Badgers: OL coach Joe Rudolph leaving for Virginia Tech

January 3, 2022
|In Badgers
|By Zach Heilprin

Wisconsin is in the market for a new offensive line coach.

As first reported by FootballScoop.com, Virginia Tech is hiring Joe Rudolph as its offensive line coach and run-game coordinator.

Rudolph confirmed the news on Twitter late Monday morning.

Rudolph has spent more than half of his adult life at Wisconsin. He was the starting left guard on Barry Alvarez’s first Big Ten title team in 1993 and returned as an assistant coach under Bret Bielema in 2008. Rudolph left with Paul Chryst when he took the Pittsburgh job in 2011 and returned to Madison when Chryst took over as coach in 2015.

One of, if not the best recruiter on Chryst’s staff, Rudolph served as the offensive play caller during the 2020 season. It did not go well and those duties reverted to Chryst for the 2021 season. The 49-year-old Rudolph also had his title of offensive coordinator changed to run-game coordinator and took a 6% pay cut.

One potential option for his replacement is already on Wisconsin’s staff. Inside linebackers coach Bob Bostad was considered among the best offensive line coaches in the country and led the Badgers line from 2008 to 2011. He initially left to be Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator under Chryst before the NFL came calling. He spent two years as Tampa Bay’s line coach and another two in Tennessee.