Badgers o-line coach, top recruiter to VaTech

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Interesting Bucky's 5th Quarter seems to see this as a positive. Joe Rudolph seems to be their Mike Sanford
 



salzie said:
Yes fans weren't happy with offense and wanted staff shake up.
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Come on man according to the guys on Fox Mertz is a fighter—— wait, did that ball just fall 10 yards short?!?!
 

3 of the 4 badger starting linebackers will not be back.
 

Strong rumors that Rudolph's replacement will be current LBs coach Bob Bostad, who has a pretty impressive resume churning out several draft picks and All-Americans in his previous run as OL coach under Bert. And previous posters are on target when they say Badger fans were disillusioned with Randolph because his lines hadn't lived up to the high standards of the past.
 



kg21 said:
3 of the 4 badger starting linebackers will not be back.
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If there is anything I know, it's that the Badgers will have a very good OL, RB, and LB no matter who graduates/leaves for draft/portals out. This year the OL and RB was more suspect for about half the season than they typically are. But they figured it out and they returned to form.

I have been guilty plenty of times of it myself, but predicting the downfall of the Badgers is a fools errand. I'll enjoy it when it inevitably happens, but until then, I'm just going to assume they'll reload at those three position groups.
 


I suspect that Joe Rudolph's leaving will be felt most in recruiting!
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Strong rumors that Rudolph's replacement will be current LBs coach Bob Bostad, who has a pretty impressive resume churning out several draft picks and All-Americans in his previous run as OL coach under Bert. And previous posters are on target when they say Badger fans were disillusioned with Randolph because his lines hadn't lived up to the high standards of the past.
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I haven't followed Wiscy's coaching decisions super closely. Based off your post, why would they have moved Bostad to linebackers if he was such a great O-line coach? That seems odd.
 



forever a gopher said:
If there is anything I know, it's that the Badgers will have a very good OL, RB, and LB no matter who graduates/leaves for draft/portals out. This year the OL and RB was more suspect for about half the season than they typically are. But they figured it out and they returned to form.

I have been guilty plenty of times of it myself, but predicting the downfall of the Badgers is a fools errand. I'll enjoy it when it inevitably happens, but until then, I'm just going to assume they'll reload at those three position groups.
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Great post. Wisconsin has proved, over and over, that their model is durable, and that it is immune to having really poor down years. To use the cliche, the Badgers don't rebuild, they just reload. That hasn't changed.

But big change has come to the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry anyway. Fleck and the Gophers have undeniably proved they can beat the Badgers, on the field, without having to depend on the Badgers having a down cycle.

Minnesota is 2-2 against Wisconsin over the last four seasons, and one of the Gopher losses was in Madison, in overtime, when our kicker missed a chip shot field goal.

Gopher football is coming on strong, folks.

Next mission: hang an "L" on both Iowa and Wisconsin in 2022.
 

I used to just roll my eyes at the various tales of change or doom out of Madison. I learned that they always seemed to land on their feet, and do so very quickly when change hit their program. I often speculated this was because of BA churning out his successful blueprint in the background.

But, it is amazing what evening things up over the last four meetings (and should be 3 out of 4) has done to my optimism regarding their program. I doubt they will become Illinois anytime soon but it finally seems as though the rivalry could be moving back into a stage of equality.
 

BA has retired and Chryst is not a world beater. Their D coordinator, Jim Leonhard, is the jewel of their staff. If he moves elsewhere for a head coaching job that could set the Badgers back a bit. I predict the further we get away from the Alvarez legacy the more that program will dwindle.
 

They have Bostad on staff, probably end up being an upgrade
 

The problems with WI's offense his year started with the poor play of the OL.
A major variable was that the WI SOS ended up in the top ten but even playing unranked teams the OL underperformed..
Mertz had to run for his life in the early games and whiffed block by a WI OL in the MI game put Mertz in the hospital.
Despite all of that Mertz ended the the year with a QB rating of 121; Morgan was 116.
Rudolph was a TE coach at WI who morphed into an OL coach under Chryst when they were both at Pitt. He had a shot at being the OC at WI and failed at that and was demoted.
Rudolph is thought of as a very nice guy and he and Chryst were close friends.
Bostad was good enough to land some stints in the NFL as an OL coach and sent more WI OL to the NFL than Rudolph did.
The WI defense has way outperformed the offense for the last couple of years and a shakeup was thought to be needed by many fans and the Madison newspaper.
Having a running back like Taylor covered a multitude of sins in the WI offense.
Will Chryst still be the OC, will Bostad be the OL coach, who will coach the LBs, etc?
WI had a couple of very good recruiting classes and only time will tell if WI will get its mojo back on offense.
 

Wisconsin has always been known as a run-first team, haven't they? Possible exception would be when Russell Wilson was there.

I've never thought of them as an offensive juggernaut, except they always have a deep stable of talented runners. QBs? Not so much.
 

Schnauzer said:
I used to just roll my eyes at the various tales of change or doom out of Madison. I learned that they always seemed to land on their feet, and do so very quickly when change hit their program. I often speculated this was because of BA churning out his successful blueprint in the background.

But, it is amazing what evening things up over the last four meetings (and should be 3 out of 4) has done to my optimism regarding their program. I doubt they will become Illinois anytime soon but it finally seems as though the rivalry could be moving back into a stage of equality.
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Wisconsin's last 4 years certainly don't have them trending upwards.

2021: 9-4 and losing the Axe. Good not great season by their standards.
2020: 4-3 with no overly impressive wins, beat us in OT for the axe.
2019: Solid 10-4 season, Rose Bowl appearance, beat us badly at home, finished ranked one spot behind us.
2018: 8-5 with a big bowl win over Miami, got beat badly at home in the Axe game.

I'm not saying Wisconsin is totally cratering as a program, but at this point their reputation is exceeding the results on the field, and they aren't that far ahead of us.
 

forever a gopher said:
If there is anything I know, it's that the Badgers will have a very good OL, RB, and LB no matter who graduates/leaves for draft/portals out. This year the OL and RB was more suspect for about half the season than they typically are. But they figured it out and they returned to form.

I have been guilty plenty of times of it myself, but predicting the downfall of the Badgers is a fools errand. I'll enjoy it when it inevitably happens, but until then, I'm just going to assume they'll reload at those three position groups.
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No way! Badgers are done! Take it to the bank! V32.0 (This time is different!)
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
No way! Badgers are done! Take it to the bank! V32.0 (This time is different!)
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This time is different, but not because the Badgers are 'done'. Wisconsin is definitely not 'done'.

This time is different because Minnesota football is now at a level where we can compete on an even footing with Wisconsin. That is what's different.
 

Word said:
I haven't followed Wiscy's coaching decisions super closely. Based off your post, why would they have moved Bostad to linebackers if he was such a great O-line coach? That seems odd.
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He went to the NFL (Bucs and Eagles) to coach OL for 4 years. When he returned to Wisconsin he came back as the LBs coach.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Strong rumors that Rudolph's replacement will be current LBs coach Bob Bostad, who has a pretty impressive resume churning out several draft picks and All-Americans in his previous run as OL coach under Bert. And previous posters are on target when they say Badger fans were disillusioned with Randolph because his lines hadn't lived up to the high standards of the past.
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WindyCityGopher said:
He went to the NFL (Bucs and Eagles) to coach OL for 4 years. When he returned to Wisconsin he came back as the LBs coach.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Bostad

Interesting background. Was also a GA here at the U. Played LB, and has been LB coach at Wisc since 2017.

Was also running game coordinator at Wisc 2008-2011. Looks like he had accepted the OC job at Pitt in 2012 with Chyrst as the new headcoach, before deciding to go to the NFL as OL coach instead.


Crud. Seems like an easy, plug-and-play OL and OC pick.

Chryst was Bert's OC/QB coach for many years, and probably will always have his fingers in the offensive pot, whomever the OC is. Perhaps similar to Fleck here.
 



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