Pitt Takes Another Wisconsin Coach For Defensive Coordinator

He said initially he wanted to stay in Madison, but as we saw with Fraud, it's not always true.

And now we can finally put notions that Tom Bradley will join the Pitt staff to rest.

Paul Chryst has filled another position on his staff - this time for defensive coordinator. That title will go to Wisconsin linebackers coach Dave Huxtable. It is another solid hire for Chryst consisting of people that he knows from previous hires.

So what do we know about Huxtable? He was in Madison this past season serving as the linebackers coach. Two of his linebackers were voted to First Team All-Big Ten. Prior to that, he spent seven seasons with UCF as their defensive coordinator. His specialty is obviously at the linebacker position, where he has spent most of his 30 years coaching. While at UCF, his defense was frequently near the top of several defensive stats every season. Huxtable also has stops at North Carolina, Oklahoma State, East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky, and Iowa State.

Obviously, Wisconsin's season just ended on Monday at the Rose Bowl and while Pitt fans should be thrilled with Wisconsin's offensive performance against Oregon, the defensive performance probably worried some. I'm pretty sure most defenses would give up that kind of performance against Oregon though and Wisconsin, for the most part this season, had played well on defense.

I hope Pitt fans were pleased with Wisconsin's season because it's possible a third coach for the Badgers joins Pitt's new staff. If Joe Rudolph, the tight ends coach for Wisconsin, is not selected by Bret Bielema to be Wisconsin's new offensive coordinator, the Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Rudolph will likely join Chryst as co-offensive coordinator, having worked closely with Chryst and Bob Bostad the past few seasons for Wisconsin.