Scott Cochran shocked the çollege football world when he decided to leave Nick Saban's staff in Tuscaloosa to become the special teams coordinator for Kirby Smart at Georgia. Cochran had been itching to get into an on-the-field role, and while Lane Kiffin had tried to lure him to Ole Miss, the opportunity at UGA was too good to pass up.
It was a rare head strength coach-to-on the field coaching move.
Well, Wisconsin just announced a similar move in what appears to be an emerging trend.
The Badgers announced today that head strength coach Ross Kolodziej will transition to an on-field coaching role on Paul Chryst's staff overseeing the development of the defensive line.
Kolodziej has served as Chryst's head strength coach for the last seven years - six years in Madison and one season at Pitt.
Back in 2012, Kolodziej spent a season as a defensive graduate assistant at Wisconsin working with the defensive line.
Chryst shared the following in the school's release about his new defensive line coach:
"I'm excited for Ross and for our team that he will have the opportunity to coach our defensive line. He has played the position at the highest level and has tremendous knowledge of the position. I'm confident in his abilities as a coach and have witnessed that first-hand through all the years we have been together.
"Our players who have worked with Ross, both present players and guys that have gone through the program, are fired up for him. I know our current guys in the D-line room are looking forward to getting to work with him even more closely now."
For Kolodziej, it's the realization of a dream he's been working toward since his playing days ended.
"When I wrapped up my playing career, it was my intent to get into coaching with the idea of becoming a defensive line coach. So when Jim Leonhard and Paul Chryst came to me asking if I wanted to coach, saying that they think I can help the program be successful in this role, it was an easy answer to their question."
"I get to work with and learn from a tremendous group of coaches on the football side, and I can't think of a better place to be or a better group of players to coach."
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest in coaching job change information.