Penn State Makes Big Change on Offense

Penn State hires Texas' Mike Yurcich to replace offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca after one season.

Penn State delivered a quiet bombshell Friday, naming Mike Yurcich as its new offensive coordinator. Yurcich replaces Kirk Ciarrocca, who spent just one season with the Lions.

Yurcich spent last season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas. He also has worked at Ohio State and Oklahoma State. Prior to that, Yurcich coached at Pennsylvania schools Shippensburg and Edinboro.

"First, I would like to thank Kirk for his contributions to our program last year," Penn State coach James Franklin said in a statement. "This was a difficult decision, but felt it was best for our program to make a change. We wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors.

"We are excited to have Mike join our staff. He is an impressive offensive mind and talented play-caller who has set records everywhere he has been as an offensive coordinator. I look forward to seeing what he can do with all of the offensive weapons we have here at Penn State. I have followed Mike's career for a long time, dating back to his time in the PSAC at Shippensburg and Edinboro. We look forward to bringing Mike and his family back to Pennsylvania."

Yurcich, 45, becomes a Big Ten offensive coordinator for the first time. He spent six years at Oklahoma State before joining the Ohio State staff in 2019 as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator,

Yurcich was the offensive coordinator at Texas for one season. There he guided the nation's No.8 scoring offense (42.7 points per game) and tutored all-Big 12 quarterback Sam Ehlinger.

According to Penn State's release, Yurcich's offenses have produced an average of 6.49 yards per play, ranking him first among FBS coordinators since 2013. His quarterbacks averaged 14 yards per completion, tops among Power 5 coordinators since 2013.

The move came six days after Texas hired Steve Sarkisian to replace Tom Herman as its head coach. Franklin then swooped in to hire away Yurcich.

In making the hire, Franklin ended his relationship with Ciarrocca after one season and barely a year, which was among the most chaotic in college football history.

The COVID-19 pandemic handcuffed Ciarrocca's ability to install his offense during the offseason, and he had no spring practice to work out players. The Lions also lost two of their top offensive players, running backs Journey Brown and Noah Cain, before the season's opening quarter of football had ended.

Evidently, however, Franklin felt that an 0-5 start and a drastically modified offense required a change. Yurcich is Franklin's fifth offensive coordinator at Penn State. Two, Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne, left for head coaching positions.

"The difference that me and Kirk spent a lot of time talking about, too, is this isn't a rebuild," Franklin said last February. "He was a part of two rebuilds [at Minnesota and Western Michigan]. This isn't a rebuild. So we need to be able to come in and kind of hit on his year three in year one, if that makes sense."

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