college and NFL player, however brief, helps from one important perspective: "Only because I've gotten that feedback from guys that I've coached that felt like the understanding of me playing (linebacker) allowed them to play a certain way."
On Tuesday, D'Onofrio got his head shot taken, another official step in his Wisconsin orientation.
It still begged the questions: Why here? Why now? What brought him back to the profession?
"Everything has always come back to football for me," he said. "It's something I've been doing since I was 8. It's something I love and I'm passionate about. It challenges you mentally. It challenges you to overcome adversity. Most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to help and develop guys.
"Right now, doing it as long as I've been doing it, I have a chance to look at the fruits of my labor. And I look at guys that I've coached that played 10 years in the NFL and retired. Or guys that I've coached who just graduated from medical school or became lawyers or entrepreneurs."
As such, the thought of stepping back into the fast lane was not intimidating. Not at all. Not to a veteran coach. "The chance to help mold young people and help them achieve all of their goals – on and off the field – has been really gratifying for me."
And, by the sounds of it, will continue to be so. As he applies himself in front of another canvas.
