Air Force has hired another graduate to fill out its football coaching staff.

Falcons coach Troy Calhoun said Tuesday that Capt. John Rudzinski, a 2005 grad, will join his staff as a defensive assistant. With Rudzinski, who is slated to arrive at the academy in a few weeks, Air Force will have nine graduates among its 14 football coaches.

Rudzinski, who is working as a maintenance officer at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, earned three letters at Air Force as a linebacker and was an honorable mention all-Mountain West Conference selection as a senior in 2004. He won the prestigious Brian Bullard Award – the highest honor an Air Force football player can achieve – and participated in the East-West Shrine Classic after his senior season.

Rudzinski, who spent the 2005 season at Air Force as a graduate assistant, is one of two new faces on the coaching staff for the 2010 season along with linebackers coach Brad White. Tim DeRuyter and Patrick Covington left the academy in the offseason for jobs at Texas A&M and Coastal Carolina, respectively.

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