6 things you should know about Penn State football OC Kirk Ciarrocca and what he told reporters
Penn State offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca — who was hired Dec. 26 — spoke with the media for the first time as a Nittany Lion on Wednesday.
The Pennsylvania native and former Minnesota assistant had a lot to say. Here are the highlights of what he talked about, from his first-ever Penn State game to his offensive philosophy and why he’s here now:
1. He decided to come to Penn State for three main reasons. Penn State wasn’t the first school to ever contact him in the hope of persuading him to break up with PJ Fleck. But he opted to take the Nittany Lions’ job for a few reasons.
One, he wanted to work for a head coach he both respected and who enforced a great culture. “Coach (James) Franklin met that criteria,” Ciarrocca said. Two, he needed to move to a place where a national championship was a legitimate possibility. And, three, he grew up just outside Harrisburg in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, and grew up a Penn State fan.
“So a chance to come back and work at a school that I dreamed about possibly playing for someday — which I was not good enough to do — it’s really kind of a dream come true,” Ciarrocca said.
Franklin and Ciarrocca knew of each other but didn’t know each other very well. They did, however, share several mutual friends — and they had nothing but good things to say about the pair.
“When James offered me the job, there was no hesitancy at that point,” Ciarrocca said. “I had thought about it for a while, and he just met that criteria. I’m not one of those people that makes rash decisions.”
2. His offensive philosophy is simple: Play up to the players’ strengths and limit their weaknesses. Ciarrocca knows that’s not exactly a ground-breaking way of thinking, but it’s served him well during his career.
“Ultimately, it’s about what your players do best,” he said. “Accentuate their strengths and limit their weaknesses. And that’s something I’ve always been able to do, no matter where I’ve coached at. And I’m excited doing that here, and I love the talent that we have to work with here.”
When the recruiting staff asks him what type of quarterback he’s looking for, for example, Ciarrocca just likes to reply: “I want a good one.” He doesn’t care if he’s a dual-threat or a pocket-passer; Ciarrocca will work toward his strengths. When he was at Delaware, he coached a dual-threat QB in Andy Hall who was drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Eagles. And, last year at Minnesota, he oversaw all-conference signal-caller Tanner Morgan, who rushed for a career total of minus-6 yards.
When he was light on tight ends at Western Michigan, he instead utilized a fullback on the goal-line. (No, Penn State fans, he’s not thinking about using one next season.) And he tried to get a jump-start on figuring out his PSU players’ strengths and weaknesses by taking his iPad on recruiting trips and watching film at every opportunity.
He said he won’t get a true feel for all that until spring ball. But, once that’s over, that’s when he really digs in to the film.
“When spring ball is over and I look at the cut-ups from spring practice, I’m not really looking at the schemes or necessarily the mistakes,” he said. “I’m looking at the skill-sets and what came natural to them. What did they really grasp? What don’t they understand? What might not be in their wheelhouse? And what do we need to do moving forward?”
Ciarrocca said he never likes to say never, but he plans to continue utilizing a no-huddle offense. And, at Minnesota, he also never lined up under center last season.
3. He plans to coach from the booth. Different Penn State coordinators have shared different philosophies about this, but Ciarrocca has a clear preference.
“I’m a booth guy,” he said. “I’ve done it on the sidelines before, but I prefer in the booth. I just like that better. I think it fits what we do better with being in the booth.”
It’s hard to argue with the results. During his four-year stint at Western Michigan, his 2015 team set the program record for points, total yards and touchdowns — and then broke all those records again in 2016. And, this past season, he guided Minnesota to its third-highest scoring offense (412 points) in program history, the second-most passing yards (3,014) in school history and the most wins in a regular season (10) since 1905.
The booth won’t be an adjustment at all to quarterback Sean Clifford since that’s where former OC Ricky Rahne spent his game days. In fact, Ciarrocca said he already feels a “real connection” with the rising redshirt junior.
4. His dream isn’t necessarily to become a head coach. Even when Ciarrocca was younger, he said he never dreamed or lay awake at night wondering about running his own team.
“The only thing I dreamed about was hoping that I could do this job that I loved and that I could someday possibly be paid enough money that I could support my family,” he said. “So I’ve never really dreamed about the next step; I just want to focus all my energy always on doing the job at hand. And when the next thing comes along, it comes along.”
Ciarrocca said he’s had opportunities throughout his career to become a head coach, but the 54 year old has turned them down because they didn’t feel right.
“I think my strengths are as an offensive coordinator,” he said. “But, again, never say never with anything — but that has not really been a goal. ... Again, I’m not that type of person that has these goals. Hey, do a great job at what you’re doing, the next thing will organically happen.”
5. The two most important stats to Ciarrocca are the turnover margin and explosive plays. His core values on offense include protecting the ball and executing, so it shouldn’t be a surprise those are the two numbers he emphasizes most — outside of the final score, he was sure to add.
Most Penn State fans should probably be familiar with how Franklin defines an explosive play, a run 12 yards or longer and a pass 15 yards or longer. But Ciarrocca’s definition is a little different. To him, it’s runs of at least 15 yards and throws of at least 20.
“But I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “I mean, there’s been more than one 19- or 18-yard gain where I said, ‘Hey, call that an explosive.’”
He also shared an interesting analogy when it came to execution.
“An offense is kind of like an orchestra or a symphony,” he said. “If they’re all playing and everybody’s doing their job, it’s beautiful to listen to. But if you got somebody — if the violinist doesn’t know how to play the violin — it can sound awful. And that’s what offensive football can look like. Sometimes when you don’t have all 11 guys executing together, it looks awful. And I’ve seen it.”
As far as turnovers, Ciarrocca intimated that was pretty self-explanatory. When it comes to wins, there’s a pretty heavy correlation between that and an edge in turnover margin. So that’s something he’ll continue drilling into the heads of Penn State’s skill players.
6. He sneaked into his first Penn State football game. A smile spread across Ciarrocca’s face when he was asked about his earliest experiences in Happy Valley.
When he was 8 or 9 years old, he drove to Penn State with his Pee-Wee football team. There was just one small problem. Once he got to the gate, he realized he lost the ticket his coach had given him.
“I’m thinking I’m not going to get in; I wanted to go to Beaver Stadium to watch the Nittany Lions play, I wanted to hear that (roar),” Ciarrocca said, imitating the sound over the PA system. “And I still remember it. (Coach) was like, ‘Hey little buddy, just get in real tight behind me,’ and I squeezed in and he gave the ticket and I squeezed right in with him.”
Ciarrocca also returned to Happy Valley when he was in college, although he was more enamored with the tailgating than the Nittany Lion roar during that trip.
“All the tailgates were going on and we didn’t know anybody,” he said. “But people just kept — we were walking by and people were stopping us and asking us if we wanted something to eat. And we were eating all this great food, and we managed to get into the game.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 8:59 PM.
