Badgers' Kolodziej goes from strength coach to d-line coach

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin has named Ross Kolodziej defensive line coach after he served as the program’s head strength and conditioning coach over the last six seasons.

Badgers coach Paul Chryst announced the promotion Wednesday.

Kolodziej replaces Inoke Breckterfield, who had been Wisconsin’s defensive line coach for the last six seasons. Breckterfield left to take the same position at Vanderbilt on new Commodores coach Clark Lea’s staff.

Kolodziej is a former Wisconsin defensive lineman who made 45 career starts and played on the Badgers’ 1998 and 1999 teams that reached the Rose Bowl. He was in the NFL from 2001-07 with the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals.

He joined Chryst’s staff at Pittsburgh in 2013 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and was promoted to head strength coach a year later. He followed Chryst to Wisconsin in 2015.

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“When I wrapped up my playing career, it was my intent to get into coaching with the idea of becoming a defensive line coach,” Kolodziej said in a statement released by the university. “So when (defensive coordinator) 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.”

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