Virginia Tech Offensive Line Coach Joe Rudolph Headed To Notre Dame

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor
Virginia Tech offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has departed for Notre Dame. (Jon Fleming)

On Monday, news broke that Virginia Tech offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is headed to Notre Dame. Rudolph spent one season on Brent Pry’s staff in Blacksburg after making the move from Wisconsin.

Tom Loy of 247Sports first reported the coaching move while The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and ESPN’s Heather Dinich confirmed it.

Tech hired Rudolph on Jan. 3, 2022 from the Badgers, where he spent seven seasons. A Wisconsin alumnus, he was a graduate assistant at Ohio State from 2004-06 and had stops at Nebraska and Pitt before finding his way back to Madison. It was in Columbus, Ohio where Rudolph crossed paths with Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, who played for the Buckeyes from 2004-08.

Rudolph was on a three-year contract with Virginia Tech that earned him $725,000 per year and expired in 2025. He’s the second assistant to leave the Hokies in the last week after Brad Glenn departed for the offensive coordinator job at Cincinnati on Feb. 22. In a similar situation to Rudolph, Glenn had a previous connection with Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield, who he worked alongside at Appalachian State.

The Hokies now have two hires to make before spring practice starts on March 16. However, when it comes to additions, there is some flexibility on the staff. Offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Tyler Bowen is a former offensive lineman who has overseen that position before, and wide receivers coach Fontel Mines mentored tight ends in his previous stop at Old Dominion.

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  1. Definitely interesting times for the football program. I guess I’m not surprised there were changes but the timing is particularly worrisome as the offensive staff clearly struggled last year pulling all the parts together. Having less time to do so this year may present some challenges.

    I think it does speak volumes that Rudolph went to ND and Glenn followed Satterfield to Cincinnati. ND is clearly an upgrade to VT and Glenn gets to work with someone he’s had success with in the past as an OC. As mentioned above, it’s more the timing I find curious than the moves.

  4. Count me in as a Vice fan!

    I disagree with David on ‘flexibility’. This hire is BIG…and I don’t see Bowen (unless demoted) or Mines being the answer.

    1. Bowen should have never been hired. Pry will not succeed with Bowen on the staff. But Pry is responsible for this awful hire (along with Babcock for not pushing back initially) so it is what it is. Other programs know which coaches are valuable and which are not worth their time or money. Bowen is the latter.

      There was not a G5 program in the country last year that would have hired Bowen as OC let alone a P5 program. Our offense is a clown show and Bowen is the ring leader. Can’t blame our offensive coaches for bailing and going to better situations. I have no doubt their new jobs are better both financially and programmatically. If I was an offensive assistant I wouldn’t want to hitch my wagon to Bowen.

  6. Good lord! Are we this bad all around? Wow. How can VT be this bad a place to work, play and live. I’m losing so much faith in my school. It feels like we have taken so many giant steps back that we won’t ever be able to recover. Next year looks to be another train wreck. Certainly feels like I’ll be long gone before we ever sniff relevancy again if ever.

  7. Todd Washington is on the Jaguars staff and is an experienced offensive line coach, with an NFL pedigree AND he is a Hokie!

  8. The stay-bility the Hokies enjoyed on their staff during the Beamer years is a thing of the past. They can’t compete for better salaries or on the field of competition, so I fear this turnover will be the norm now

      1. While he was a solid name, he didn’t show us a great product (or any of the offense). We may never know what could have been.

    2. I guess a lot of you anti-Joe people are happy today. In a few years when we play the Golden Domers again,Joe maybe the reason why we lose. I pity you poor people of a lack of good judgement. Joe was a good coach, why else would Notre Dame want him if he wasn’t!

    1. Maybe not but I bet their OL will be better than it as been. Why are you guys so anti-Tech, no matter who coaches what sport. You just can’t enjoy the moment, can you. Start putting up the BIG MONEY to bring these so called GREAT COACHES in here to turn the program arounds the. I give my part, DO YOU?

  12. What am I missing? VT’s offense last year was HISTORICALLY BAD!! Yet within the last week 2 of its offensive coaches have been hired away by other programs for promotions or raises (we have to assume ND is paying Rudolph more money, correct?).
    Of course, the constant in last season’s offensive embarrassment was the OC (Tyler Bowen), and no other program is stupid enough to hire him away from Tech, right?

    1. Guess who has zero shot of being hired away? They know which ones to hire and which ones aren’t qualified. Great programs took 2 of our guys..they all know the answer of where our issues lie.

    1. It could get worse. We didn’t finish dead last nationally in every offensive category last season, but we came close.

    2. It fell on the basketball team, bounced, and now it’s falling on the football team on the rebound

  17. Does notre dame owe us the buyout? Thought they balked at doing that when trying to hire Utah ‘s OC

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