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The hire is a major one for first-time head coach Brent
Pry.
ZACH BARNETT
Update: Virginia Tech has now announced
the move. Rudolph is Virginia Tech's offensive line coach and run game
coordinator.
Joe
Rudolph is expected to join Brent Pry's Virginia Tech staff, sources told
FootballScoop on Monday. The move could be announced as soon as today.
Rudolph comes from Wisconsin, where he
spent seven years as the Badgers' offensive line coach and helped construct
some of the most fearsome running games in college football.
The hire is a coup for
first-time head coach Pry. Rudolph was Paul Chryst's associate head coach and run game
coordinator, and also a Wisconsin alumnus. It's expected Rudolph will have
additional duties beyond coaching the offensive line in Blacksburg.
Rudolph was a team captain on
Wisconsin's Big Ten and Rose Bowl-winning team in 1993 and also
spent 2008-11 as the program's tight ends coach. He left to serve as
Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator from 2012-14, then returned with Chryst in
2015. Those three seasons at Pitt represent Rudolph's only time outside the Big
Ten amid a three-decade career in college football.
Wisconsin ranked among the top 25 nationally in rushing four of the last five years, including a No. 22 ranking this season at 210.9 yards per game and 4.84 a carry. Virginia Tech averaged 185 yards per game and 4.52 a rush this season.
