New offensive line coach Joe Rudolph officially hired at Notre Dame

Notre Dame has made official its hire of Virginia Tech offensive line coach Joe Rudolph for the same role in South Bend. Rudolph also has experience as an offensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Pittsburgh under former Badgers head coach Paul Chyrst. The Tuesday morning announcement comes after Rudolph’s hire was first reported on Feb. 27.

“We are excited to add offensive line coach Joe Rudolph to our staff,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said in a statement. “He has a proven track record of developing elite college football players, many of whom have gone on to also experience great success in the NFL. We look forward to Joe having a similar impact in our program.”

Rudolph replaces Harry Hiestand at Notre Dame after Hiestand retired following Tommy Rees’s departure for Alabama. He has a lengthy history of being prominently involved in run-first offenses, as Chryst’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at both of his head-coaching stops.

As Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and newly-promoted offensive coordinator Gerad Parker looked for their offensive line coach, they emphasized remaining a run-first offense.

“The thing we know we are built on, we want to be o-line driven,” Parker said when in his introductory press conference on Feb. 20. “We want to be built from inside-out. With what we have returning up front and with our running backs and tight ends, to be able to control a box, that’s where it always has to start.”

With three proven running backs in rising juniors Audric Estimé and Logan Diggs, and rising senior Chris Tyree, along with two possible preseason All-Americans at tackle in rising juniors Joe Alt (left tackle) and Blake Fisher (right tackle), Rudolph should have a clear foundation