Greg McElroy narrows down Wisconsin coaching search to two candidates

The coaching search at Wisconsin is clear to ESPN analyst Greg McElroy. After the Badgers parted ways with head football coach Paul Chryst on Sunday, McElroy appeared on “Always College Football” to offer his take on the situation.

Although McElroy was surprised at first, he now sees why the Badgers made the decision. He also believes their next head coach will be one of two names: Jim Leonhard or Lance Leipold.

“Initially, my reaction was shock,” McElroy said of Chryst’s firing. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This guy was coming off of a nine-win season just last year. You look at the performance he’s had over the course of his career at Wisconsin: Three division titles, has been to the Rose Bowl, has fared very well in the postseason. He is a cool 6-1 in the postseason in bowl games. But this is very, very clear.

“One, the program didn’t feel like it had a real positive trajectory. Felt like they were kind of stuck and they hadn’t really done the things that they used to do with emphatic dominance. This is a program that dominated the line of scrimmage for a very long time offensively. It doesn’t feel quite like that any more. Two, I think the interim coach has an awful lot to do with this decision. Jim Leonhard now gets a seven-game sample size for Barry Alvarez and all the decision makers that be associated with the Wisconsin program. …Option No. 2, Lance Leipold, is currently 5-0 at Kansas. He of course won six national championships at Wisconsin-Whitewater.”

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Leonhard, the defensive coordinator and now interim head coach at Wisconsin, is a former Badgers safety who was in his seventh season under Chryst. He has not been a head coach yet in his young career, nor has he coached anywhere outside of Madison. If he can find success over the back half of the season, it could lead to him being awarded the full-time job.

Leipold is a native of Wisconsin and previously spent eight years as the head coach at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater, which is also his alma mater. This season he has Kansas off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 2009 and ranked No. 19 in the AP poll, their first appearance in 13 seasons.

“I think this move was exclusively about giving a good, long, solid look at Jim Leonhard,” McElroy said. “If he’s successful, they’ll remove the interim tag. If he’s not successful, it’s very clear where you go with this coaching search. Bring home the college football Hall of Famer Lance Leipold, who was quickly turned things around at Kansas.

“…You bring him home to Wisconsin to a place that would likely be his dream job. I don’t know if he’s ever publicly said that because Wisconsin has never really come open like this, but this is a no-brainer. It’s one of two guys. It’s either Jim Leonhard or it’s Lance Leipold.”

Whichever candidate ultimately comes out on top in the Wisconsin coaching search will have high expectations right off the bat. Chryst was by no means unsuccessful in his tenure, as McElroy mentioned, but the Badgers have bigger goals.

Leonhard will get his first opportunity to prove he is worthy of winning the job when Wisconsin faces Northwestern at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on the road.