Bobby April has been around football his entire life. He is the son of longtime coach Bobby April Jr., who was named NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year twice. April’s coaching career began as a student assistant in 2004 at Louisiana-Lafayette before moving to Tulane. April completed his first season as Defensive Coordinator and Outside Linebackers coach at Stanford in 2023 after five seasons at Wisconsin. Prior to his arrival in Wisconsin, Coach April spent six seasons in the NFL. He coached Demario Davis during his 2014 season with the Jets where he recorded 116 tackles and 3.5 sacks. That same season, April also helped David Harris record 123 tackles along with 5.5 sacks. In his final NFL season with the Buffalo Bills, he coached a pair of All-Pro linebackers: Lorenzo Alexander and Zach Brown. Alexander earned an invite to the Pro Bowl, where he earned defensive MVP after recording 12.5 sacks in a season, which ranked third in the NFL for that year. Zach Brown also had an impressive season and was selected to the Pro Bowl after he finished second in the league with 167 tackles and 12 tackles for loss.

Coach April joined the Wisconsin staff in 2018 as the outside linebackers coach. In his first season, he coached Andrew Van Ginkel, who led the team in sacks with 5.5 and 9.5 tackles for loss, all while playing limited minutes due to injury. His outside linebackers accounted for 17.5 of the Wisconsin record 51 sacks that season. The following season saw Zack Baun lead the outside linebacker group with 12.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss, ranking second in the Big Ten in both categories. He was selected as a first-team All-American and a finalist for the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker. Both Zach Baun and Andrew Van Ginkel were selected in the NFL Draft after their dominant careers with the Badgers.

In 2020, Coach April was given additional responsibilities as the Run Game Coordinator for the Badgers. Since then, he has been an integral part of the coaching staff and the success that the Wisconsin defense has experienced. In 2021 the Wisconsin defense allowed 239.1 yards per game, which was the third-best mark in school history. It was also the fewest yards allowed by an FBS team since 2011. That season the defense held opponents to 64.8 rushing yards per game. The Badgers led the FBS and became only the second team since 2008 to allow less than 70 rushing yards per game. Wisconsin led the nation after holding their opponents to an average 2.12 yards per carry in 2021.