RECRUITING AREA:  Western Washington, Eastern Oregon, Central Valley and Eastern California

Tim Rude is Willamette's defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. He served as the interim head football coach at Willamette University for the 2023 season. He is in his third season on the football coaching staff.

Rude was the running backs coach at Western Oregon University from 2015 through 2020 before joining the Bearcats for the 2021 season. He coached running backs at Willamette in 2021. While coaching at WOU, he helped lead the Wolves to the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship. He coached First Team and Second Team All-GNAC running backs in 2019 after coaching a running back who was chosen Second Team All-GNAC in 2018.

In high school, Rude was a two-sport athlete at Hermiston High School in Oregon. He graduated from Hermiston in 2011. Rude went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Western Oregon in 2015. He received a Master of Science in Education degree from Western Oregon in 2017.

Rude and his wife, Rachel have been married for five years. They are the parents of a son, Bo, who is two years old.