Virginia Tech Hiring Wisconsin's Joe Rudolph as Offensive Line Coach

The rumors about Joe Rudolph to Virginia Tech seems poised to become reality as Zach Barnett of Football Scoop is reporting that the Hokies are set to hire the Wisconsin associate head coach/OL coach as Tech's offensive line coach and run game coordinator.

This is a tremendous coup for Brent Pry as Rudolph has established himself as one of the best offensive line coaches in the country both as a talent developer and as a recruiter. Rudolph is also a Wisconsin alum and had been with Paul Chryst since Chryst's time as OC for the Badgers from 2008-11 before Rudolph became Chryst's OC at Pittsburgh.

During his time at Wisconsin, Rudolph has had eight First and Second Team All-Americans among six players including Tyler Biadasz who won the prestigious Remington Trophy in 2019 as the best center in America. Tech has started to build up a solid OL culture in recent years, but Rudolph is the type of coach who can cement that and then some for the Hokies.

He's also established himself as a premier recruiter especially of offensive linemen over the years during his time at Pittsburgh and Wisconsin, and shown an adept ability to adapt to recruiting the footprint of the job he's at. Recruiting is undoubtedly a big reason why Tech made their coaching change and brought in Brent Pry, and Rudolph should be an ace recruiter for this staff.

Wisconsin's rushing attacks have also been consistently at the top of the sport with the Badgers ranking in the top 25 in rushing four of the five past seasons including this year with a freshman RB in Braelon Allen.

Rudolph had been the offensive coordinator from 2015-2020 before that changed after a disappointing 2020 season which makes you wonder if that may be part of what has led to Rudolph leaving Madison. Even with that, the move still is surprising given that he is a Wisconsin alum and seems poised to be considered for head coaching jobs at least at the G5 level going forward especially in the MAC and the AAC.

Update

Virginia Tech has officially announced the hiring of Wisconsin's Joe Rudolph as the Hokies' offensive line coach, run game coordinator, and associate head coach.

This is the confirmation of a big time hire by Pry and someone who is among the elite at developing offensive linemen and strong rushing attacks. His veteran presence should also prove valuable for Tyler Bowen as a first time lead offensive coordinator and playcaller along with having another veteran assistant and proven OC in Brad Glenn already on staff as QBs coach and pass game coordinator.

We will have more as this story develops.