Ladysmith (WQOW) -Â A familiar face in the Chippewa Valley has been named the new temporary head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers football team, after Paul Chryst was fired.
Jim Leonhard is the new interim head coach and in his seventh season with Wisconsin, where he was the Defensive Head Coordinator. Before being apart of Wisconsin's staff, Leonhard grew up in Ladysmith, and played at flambeau high school from 1996 to 2000 where he won a state championship. One of his former coaches during his time in high school, said that Leonhard knew the game like no one else.
"I think his quiet demeanor that he uses when he coaches kids, they naturally flock to him", said Darrell Gago, who coached Jim Leonhard at Flambeau High School. "When he's talking to you, he brings a certain amount of clout to the game, and I don't think I've ever had a kid that really understood the game like he does. The ins and outs."
Leonhard officially starts as the interim head coach for Saturday's game.Â
