Could John Rudzkinski become a hot head coaching candidate?

One of the many factors in Virginia's recent football success has been coaching continuity. As he begins his fifth season in charge, Tony Elliott has has most of his staff with him for all or part of that tenure.

That includes both of his coordinators, Des Kitchings and John Rudzinski. But if the Cavaliers' defense continues to dominate the way it did in a season-openng rout of NC State, Elliott may find it a bit harder to hold on to Rudzinski.

A few caveats, of course.

We're one week into the season, and things could change dramatically. With the possible exception of Lane Kiffin, coaches always concentrate on the job at hand, and Rudzinski's focus is currently on stopping Norfolk State, Virginia's next opponent.

And any successful coach has to expect to watch his lieutenants get wooed by other programs. Just ask Elliott, who parlayed an impressive tenure mentoring quarterbacks at Clemson into the head coaching job at Virginia.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman recently published a list of 11 "hot" assistant coaches who could be in the mix for a shot at running their own programs soon. You won't be surprised to know that Rudzinski wasn't mentioned on a slate of names from perennial powers like Georgia, Alabama, Miami, Penn State, LSU and Notre Dame.

But a program that needs a new leader and doesn't want to break the bank in a new age of player compensation could do worse than looking at Rudzkinski's resume.

Start with last Saturday, when his Cavaliers completely flummoxed CJ Bailey, the Wolfpack quarterback who had shredded them a year ago. Rotating a crew of fresh defensive linemen, Virginia held Bailey to the lowest passing total (84 yards) of his college career and denied him a rushing or passing touchdown.

And the Cavaliers did it with their best defender (linebacker Kam Robinson) on the sideline. In fact, in three of the four games since Robinson tore his ACL against Duke last November, Virginia has held its opponent (Virginia Tech, Missouri and now NC State) to single digits.

This comes after Virginia posted the ACC's second-ranked scoring defense (19.6 points per game) and No. 3 overall defense (310.1 yards) despite Robinson missing six games with an assortment of injuries. The Cavaliers' defense has improved steadily in his five seasons in charge.

Before then, Rudzkinski spent 14 years at the Air Force Academy, including the final four as defensive coordinator. He didn't exactly have access to the nation's best athletes at a service academy, but the Falcons finished third nationally in scoring defense (15.0) in 2020 and fourth in total defense (296.5 yards per game) the following season.

Rudzinski clearly knows how to get the most out of his defensive personnel. He's never been in charge of an entire program — but neither had Elliott when Carla Williams hired him to lead the Cavaliers five years ago.

The grass isn't always greener, and Rudzinski, 43, may be perfectly happy matching Xs and Os with opposing offensive coordinators rather than assuming the many additional duties of a head coach. He also may feel loyalty to Elliott and want to be part of building a perennial contender in the ACC. That formula worked well for Bud Foster as Frank Beamer's right-hand man at Virginia Tech.

But most assistants want to be head coaches at some point, and athletic directors (and fan bases) are becoming increasingly impatient with underachieving programs — especially now that Indiana's Curt Cignetti has proven that you don't have to have a long pedigree of success to win a national title.

There likely will be openings around the ACC (perhaps Boston College, Florida State or Syracuse) and elsewhere after the season. Rudzinski might not be a sexy name for those programs to pursue, but if his defense remains stingy, a Group of 6 or FBS school might show some interest.

Rudzinski would then have a choice to make: stick with what he knows or strike out on his own. It's not a bad problem to have.

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