BREAKING: Mike Yurcich Named Penn State’s New Offensive Coordinator & QB Coach; Kirk Ciarrocca Out

In an absolutely shocking move, Penn State announced Friday morning that Mike Yurcich would be the program’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and that Kirk Ciarrocca was no longer with the program.

From Penn State Athletics:

“First, I would like to thank Kirk for his contributions to our program last year,” said Franklin. “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,” continued Franklin. “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.”

“I’d like to thank Head Coach James Franklin, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour and President Eric Barron for the opportunity to be the offensive coordinator at Penn State University,” said Yurcich. “Having spent 11 years in the state of Pennsylvania as a player and coach, I understand the significance of this duty and will represent properly and with humble pride.”

This was certainly not an expected move. Sure, the Penn State offense didn’t set the world on fire this season, but most imagined that the COVID impact/restrictions played a big part in Ciarrocca being able to install his offense. Obviously, that wasn’t a good enough excuse for Franklin, as he decided to make the move on Yurcich.

Yurcich has close ties to the area, having coached at Edinboro from 2005-2010 and Shippensburg from 2011-2012. He spent the next few seasons (2013-2018) as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator, before spending one season (2019) at Ohio State as its QB coach and passing game coordinator, and this previous fall at Texas as its offensive coordinator and QB coach.

We’ll have a more in-depth look at Yurcich over the coming days, but his pedigree is good. He’s had some very productive offenses at each of his stops, so we’ll see if that continues in Happy Valley.