MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin football head coach Paul Chryst will have to hire a new member of his staff for the second straight season.

According to Fox Sport’s Bruce Feldman, Vanderbilt is expected to hire Badgers defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield to the same position on Clark Lea’s first staff with the Commodores.

Lea – who was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame this past season – worked with Breckterfield in 2011 when the two were on the same staff at UCLA. Breckterfield coached the defensive line while Lea coached the linebackers. The two will be charged with turning around a program that went 0-9 this season in the SEC.

Breckterfield coached with Chryst at Pittsburgh before joining him at Wisconsin six seasons ago. Breckterfield played for Chryst at Oregon State when Breckterfield was a defensive end (1995-98) and Chryst was the Beavers’ offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in ’97 and ’98.

Chryst had to replace one assistant after the 2019 season when wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore took the job of tight ends coach at Michigan State. He filled that job with Alvis Whitted, who coached wide receivers for the Green Bay Packers in 2019.

Wisconsin went a combined 56-19 during Breckterfield’s six seasons on staff, claiming three Big Ten West Division titles and scoring five bowl game wins.

In his first year in Madison, Breckterfield helped the Badgers build the nation’s top defense, ranking No. 1 in scoring defense (13.7 ppg) and No. 2 in total defense (268.5 ypg) in 2015 that was assisted by a talented trio of in-state prospects: Alec James, Chikwe Obasih and Conor Sheehy.

James and Sheehy were second-team All-Big Ten selections as seniors in 2017, contributing to a unit that won a school-record 13 games while finishing the season ranked No. 2 nationally in total defense (262.1 ypg), No. 3 in scoring defense (13.9 ppg), No. 3 in rushing defense (98.4 ypg) and No. 1 in passing efficiency defense (96.4).

After the group graduated, Breckterfield rebuilt the unit with defensive ends Isaiahh Loudermilk, Garrett Rand and former walk-on Matt Henningsen. That group combined with nose tackles Keeanu Benton and Bryson Williams to rack up 17 TFLs and 10 of the Badgers’ school-record 51 sacks — the nation’s No. 2 total — in 2019.

Loudermilk, Rand and Benton were the core group for the line this past season on a unit that held teams to 17.4 points per game and 96.1 rushing yards per game. The next d-line coach will have to replace Loudermilk and possibly Rand, but has a young collection of ends that includes Boyd Dietzen, Rodas Johnson, Isaiah Mullens and Gio Paez.

On the recruiting front, Breckterfield was the lead contact for Michael Jarvis in the 2021 recruiting class.