It’s been nearly four years since the Wisconsin Badgers made their biggest coaching change of the past decade, firing head coach Paul Chryst and later replacing him with Luke Fickell, bypassing former defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jim Leonhard in the process.
The moves were ones that many Wisconsin fans questioned, in particular the decision to let go of Leonhard and go outside the Wisconsin tree to hire Fickell. Still, many saw it as a slam-dunk, given Fickell’s success at Cincinnati,
both on the field and in the recruiting department.
Three seasons later, the jury remains out on Fickell, who has struggled to reshape the Badgers, with many of the questions that were present when he arrived still lingering. Wisconsin posted its worst season in over 35 years in 2025, going 4-8, marking its second straight year without a bowl appearance.
Meanwhile, Chryst and Leonhard have gone through different paths since leaving Wisconsin. After a year as an analyst at Illinois, Leonhard transitioned to the Denver Broncos coaching staff as a pass game coordinator for the past two years. He was hired as the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator this offseason, marking his first coordinator role since his time at Wisconsin.
Chryst, on the other hand, has kept a relatively low profile, although he’s been linked to various jobs over the years.
In an interview with The Athletic, Chryst and Leonhard shared their first public thoughts on their departures from Wisconsin, and the aftermath of what happened.
“I didn’t agree with being fired,” Chryst said with a laugh, via The Athletic’s Tim Graham. “But they, obviously, wanted something different.”
“I thought (Leonhard) was the right one to take over,” Chryst added. “I didn’t see the change happening, but in that instance it’s hard to switch and not care about the good of the team anymore. I wanted him to be the next guy, absolutely.”
He wasn’t alone, especially after Wisconsin rallied at the end of the 2022 season to push Wisconsin to a bowl game. That season still had its fair share of issues, as the Badgers went just 6-6 in the regular season, but there was a level of confidence in Leonhard to be the next head coach before Chris McIntosh surprised many by hiring Fickell.
“I knew how to make that place better,” Leonhard said. “So, given the opportunity, I felt like I had the plan, the structure, the organization set and a plan for a lot of the people. So you get really excited about what that could look like, and they went in a different direction.”
The moment was especially revealing for Leonhard, who had turned down several coordinator opportunities at the NFL level to stay at Wisconsin.
“He earned the right to have those other opportunities,” Chryst said about Leonhard’s connection to Wisconsin, “but in the end he did what was right for his family. He never came across to me like he was chasing the money, and I think he knew he’d have other opportunities. Jimmy had confidence he was only going to get better as a coach.”
“I never planned on leaving. I was happy at Wisconsin,” Leonhard added, via the article.
Chryst felt, upon the time of his firing, that Wisconsin had been improving in the big-picture. But after a home loss to Washington State and back-to-back blowouts against Ohio State and Illinois, the Badgers pulled the plug.
“To make a change like that at Wisconsin? That was …” Chryst said before his voice trailed off, per Graham. “The big picture was we were doing some pretty good things, but they wanted change. I don’t spend a lot of time on things you can’t control, but as a head coach you feel responsible for the players you brought and the coaches and staff that you hired. You didn’t know to what extent, but you knew things were going to change, and it was going to be hard.”
Now, both are doing well in their own right, while the Badgers are looking to figure things out still in Year 4 under Luke Fickell.
