When Badgers head coach Gary Andersen unexpectedly and abruptly bolted Madison for the Oregon State vacancy, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez vowed to move quickly and decisively to pick up the program's pieces.

He did just that.

Wisconsin was without a head coach for just a single day (and change). The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Jeff Potrykus reported very late Thursday night that University of Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst is in line to take over the Badgers' job. Chryst was an offensive coordinator at Wisconsin for a number of years, and his name was bandied about in 2012 as a candidate for the program's top position when coach Bret Bielema moved down to Arkansas.

For the unitiated, Rudolph was a former Wisconsin lineman in the 1990s who served as tight ends coach of the Badgers from 2008-11 before following Chryst to Pittsburgh to be the latter's offensive coordinator. The notion of Chryst being able to "put together a good staff" is a key detail; Wisconsin football has been criticized in the past both externally and internally for not providing the support or compensation associated with topflight assistant coaching ranks -- a necessity in today's college football landscape.