‘We’ll get there’: Kirk Ciarrocca still confident in the future of Penn State’s offense
For the better part of the past month and some change, Kirk Ciarrocca has blocked out the outside noise.
Penn State’s first-year offensive coordinator realizes there’s been quite a bit of chatter from Nittany Lions fans about everything from the red zone fade routes, quarterback controversy, poor offensive line play and turnovers. Since being hired away last December from Minnesota — where he led one of the Big Ten’s most potent offenses in 2019 — it hasn’t been smooth sailing for Ciarrocca this season as the signal caller for a team that’s 1-5.
“I don’t listen to the noise when it’s going bad or when it’s going good,” Ciarrocca said Thursday, during his first meeting with reporters since the season began. “Either way, this job’s hard enough as it is. And you need to focus all your energy on doing your job to the best of your capabilities. So, I don’t worry about it.”
As hard as the 55-year-old has worked to be recognized as one of the best offensive minds in college football, Ciarrocca knows how quickly that reputation can come crashing down, especially amid a historically disastrous season.
“The ride from the outhouse to the penthouse is very short in this profession, and vice versa,” he said. “So I’ve been in both places — spent maybe a little bit more time in the penthouse than the outhouse, thank goodness, or I wouldn’t be here. But (I’m) very confident in my ability to build a successful top-flight offense. I’ve been able to do it at a number of places, and I certainly have the resources to be able to do that here.”
The lack of spring practices in a pandemic-stricken offseason certainly hurt a team that just brought in Ciarrocca, as well as first-year staff members in wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein. It’s safe to assume that at least some of the Nittany Lions’ offensive problems have stemmed from a lack of time together to learn a new system.
Last season, under Ciarrocca, Minnesota was No. 21 in the country in points per game with 34.1 per contest. This season, Penn State is only scoring 25 points per game — a mark that ranks 89th in the nation.
But Ciarrocca said he doesn’t want to spend time trying to reflect on how or why things have gone wrong. He’d rather look to continue to improve. With only three regular-season games left, Ciarrocca said it’s not about if Penn State’s offense will “get there,” but more a matter of when.
His players seem to agree, too.
“We’re really, really, really close to things clicking and this becoming just a really well-oiled machine,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis said. “I think we got some glimpses of that here and there throughout the season, but (we) just hadn’t been able to put together a full game of a solid offensive performance all around.”
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Will Fries said that missed time together over the summer isn’t an excuse, since every team in college football went through the same thing. He attributes the Nittany Lions’ offensive issues through six games to be a product of growing pains that come with digesting a new scheme.
As one of the team’s veteran leaders, Fries has played on successful Penn State offenses — he’s been a starter on two teams that have won 11 games and been to New Year’s Six bowls. He believes with “the momentum going forward” that this offense has, the unit can turn a corner.
“Similar to the way it is with learning new techniques, it takes time and reps to learn a new offense,” Fries said. “And I think that we just need to keep getting those reps, keep going harder in practice, have an extra emphasis on the details.”
Ciarrocca said that despite not being happy with the results so far this season, he’s optimistic for the future because he sees the pieces in place for the Nittany Lions to be elite offensively.
The Pennsylvania native understands the criticism that comes with being the offensive coordinator at a program like Penn State. He gets why fans feel the way they do — their passion is one of the reasons why he decided to take the job last winter.
Regardless of the early skeptics, Ciarrocca hasn’t lost an ounce of confidence that he can accomplish what he sought out to do when he first arrived in Happy Valley.
“It’s definitely still a work in progress,” Ciarrocca said. “The offense, it’s not where I want it to be. The results have not been what I want them to be yet. But we’re doing everything we can within our control to continue to get better, and that’s what I love about this group.
“We’ll get there. When? We’ll see.”
