MADISON, Wis. — A whirlwind month of coaching changes for Wisconsin's football program finally came to a close on Monday, when Badgers coach Bret Bielema announced that he had hired Eddie Faulkner to serve as the team's tight ends coach.
Faulkner was a running back at Wisconsin from 1996-2000 and spent last season as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Northern Illinois, where he worked with current Wisconsin offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
"I'm excited to be able to bring Eddie back to Madison," Bielema said in a statement. "It's always special to be able to hire a former letterwinner. In addition to coaching our tight ends, Eddie brings great experience coaching special teams and has tremendous talents as a recruiter. He's obviously worked with Matt and he is highly-respected among the coaches on our staff."
Faulkner actually briefly joined the coaching staff at Pittsburgh under new coach Paul Chryst, who served as Wisconsin's offensive coordinator the past seven years. Faulkner was hired at Pitt on Jan. 12 as the running backs coach but left to take this job at Wisconsin.
"I'm very excited about the chance to come back to Madison and coach," Faulkner said in a statement. "Being an alum and coming back to the university I graduated from, I think that's an opportunity most coaches look for. I want to thank Coach Bielema for this chance. I worked for Matt Canada last year at Northern Illinois and he is a great coach and someone I really respect. I can't begin to say how excited I am about coming back, and I'm looking forward to getting to work."
Prior to coaching at Northern Illinois, Faulkner spent eight seasons at Ball State (2003-10). He went from serving as a graduate assistant in 2003 to coaching running backs and special teams before becoming the Cardinals' offensive coordinator his final two years. He was Ball State's interim head coach at the end of the 2010 season before leaving for Northern Illinois.
Faulkner was a member of two Big Ten championship teams as a running back at Wisconsin. He rushed for 1,064 yards in his career and seven touchdowns.. After graduating from Wisconsin, Faulkner signed a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2001 and went on to a pro career with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
Faulkner is the sixth and final assistant coach to join Wisconsin's staff this offseason. The other hires made in the past month have been: Canada (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks), Zach Azzanni (wide receivers), Andy Buh (linebackers), Mike Markuson (offensive line) and Ben Strickland (assistant for defensive backs and special teams).
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