Badgers Assistant Coach Named Top-Five At His Position in the Big Ten

Wisconsin football took comprehensive steps towards righting the ship this offseason, as the Badgers became bigger spenders both in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail.

It also added a few new assistant coaches, and two in particular (offensive line coach Eric Mateos and cornerbacks coach Robert Steeples) look to have been especially tremendous hires with how their colleagues describe them as teachers.

Having a strong assistant/position coach staff in college football is massive, as they directly impact the talent a program acquires and how that talent develops. Mateos and Steeples have already put in work on the recruiting trail, both at the transfer portal and high school level. Now, we just need to see their units perform on the field.

But a Wisconsin position coach that remains extremely underrated even though he's been on staff for two-plus years now? Defensive line coach E.J. Whitlow.

However, he may finally garner some of the praise he deserves. Analytics site MatrixAnalytical.com named Whitlow the fifth-best interior defensive line coach in the Big Ten:

Top 5 Interior DL Coaches in the #B1G

@R2X_Rushmen1 #GoBucks @Coach_PatKuntz #IUFB @CoachKolodziej #Northwestern @MalloeMalloe #WeAre @CoachWhit_UW #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/kQNkV65n4c
— Matrix Analytical (@CFBAnalytical) June 15, 2026

Interestingly enough, a former Wisconsin defensive line coach (Ross Kolodziej, 2021-2022) is also included on this list and ranked higher that Whitlow. But after what Whitlow has done in two years at Madison — and how quickly he's turned around the Badgers' defensive front — this praise is absolutely warranted.

It's worth noting that this rankings system factors in the perceived talent of the coach's position group. That should be a big part of the reason Whitlow is ranked so highly, as he's done more with less — Wisconsin hasn't deployed many big-time, blue-chip defensive linemen the past two seasons.

But Whitlow has also orchestrated a shocking turnaround in the Badgers' defensive trenches. In 2024, Whitlow's first season, Wisconsin surrendered 165.0 rushing yards per game, good for a dismal 91st nationally.

Wisconsin defensive line coach E.J. Whitlow. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But the coach proceeded to turn it around, recruiting a big, experienced and heavy class of portal defensive linemen, and proceeded to coach them into a top-15 run-stuffing unit in the country last season; the Badgers allowed just 105.2 yards per game in 2025, an huge step up from the year prior.

This fall, Whitlow looks primed to engineer another stellar defensive line. Wisconsin lost each of its top four players from the 2025 campaign, but Whitlow reloaded via the transfer portal and the Badgers are once again awash with large, experienced players up front, replicating his formula for success.

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