BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Football head coach Brent Pry announced Monday that Joe Rudolph has joined his coaching staff as associate head coach/run game coordinator/offensive line coach.
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Rudolph has spent the past seven seasons serving as associate head coach/offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at the University of Wisconsin under head coach Paul Chryst. A three-year letterman on the offensive line at Wisconsin, Rudolph was part of head coach Barry Alvarez’s squads that helped revitalize the program by winning the 1993 Big Ten championship and the 1994 Rose Bowl.
Since his arrival in Madison in 2015, the Badgers have averaged 212.3 rushing ypg, a mark that ranks fifth among Power Five squads. Only Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Oregon and Oklahoma have been better over that seven-season span. Wisconsin averaged 4.9 yards per carry and racked up 194 rushing TDs during his tenure as the Badgers made three Big Ten Championship Game appearances.
Rudolph has also coaching a litany of highly-decorated Wisconsin offensive linemen, many of whom have gone on to excel in the NFL ranks. The illustrious list includes five first-team All-America selections on the offensive line. T Ryan Ramczyk was a consensus All-America pick in 2016, was a first-round pick of New Orleans in the 2017 and earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2019. C Tyler Biadasz won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center in 2019 and was also a consensus All-America pick under Rudolph. G Beau Benzschawel twice earned first-team All-America honors for the Badgers. In 2017, T David Edwards was also a first-team All-America selection, while fellow T Michael Deiter earned second-team honors.
It was business as usual for Rudolph and the Badgers’ ground game in 2021, as Wisconsin ranked 15th in the nation, averaging 215.4 rushing yards per game. With Rudolph directing the running game, freshman RB Braelon Allen earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after finishing second in the conference and 21st in the country averaging 100.8 rushing ypg. Additionally, G Josh Seltzner and TE Jake Ferguson earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, while T Logan Bruss earned second-team accolades and T Tyler Beach earned third team all-conference in 2021.
The Badgers’ imposing line — a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award presented to the nation’s top unit in 2017 — led the way for a historic season by RB Jonathan Taylor. Taylor ran for 1,977 yards to set the FBS freshman rushing record, while UW averaged 222.9 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry. Taylor would go on to rack up 2,194 rushing yards in 2018 to earn the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back. For good measure, he added 2,003 ground yards in 2019 and another Doak Walker trophy to finish his three-year collegiate career with 6,174 rushing yards and 50 TDs before entering the NFL as a second-round NFL Draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts.
Pro Football Focus rated Biadasz the nation’s top center in 2019, while sophomore reserve Cole Van Lanen graded as the top tackle in the country. Remarkably, the Badgers claimed four of the five offensive line spots on the first-team All-Big Ten squad in 2018 (Benzschawel, Biadasz, Edwards and Deiter). Deiter was named Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. Rudolph’s blocking unit also helped the Badgers excel through the air in 2019 as QB Jack Coan completed a school-record 236 passes for 2,727 yards, the third-highest single-season total in UW history.
Under Rudolph’s direction in 2016, Ramczyk and UW’s offensive front helped pave the way for first-team All-Big Ten RB Corey Clement to average 105.8 rushing ypg and score 15 touchdowns. The Badgers averaged 203.1 rushing ypg to rank third in the Big Ten.
Little came easy for Rudolph’s unit during the first season of his return to Madison in 2015, with the Badgers forced to use eight different starting lineups on an offensive line beset by injuries. By the end of the 2015 season, Rudolph was using four redshirt freshmen to complement senior All-Big Ten selection Tyler Marz. The payoff for one of Rudolph’s best coaching jobs was a 10-3 season that culminated with a win over USC in the Holiday Bowl.
Senior WR Alex Erickson earned first-team All-Big Ten honors after recording 77 receptions for 978 yards, while senior QB Joel Stave became UW’s all-time winningest quarterback while attempting a single-season school record 370 passes in 2015 as the Badgers averaged a school-record 32.2 passing attempts per game that season.
Prior to returning to Madison, Rudolph spent three years as the offensive coordinator/tight ends coach under Chryst at Pitt (2012-14). In 2014, Pitt had its best offensive season under Rudolph as the Panthers averaged 31.8 points and 435.4 yards per game. Pitt ranked third in the ACC in total offense and fifth in the league in scoring offense.
Much of that production came from RB James Conner, who earned 2014 ACC Player of the Year honors by rushing for 1,765 yards and an ACC single-season record 26 TDs. In total, Rudolph’s offensive players at Pitt earned a total of 12 all-conference honors. That included two-time All-ACC performer WR Tyler Boyd, who earned Freshman All-America honors in 2013.
In Rudolph's debut campaign at Pitt in 2012, he helped orchestrate an effectively balanced offensive attack that produced a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher. QB Tino Sunseri passed for 3,288 yards with 21 touchdowns and only three interceptions. RB Ray Graham rushed for a career-high 1,042 yards and earned first-team All-Big East honors. It marked the first time in school history Pitt had a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher in the same season. Rudolph additionally played an instrumental role in Pitt's 2013 recruiting class and was selected one of the country's top 25 recruiters by Rivals.com.
In his first coaching stint with the Badgers, Rudolph coached UW’s tight ends from 2008-11 and contributed to the two highest-scoring offenses in school history. The Badgers averaged 44.1 points per game in 2011 and 41.5 points per game in 2010 en route to back-to-back Big Ten championships.
During that stint with the Badgers, he coached four UW tight ends who went on to play in the NFL ranks: Travis Beckum, Garrett Graham, Lance Kendricks and Jake Byrne. Beckum was taken in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the N.Y. Giants, Kendricks was a second-round pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2011 and Graham was selected in the fourth round by the Houston Texans in 2010. Kendricks was a first-team All-America selection and finalist for the John Mackey Award as a senior in 2010, leading the Badgers in receptions (43), receiving yards (663) and TD receptions (five).
Rudolph previously served as tight ends coach at Nebraska in 2007. He also assisted on all special teams units, overseeing the punt team. Prior to Nebraska, Rudolph served as a strength coordinator (2006) and offensive graduate assistant coach at Ohio State (2004-05), helping the Buckeyes to the 2007 BCS National Championship Game.
Rudolph graduated from Wisconsin in 1995 and later earned his master’s degree in business administration from Carnegie-Mellon in 2004. He spent time in the NFL playing for both Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Rudolph and his wife, Dawn, have three sons, Alex, Andrew and Austin.
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